Shloka 15
Learning and Knowledge — Chanakya Niti
यस्यार्थास्तस्य मित्राणि यस्यार्थास्तस्य बान्धवाः ।
यस्यार्थाः स पुमाँल्लोके यस्यार्थाः स च पण्डितः ॥
yasyārthās tasya mitrāṇi yasyārthās tasya bāndhavāḥ |
yasyārthāḥ sa pumāṁl loke yasyārthāḥ sa ca paṇḍitaḥ ||
He who has wealth has friends; he who has wealth has kin. He who has wealth is deemed a person of consequence in the world, and is even taken for a learned man.
FAQs
In the broader Nītiśāstra milieu, artha is frequently treated as a practical foundation for social power, patronage networks, and public reputation. The verse reflects a premodern social observation in which material means could shape access to alliances (mitra), kinship support (bāndhava), and public recognition within the loka (social world).
Artha is presented as “means” or “resources” that condition social attachment and status attribution. Rather than offering a technical definition, the verse depicts artha as a determinant of how others classify a person—socially consequential (pumān in the sense of a person of standing) and even ascribed intellectual authority (paṇḍita) through reputation.
The repeated anaphora “yasyārthās…” (“for whom there is artha…”) creates a rhythmic causal emphasis, functioning like an aphoristic refrain. The coupling of “paṇḍita” with artha highlights a social-semantic tension: “learnedness” appears not only as an intellectual category but also as a status label that can be socially conferred, suggesting reputational dynamics in historical contexts.