Shloka 8
Ethics of Action — Chanakya Niti
हतं ज्ञानं क्रियाहीनं हतश्चाज्ञानतो नरः ।
हतं निर्णायकं सैन्यं स्त्रियो नष्टा ह्यभर्तृकाः ॥
hataṃ jñānaṃ kriyāhīnaṃ hataścājñānato naraḥ |
hataṃ nirṇāyakaṃ sainyaṃ striyo naṣṭā hyabhartṛkāḥ ||
Knowledge without practice is ruined; a person is ruined by ignorance. An army without a decisive commander is ruined; and a woman without a husband, in the old social norm, is said to be without protection.
FAQs
In the Chanakya-nīti/Nītiśāstra tradition, aphoristic verses often summarize norms associated with governance, military organization, and household order. This verse reflects a milieu in which effective practice was valued alongside learning, armies were conceptualized as requiring clear decision-making authority, and women’s social security was frequently framed through patriarchal household structures prevalent in many premodern South Asian legal and ethical discourses.
Effectiveness is framed through functional criteria: knowledge is evaluated by its enactment (kriyā), a person’s standing by the presence or absence of understanding (ajñāna), and an army’s viability by the presence of a decisive authority (nirṇāyaka). The final clause applies a comparable functional-social criterion to women by referencing the period’s normative assumption of marital guardianship.
The repeated predicate hatam/naṣṭāḥ (‘ruined, lost’) creates a parallel structure that treats diverse domains—learning, individual capability, military command, and household status—under a single rhetorical rubric of ‘failure through absence of a key support.’ Terms like nirṇāyaka are semantically broad (judge/decider/arbiter), allowing interpretation as either a commander in military context or an adjudicative authority ensuring coordination and discipline.