Shloka 19
Virtuous Company — Chanakya Niti
दुराचारी दुरादृष्टिर्दुरावासी च दुर्जनः ।
यन्मैत्री क्रियते पुंभिर्नरः शीघ्रं विनश्यति ॥
durācārī durādṛṣṭir durāvāsī ca durjanaḥ |
yanmaitrī kriyate puṁbhir naraḥ śīghraṁ vinaśyati ||
The text describes that when a man forms friendship with a person of bad conduct, ill-intent (or harmful outlook), harmful association, and wicked character, he quickly comes to ruin.
FAQs
In the broader Nīti-śāstra tradition, such verses function as practical guidance for householders, officials, and courtiers in environments where alliances and patronage networks affected security and livelihood. The emphasis on choosing associates reflects the social realities of reputation, reciprocal obligation, and political risk in premodern South Asian courtly and urban settings.
The verse frames risk primarily in terms of association: friendship with a durjana characterized by durācāra (bad conduct), durādṛṣṭi (ill-disposition), and durāvāsa (harmful association or setting) is presented as a proximate cause of rapid decline (vinaśyati). The prescription is descriptive of perceived social causality rather than a metaphysical doctrine.
The repeated prefix dur- ('bad, difficult, harmful') creates an accumulative rhetorical effect, stacking negative qualifiers to intensify the warning. The term durādṛṣṭi is semantically flexible—literally 'bad sight'—and can denote hostile intent, distorted judgment, or an ominous disposition; this polyvalence suits aphoristic moral literature that relies on compact, broadly applicable character typologies.