Shloka 16
Liberation and Truth — Chanakya Niti
यदि रामा यदि च रमा यदि तनयो विनयगुणोपेतः ।
तनये तनयोत्पत्तिः सुरवरनगरे किमाधिक्यम् ॥
yadi rāmā yadi ca ramā yadi tanayo vinayaguṇopetaḥ |
tanaye tanayotpattiḥ suravaranagare kim ādhikyam ||
If there is a virtuous wife (Rāmā), if there is prosperity (Ramā/Śrī), and a son endowed with discipline and good qualities—and that son too begets offspring—what greater advantage could there be, even in the city of the gods?
FAQs
In the broader nīti-śāstra tradition, verses frequently summarize idealized markers of a flourishing household—marital stability, material prosperity, and continuity of lineage. Such formulations reflect premodern social organization in which family continuity and reputation were treated as key components of well-being and status.
Success is framed as a composite of (1) an auspicious/ideal spouse (rāmā), (2) fortune or prosperity (ramā/śrī), (3) a well-disciplined and virtuous son, and (4) the continuation of progeny through that son; the verse rhetorically compares this to the highest imaginable setting (a divine city) to intensify the valuation.
The verse uses paronomasia (wordplay) on “rāmā/ramā,” where one term can denote an ideal wife and the other the goddess-like notion of fortune (Śrī). The phrase “suravaranagare” functions as a hyperbolic metaphor for unsurpassable prosperity, implying that the listed household conditions are symbolically equivalent to a heaven-like state.