Shloka 12
Family and Relationships — Chanakya Niti
नास्ति कामसमो व्याधिर्नास्ति मोहसमो रिपुः ।
नास्ति कोपसमो वह्निर्नास्ति ज्ञानात्परं सुखम् ॥
nāsti kāmasamo vyādhir nāsti mohasamo ripuḥ |
nāsti kopasamo vahnir nāsti jñānāt paraṁ sukham ||
There is no disease like desire; no enemy like delusion. There is no fire like anger; no happiness beyond knowledge.
FAQs
Within the broader nīti (didactic-ethical) genre, such verses function as compact statements of moral psychology and governance-adjacent self-regulation. The comparisons reflect a common premodern South Asian intellectual milieu in which inner dispositions (desire, delusion, anger) are treated as destabilizing forces relevant to household, courtly, and administrative life, while knowledge is framed as a stabilizing good.
The verse does not define these terms analytically; it characterizes them through equivalences: kāma is framed as vyādhi (an affliction), moha as ripu (an adversary), kopa as vahni (a consuming force), and jñāna as a superior form of sukha (well-being). The emphasis is on evaluative ranking via metaphor rather than systematic definition.
The repeated construction “nāsti X-samo Y” (“there is no Y equal to X”) is a formulaic rhetorical device that intensifies contrast and memorability in aphoristic Sanskrit. Metaphors align psychological states with concrete threats: disease (internal impairment), enemy (external opposition), and fire (rapid spread and consumption). The final pāda shifts from hazards to an apex-good, presenting jñāna as a superlative source of sukha.