Shloka 5
Qualities of the Wise — Chanakya Niti
एतदर्थे कुलीनानां नृपाः कुर्वन्ति सङ्ग्रहम् ।
आदिमध्यावसानेषु न ते गच्छन्ति विक्रियाम् ॥
etadarthe kulīnānāṁ nṛpāḥ kurvanti saṅgraham |
ādimadhyāvasāneṣu na te gacchanti vikriyām ||
For this reason kings keep the company and patronage of the well-born: at the beginning, middle, and end of affairs, they do not waver or deviate.
FAQs
In nītiśāstra and related courtly-didactic traditions, political stability is frequently framed through reliable social alliances. This verse reflects a historical worldview in which kings are depicted as cultivating ties with established elite lineages (kulīna) as a means of securing continuity and predictability in governance and counsel.
Reliability is characterized through the notion of not ‘going to change’ (na…gacchanti vikriyām) across ‘beginning, middle, and end,’ a formula that presents steadiness as consistent conduct throughout an entire process or political episode rather than momentary loyalty.
The compound sequence ādi–madhya–avasāna (“beginning–middle–end”) functions as a totalizing temporal frame, emphasizing completeness. The term vikriyā (“alteration, deviation”) carries a semantic range from ordinary change to moral or positional shift, allowing the verse to generalize ‘steadfastness’ as a valued trait associated with kulīna status within the text’s social imagination.