Chanakya Niti — Ethics of Action, Shloka 3
दीपो भक्षयते ध्वान्तं कज्जलं च प्रसूयते ।
यदन्नं भक्षयते नित्यं जायते तादृशी प्रजा ॥
dīpo bhakṣayate dhvāntaṃ kajjalaṃ ca prasūyate |
yad annaṃ bhakṣayate nityaṃ jāyate tādṛśī prajā ||
Đèn tiêu diệt bóng tối nhưng lại sinh muội. Thứ “lương thực” người ta ăn mãi mỗi ngày sẽ sinh ra một dân chúng đúng theo thứ ấy.
FAQs
In the Chanakya-nīti tradition, aphoristic verses often use everyday material culture (such as lamps) to frame observations about governance, social order, and collective outcomes. The imagery reflects pre-modern South Asian didactic style, where naturalistic examples are used to comment on how sustained inputs (resources, habits, influences) correlate with the character of a community or polity.
The verse presents social formation as an outcome correlated with continual consumption or sustenance (“anna” in a broad sense). Rather than offering a procedural rule, it frames a descriptive linkage: persistent nourishment or intake is associated with the kind of populace (“tādṛśī prajā”) that emerges.
The metaphor hinges on bhakṣayate (“consumes”) applied to both darkness and food, creating a parallel structure: consumption removes one thing (darkness) yet yields a byproduct (soot). “Anna” can denote literal food and, by extension, sustaining inputs; “prajā” can mean progeny or subjects, allowing the line to be read as a compact statement about how material or moral sustenance shapes collective character over time.