Shloka 11
Self-Discipline — Chanakya Niti
ऋणकर्ता पिता शत्रुर्माता च व्यभिचारिणी ।
भार्या रूपवती शत्रुः पुत्रः शत्रुरपण्डितः ॥
ṛṇakartā pitā śatrur mātā ca vyabhicāriṇī |
bhāryā rūpavatī śatruḥ putraḥ śatrur apaṇḍitaḥ ||
A father who incurs debt is an enemy; a mother who is unfaithful is an enemy. A wife of excessive beauty is an enemy; a son without learning is an enemy.
FAQs
In the broader nīti (didactic) tradition, such verses function as compressed social observations linking household stability to reputation, economic solvency, and education. The framing reflects premodern concerns that family conduct and resources could affect lineage standing, alliances, and vulnerability within a competitive social and political environment.
Here “enemy” (śatru) operates as a metaphor for an internal source of risk rather than an external political opponent. The verse classifies certain conditions—debt, sexual transgression, conspicuous beauty, and lack of learning—as liabilities that could generate conflict, dishonor, or insecurity within the household and its surrounding social network.
The repeated predicate “śatruḥ” creates a rhetorical parallelism typical of aphoristic Sanskrit, producing a mnemonic list. Key terms are socially loaded: ṛṇa signals economic dependency; vyabhicāra denotes a breach of sexual/social norms; rūpavatī is treated as a potential catalyst for rivalry or unwanted attention; and apaṇḍita contrasts with the period’s valuation of learning as social capital.