Shloka 20
Self-Discipline — Chanakya Niti
बह्वाशी स्वल्पसन्तुष्टः सनिद्रो लघुचेतनः ।
स्वामिभक्तश्च शूरश्च षडेते श्वानतो गुणाः ॥
bahvāśī svalpa-santuṣṭaḥ sa-nidro laghu-cetanaḥ |
svāmibhaktaś ca śūraś ca ṣaḍ ete śvānato guṇāḥ ||
Six traits are found in a dog: it eats much, is satisfied with little, sleeps readily, keeps a light (unburdened) mind, is devoted to its master, and is brave.
FAQs
Within the broader niti (ethical-political aphoristic) tradition, such verses commonly use animal characterization as a compact rhetorical device. The social setting implied is one where household and courtly life were familiar with domesticated animals, and where moral or practical traits were frequently expressed through comparisons drawn from everyday observation.
Loyalty is encoded through the compound svāmibhakta (“devoted to the master”), presented as one among several attributed canine traits. In this verse, devotion is not argued philosophically; it is listed as a conventional characteristic observed or assumed in the cultural imagination of the period.
The verse uses a catalog style (ṣaḍ ete, “these six”) to create an enumerated profile, a common didactic structure in Sanskrit niti texts. The term śvānataḥ (“of a dog”) frames the list as an attributed set of guṇāḥ (“traits”), and compounds such as svalpa-santuṣṭa and svāmibhakta condense social-psychological descriptions into compact, metrically efficient expressions.