Shloka 10
Qualities of the Wise — Chanakya Niti
त्यजेदेकं कुलस्यार्थे ग्रामस्यार्थे कुलं त्यजेत् ।
ग्रामं जनपदस्यार्थे आत्मार्थे पृथिवीं त्यजेत् ॥
tyajed ekaṃ kulasyārthe grāmasyārthe kulaṃ tyajet |
grāmaṃ janapadasyārthe ātmārthe pṛthivīṃ tyajet ||
For the sake of a family, one may give up an individual; for a village, give up a family. For a realm, give up a village; for one’s own vital interest, give up even the whole earth.
FAQs
In the broader Nīti-śāstra and Arthaśāstra-adjacent tradition, social and political thought often frames obligations in nested collectivities (household/lineage, village, territorial polity). The verse reflects a period’s concern with maintaining order and security through prioritizing larger social units, while also acknowledging the primacy of personal survival or core self-interest in extreme cases.
It presents a hierarchy of interests moving from smaller to larger collectivities—individual < family < village < janapada—followed by a final reversal emphasizing ātmārtha. Read historically, this can be interpreted as a pragmatic rule-set for decision-making under conflict or scarcity, rather than a universal moral claim.
The repeated use of the optative/imperative-like tyajet (“should relinquish”) creates a formulaic ladder of substitution. Key political vocabulary includes janapada, a term in early Indian polity denoting a settled territorial realm (literally ‘foothold of a people’). pṛthivī can denote the earth broadly, but in political aphorisms it often connotes land, rule, or worldly dominion, making the final pāda a pointed contrast between sovereignty and ātmārtha.