Shloka 16
Power and Prudence — Chanakya Niti
त्यजेद्धर्मं दयाहीनं विद्याहीनं गुरुं त्यजेत् ।
त्यजेत्क्रोधमुखीं भार्यां निःस्नेहान्बान्धवांस्त्यजेत् ॥
tyajed dharmaṃ dayāhīnaṃ vidyāhīnaṃ guruṃ tyajet |
tyajet krodhamukhīṃ bhāryāṃ niḥsnehān bāndhavāṃs tyajet ||
Abandon dharma devoid of compassion; abandon a teacher devoid of learning; abandon a wife ruled by anger; abandon relatives devoid of affection.
FAQs
In the Chanakya-nīti / nītiśāstra milieu, aphorisms frequently catalog social relationships (teacher, spouse, kin) and ethical categories (dharma, compassion, learning) in evaluative pairs. Such verses reflect a genre concerned with pragmatic moral reasoning in courtly and household settings, preserved and transmitted through diverse manuscript recensions across premodern South Asia.
Here dharma is treated as a qualifying category rather than an absolute: the compound dayāhīna-dharma (‘dharma lacking compassion’) frames dharma as potentially defective if severed from dayā (compassion). The verse thus implies a historically attested view that ethical legitimacy is evaluated by associated virtues, not merely by the label ‘dharma’ itself.
The expression krodhamukhī (‘anger-faced’) uses mukha (‘face’) metaphorically for a dominant outward disposition, a common Sanskrit idiom for character typology. The repeated tyajet/tyajed creates a parallel, list-like structure typical of nīti aphorisms, emphasizing categorical classification (worthy/unworthy) through compact compounds (dayāhīna, vidyāhīna, niḥsneha).