Shloka 8
Virtuous Company — Chanakya Niti
कष्टं च खलु मूर्खत्वं कष्टं च खलु यौवनम् ।
कष्टात्कष्टतरं चैव परगेहनिवासनम् ॥
kaṣṭaṃ ca khalu mūrkhatvaṃ kaṣṭaṃ ca khalu yauvanam |
kaṣṭāt kaṣṭataraṃ caiva parageha-nivāsanam ||
Folly is hardship, and youth too is hardship; but harder than hardship itself is living in another’s house.
FAQs
In the broader nīti-śāstra tradition, aphorisms commonly frame personal autonomy and stable household standing as social goods, while dependency is portrayed as precarious. The reference to dwelling in another’s house reflects a historical concern with patronage, servitude, and economic vulnerability in premodern social organization.
The verse presents a comparative hierarchy of difficulties: folly (mūrkhatva) and youth (yauvana) are each labeled as forms of hardship, and dependence implied by living in another’s household (parageha-nivāsana) is described as a still greater hardship, emphasizing social and material insecurity rather than offering a practical directive.
The construction 'कष्टात्कष्टतरम्' (kaṣṭāt kaṣṭataram, “more difficult than difficulty”) is a rhetorical intensifier using the ablative for comparison, heightening the final claim. 'परगेह' (another’s house) functions metonymically for dependence on others’ resources and authority, a recurring motif in Sanskrit moral and political aphoristic literature.