Chanakya Niti — Ethics of Action, Shloka 8
हतं ज्ञानं क्रियाहीनं हतश्चाज्ञानतो नरः ।
हतं निर्णायकं सैन्यं स्त्रियो नष्टा ह्यभर्तृकाः ॥
hataṃ jñānaṃ kriyāhīnaṃ hataścājñānato naraḥ |
hataṃ nirṇāyakaṃ sainyaṃ striyo naṣṭā hyabhartṛkāḥ ||
عمل کے بغیر علم برباد، جہالت سے آدمی برباد۔ فیصلہ کن سالار کے بغیر لشکر برباد، اور شوہر کے بغیر عورت (اس دور کے رواج میں) بے سہارا سمجھی جاتی ہے॥
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.