Bhoj, King of Malwa (MP), 11th Century
Chapter - 4 of Chanakya's Treatise on Policies for Kings & Ministers
 

Translation:
The number of years one will live, actions one will perform, wealth, education, and death - these five are decided for every person having a body, when he is in the womb.

Translation:
Most sons, brothers, friends keep away from the company of holy persons. Those who go with them and spend time in their good company make their family well cultured.

Translation:
Female-fish, female-tortoise, and female-bird bring up their offspring respectively by continuously watching, concentrating, and touching or covering by feathers. Company of virtuous persons does the same to bring up those who come in contact.

Commentary:
[Company of virtuous persons brings up those who come in contact by watching them, paying attention to them, and protecting them continuously.]

Translation:
Death appears far away till the body remains healthy. Do what is beneficial for your soul when the body is healthy. Once life ends what can you do?

Commentary:
[When we are healthy, we do not foresee our death and postpone doing of good deeds. However, this is an illusion, ill-health and death can come any time. Do good deeds while you are healthy, before disease and death come knocking on your doors. Don't wait; else it will be too late.]

Translation:
Education is like kamadhenu, a mythological cow, which gives whatever one asks from it. In worst time education continues to bear fruits by not leaving you. When you leave home it protects you like a mother by generating income. It is hidden wealth since no one can steal it.

Translation:
One son with good qualities is better than a hundred without good qualities. Single moon removes the darkness of the night and not thousands of stars.

Translation:
It is better that a foolish son dies rather than lives long. On death he gives unhappiness only once but if he lives he burns you life long.

Commentary:
[Man naturally loves his offspring, but they can destroy wealth & even kingdom.]

Translation:
These burn the body without fire: staying in a bad village, serving a person of low family, eating wrong food, wife whose face is always angry, son who is a fool, daughter who is a widow.

Translation:
What use is the cow which neither gives milk nor a bears a calf? What use is the son who is neither learned nor devoted to god?

Translation:
Person burning with problems he faces in this world can get solace from these three: his children, his wife, and company of holy men.

Translation:
These happen only once: kings speak only once, learned speak only once, kanya-daan (father of a daughter giving her in marriage to a man) happens only once.

Commentary:
[Words of kings, the learned & parents are not taken back but must be carried & lived through. This quote also implies that widow re-marriage was not socially permitted in those days.]

Translation:
When doing ascetic practice one person (i.e. being alone), for studying two, for singing three, for travel four, for agricultural field five, for war having many persons is appropriate.

Translation:
Wife is she who is pure & skilled, wife is she who is faithful to her husband, wife is she who loves her husband, and wife is she who speaks the truth to her husband.

Translation:
For the person not having a son, home is empty; without brothers all directions are empty; heart of the fool is empty; for poor everything is empty.

Translation:
In absence of study & practice scriptures become poison, in indigestion food becomes poison, in get-togethers poverty becomes poison, and in old age having a young woman becomes poison.

Translation:
Abandon the religion which is without kindness & compassion, abandon the teacher who does not have education, abandon the wife who is always having an angry face, abandon brothers & relatives who do not have affection.

Commentary:
[These are drastic choices and actions but are the better options in the long run.]

Translation:
Travel makes a man old, tying makes a horse old, lack of coitus makes a woman old, and drying in the sun makes the clothes old.

Translation:
These should be thought over again & again: how is the time, who are friends, how is the place, what is the income & expenditure, whose strength am I and who is my strength?

Commentary:
[Before commencing any work, the person should think about these well: Is this the right time to start & do this work? Who are my real friends and will be of help to me? Is this place the right one for doing it? How much will be the income and expenses in this work? Whom have I helped? How much strength do I have?]

Translation:
These five should be considered as father: who gives birth, who gets upnayan (ceremony of investiture with sacred thread amongst high caste Hindus) done, who gives education & knowledge, who provides food, who protects from fear.

Translation:
These five should be considered as mother: wife of the king, wife of the teacher, wife of the friend, mother of the wife, own mother.

Bikaner Fort, Rajasthan

References


[1] Chanakya Neeti, Ashwini Parashar, New Delhi, 1998.
[2] Oxford Hindi-English Dictionary, R.S. McGregor (Edited), New Delhi, 1999.
[3] Bhargava's Concise Dictionary of the English Language (Anglo-Hindi Edition), R. C. Pathak (Edited), Varanasi, 1995