Shloka 20
Family and Relationships — Chanakya Niti
चला लक्ष्मीश्चलाः प्राणाश्चले जीवितमन्दिरे ।
चलाचले च संसारे धर्म एको हि निश्चलः ॥
calā lakṣmīś calāḥ prāṇāś cale jīvitamandire |
calācale ca saṃsāre dharma eko hi niścalaḥ ||
Prosperity is fickle, breath is fickle, and the body—the house of life—is fickle. In this wavering world, dharma alone is steadfast.
FAQs
In the Chanakya-nīti/Nītiśāstra milieu, such verses function as gnomic reflections used in pedagogical settings to summarize perceived regularities of social life—especially the instability of wealth and life—while foregrounding dharma as a comparatively enduring standard within classical Indian moral and political vocabulary.
The verse does not provide a technical definition; instead, it contrasts dharma with unstable phenomena (wealth, breath, embodied life) and portrays it as “niścala” (steadfast). In historical terms, this framing treats dharma as a stable normative reference-point amid the contingencies of saṃsāra.
The phrase “jīvitamandira” metaphorically casts the body as a ‘temple/abode’ housing life, reinforcing impermanence through architectural imagery. The compound “calācale” juxtaposes motion and apparent stability to depict worldly existence as oscillating; the repeated use of the root √cal (“to move”) intensifies the contrast culminating in “niścala” (“unmoving”) for dharma.