Shloka 9
Family and Relationships — Chanakya Niti
वित्तेन रक्ष्यते धर्मो विद्या योगेन रक्ष्यते ।
मृदुना रक्ष्यते भूपः सत्स्त्रिया रक्ष्यते गृहम् ॥
vittena rakṣyate dharmo vidyā yogena rakṣyate |
mṛdunā rakṣyate bhūpaḥ sat-striyā rakṣyate gṛham ||
Dharma is safeguarded by wealth; learning is safeguarded by disciplined practice (yoga). A king is safeguarded by gentleness; a household is safeguarded by a virtuous woman.
FAQs
In the broader Nītiśāstra milieu, such verses function as compact lists linking social institutions (religious-legal order, education, kingship, household) to sustaining resources or virtues. The pairings reflect an elite, normative worldview associated with courtly and Brahmanical learning, where wealth supports ritual and legal obligations, disciplined practice sustains learning, royal authority is stabilized through controlled demeanor, and household stability is framed through gendered domestic ideals.
Here “yoga” is presented in a broad, pre-modern sense of disciplined method or sustained practice rather than a single sectarian system. The verse treats yoga as the stabilizing condition for vidyā (learning), implying that knowledge is maintained through ongoing training, restraint, and habituated effort.
The construction uses parallel passive clauses (X-en(a) rakṣyate Y) to form a mnemonic catalogue. The instrumental endings (वित्तेन, योगेन, मृदुना, सत्स्त्रिया) present each protecting factor as the means by which the protected domain is maintained. The term सत्स्त्रिया (“good/virtuous woman”) encodes a period-specific moral ideal tied to household order, illustrating how ethical vocabulary is used to naturalize social roles within aphoristic political-ethical literature.