Shloka 2
Strategy and Survival — Chanakya Niti
परस्परस्य मर्माणि ये भाषन्ते नराधमाः ।
त एव विलयं यान्ति वल्मीकोदरसर्पवत् ॥
parasparasya marmāṇi ye bhāṣante narādhamāḥ |
ta eva vilayaṃ yānti valmīkodara-sarpavat ||
Kẻ hèn hạ chuyên moi móc chỗ yếu của nhau rồi cũng tự chuốc diệt vong, như con rắn nằm trong bụng tổ mối.
FAQs
Within the broader Nītiśāstra tradition, this verse can be situated in a milieu where reputation, alliance, and courtly stability were treated as fragile social resources. The reference to exposing “marmāṇi” reflects a historical concern with gossip, disclosure of weaknesses, and speech-acts that damage trust networks in household, guild, or court settings.
The verse frames harmful speech as the act of verbalizing another party’s “marmāṇi,” a term that can denote vital points in a martial sense and, by extension, personal vulnerabilities or guarded matters. The formulation treats such disclosure as self-destructive for the speaker, presenting it as a recognized social pattern rather than a situational instruction.
The compound “valmīkodara-” (“inside the anthill”) paired with “sarpavat” (“like a snake”) evokes an image of a creature confined in a hostile or inescapable enclosure, suggesting collapse from within. Lexically, “marman” carries both anatomical and strategic connotations, enabling a layered metaphor: revealing another’s ‘vital points’ functions like provoking conditions that rebound upon the revealer.