Shloka 10
Virtue and Vice — Chanakya Niti
गुणैः सर्वज्ञतुल्योऽपि सीदत्येको निराश्रयः ।
अनर्घ्यमपि माणिक्यं हेमाश्रयमपेक्षते ॥
guṇaiḥ sarvajñatulyo’pi sīdaty eko nirāśrayaḥ |
anarghyam api māṇikyaṃ hemāśrayam apekṣate ||
Even one whose virtues rival the omniscient declines when alone and without support; likewise, even a priceless gem needs a setting of gold.
FAQs
Within the Chanakya-nīti/Nītisāra tradition, this verse is commonly read as reflecting the social realities of reliance on patronage, institutional backing, or communal support in premodern South Asian political and scholarly environments, where individual merit alone is portrayed as insufficient without an enabling social base.
Āśraya is framed as an external foundation—such as protection, patronage, affiliation, or material and social infrastructure—without which even exceptional personal qualities are represented as vulnerable to decline.
The verse uses a parallel construction: an idealized human comparison (sarvajñatulyo’pi) is paired with a material analogy (māṇikya/ hema). The metaphor of a gem requiring a gold setting functions as a period-typical image for value needing appropriate support or context to be sustained and recognized.