Shloka 7
Strategy and Survival — Chanakya Niti
अहिं नृपं च शार्दूलं वृद्धं च बालकं तथा ।
परश्वानं च मूर्खं च सप्त सुप्तान्न बोधयेत् ॥
ahiṃ nṛpaṃ ca śārdūlaṃ vṛddhaṃ ca bālakaṃ tathā |
paraśvānaṃ ca mūrkhaṃ ca sapta suptān na bodhayet ||
A serpent, a king, a tiger, an old man, a child, another man’s dog, and a fool—these seven sleepers should not be awakened.
FAQs
In the Nītiśāstra milieu, such lists function as compact social-psychological cautions. The items juxtapose political authority (the king), dangerous animals (serpent, tiger), socially protected or volatile categories (elder, child), uncertain property/loyalty relations (another’s dog), and unpredictability in judgment (the fool), reflecting concerns typical of courtly and household risk-management in premodern South Asia.
Risk is framed through the potential consequences of disturbing certain agents: some are dangerous by nature (animals), some by power (the king), and others by unpredictability or social vulnerability (elder, child, fool). The verse’s structure treats “awakening” as a trigger that can transform latent danger or instability into immediate harm.
The expression “sapta suptān” (“seven sleepers”) is a mnemonic cataloging device common in didactic Sanskrit. The optative form “bodhayet” encodes a generalized, customary prohibition. Several nouns are culturally loaded: “nṛpa” signals sovereign authority; “paraśvāna” foregrounds uncertain ownership/affiliation; and “mūrkha” functions as a typological figure for unreliable discernment in aphoristic literature.