Shloka 13
Self-Discipline — Chanakya Niti
वरं न राज्यं न कुराजराज्यं वरं न मित्रं न कुमित्रमित्रम् ।
वरं न शिष्यो न कुशिष्यशिष्यो वरं न दार न कुदरदारः ॥
varaṃ na rājyaṃ na kurājarājyaṃ varaṃ na mitraṃ na kumitramitram |
varaṃ na śiṣyo na kuśiṣyaśiṣyo varaṃ na dāra na kudaradāraḥ ||
Better no kingdom than a realm under a bad king; better no friend than a bad friend. Better no student than a bad student; better no spouse than a bad spouse.
FAQs
Within the Chanakya-niti/Nītiśāstra reception, such verses are commonly read as didactic aphorisms shaped by early classical concerns of governance and household order. The pairing of political (rājya/kurāja) and interpersonal domains (friend, disciple, spouse) reflects a social world in which personal relationships were treated as extensions of moral and administrative stability, a theme also seen broadly across Sanskrit niti compilations.
The verse employs a repeated comparative frame (varaṃ… na… na…) to rank conditions by perceived harm: it frames “bad” versions of key social roles (king, friend, student, spouse) as more damaging than the complete absence of those roles. The emphasis falls on the quality of relational and institutional roles rather than their mere presence.
Stylistically, the verse uses anaphora through repeated “varaṃ” and parallel compounds (kurājarājyaṃ, kumitramitram, kuśiṣyaśiṣyo, kudaradāraḥ). The prefix “ku-” marks pejoration (“bad/defective”), creating a compact evaluative taxonomy. The construction “X is preferable to not-Y” functions as an aphoristic rhetorical device to intensify the contrast and to generalize across domains.