Shloka 9
Learning and Knowledge — Chanakya Niti
तुष्यन्ति भोजने विप्रा मयूरा घनगर्जिते ।
साधवः परसम्पत्तौ खलाः परविपत्तिषु ॥
tuṣyanti bhojane viprā mayūrā ghanagarjite |
sādhavaḥ parasampattau khalāḥ paravipattiṣu ||
Brahmins are pleased by a meal; peacocks by thunder’s roar. The virtuous rejoice in another’s prosperity; the wicked rejoice in another’s misfortune.
FAQs
In the wider Nīti-śāstra tradition, verses of this type function as compact observations about social types and moral psychology, reflecting an early Indian milieu where occupational categories (such as vipra) and ethical labels (such as sādhu/khala) were used to summarize expected behaviors within courtly and pedagogical literature.
Character is framed through affective response: the verse contrasts pleasure taken in ordinary sustenance, in natural phenomena, in others’ success, and in others’ failure, using these reactions as markers for learned status, natural instinct, virtue, and malice respectively.
The construction is a four-part parallelism (tuṣyanti …) that pairs subjects with triggers of delight. The phrase ghanagarjite (“when the clouds thunder”) draws on a common Sanskrit poetic association of peacocks with monsoon thunder, while parasampattau/paravipattiṣu use the ‘para-’ prefix to foreground the ethical contrast between rejoicing in another’s welfare versus another’s distress.