Shloka 17
Virtuous Company — Chanakya Niti
निर्धनं पुरुषं वेश्या प्रजा भग्नं नृपं त्यजेत् ।
खगा वीतफलं वृक्षं भुक्त्वा चाभ्यागतो गृहम् ॥
nirdhanaṃ puruṣaṃ veśyā prajā bhagnaṃ nṛpaṃ tyajet |
khagā vītaphalaṃ vṛkṣaṃ bhuktvā cābhyāgato gṛham ||
A courtesan abandons a man without wealth; subjects abandon a defeated king. So birds leave a tree when its fruit is gone, and a guest departs a house after eating.
FAQs
In the nīti-śāstra tradition, social and political relationships are frequently framed as conditional and interest-based. The verse reflects a historical worldview in which patronage, protection, and prosperity are major determinants of allegiance: subjects are imagined to withdraw support from a ruler who can no longer secure order or victory, and other relationships (courtesan–client, guest–host) are used as analogies to make this point vivid.
The verse presents loyalty as contingent rather than idealized: attachment persists while material benefit, protection, or sustenance is available. By aligning political allegiance (subjects to king) with transactional social ties (courtesan to patron; guest to host), the text characterizes loyalty as responsive to resources and success rather than as an unconditional moral commitment.
The shloka uses parallel exempla (dṛṣṭānta) to argue by analogy: (1) veśyā–nirdhana, (2) prajā–bhagna nṛpa, (3) khagāḥ–vītaphala vṛkṣa, (4) abhyāgata–gṛha after eating. Key terms include tyajet (optative/gnomic: 'would/should abandon'), emphasizing a general rule, and vītaphala ('gone of fruit'), a compact compound that encodes the ecological metaphor of resource depletion leading to departure.