Shloka 4
Qualities of the Wise — Chanakya Niti
दुर्जनस्य च सर्पस्य वरं सर्पो न दुर्जनः ।
सर्पो दंशति काले तु दुर्जनस्तु पदे पदे ॥
durjanasya ca sarpasya varaṃ sarpo na durjanaḥ |
sarpo daṃśati kāle tu durjanastu pade pade ||
Between a wicked man and a snake, the snake is preferable. A snake bites at a certain time; the wicked harm at every step.
FAQs
Within the broader Nītiśāstra tradition, such verses function as compact social observations used in courtly and pedagogical settings, reflecting concerns of governance and interpersonal risk in premodern South Asian political and social life. The comparison to a snake draws on a widely shared cultural image of sudden, lethal danger to frame discussions of trust and reliability.
In this verse, “durjana” is characterized operationally rather than by caste, profession, or legal status: the term indicates a person portrayed as persistently injurious or untrustworthy, with harm described as recurring (“at every step”) rather than occasional.
The rhetoric relies on parallel genitives (“of the durjana” / “of the snake”) and a preference construction (“varaṃ … na …”), producing an aphoristic contrast. The idiom “pade pade” (“step by step,” i.e., repeatedly) intensifies the portrayal of continual harm, while “kāle” (“at a time/occasion”) confines the snake’s danger to episodic moments, creating a moral-psychological hierarchy of threats.