Shloka 4
Learning and Knowledge — Chanakya Niti
सन्तोषस्त्रिषु कर्तव्यः स्वदारे भोजने धने ।
त्रिषु चैव न कर्तव्योऽध्ययने जपदानयोः ॥
santoṣas triṣu kartavyaḥ svadāre bhojane dhane |
triṣu caiva na kartavyo ’dhyayane japadānayoḥ ||
Be content in three: your own spouse, food, and wealth. But in three, never be content: study, recitation (japa), and giving (dāna).
FAQs
In the wider Sanskrit nīti and dharma-oriented didactic tradition, such verses are commonly framed around the householder’s life and the management of resources and conduct. The pairing of restraint in domestic/consumptive spheres (spouse, food, wealth) with non-restraint in merit- or cultivation-oriented spheres (learning, ritual recitation, giving) reflects a historically attested moral economy in which self-limitation supports social stability while intellectual and religious-capital activities are treated as expansible.
Here “santoṣa” functions as a category of measured sufficiency. The verse presents it as suitable in domains associated with possession and consumption (svadāra, bhojana, dhana), while presenting it as unsuitable in domains construed as accumulative forms of cultivation or merit (adhyayana, japa, dāna), where ongoing increase is implicitly valued.
The verse uses a balanced triadic structure (triṣu… triṣu…) typical of Sanskrit aphoristic composition, creating mnemonic symmetry. The compound-like expressions “svadāre” and the dual “dānayoḥ” (with “japa-”) illustrate compact grammatical encoding: “svadāra” signals a normative domestic category, while the dual ending frames “japa” and “dāna” as a paired set of practices, aligning ritual and social redistribution as parallel, culturally valorized activities.