विद्या · Chapter Overview
From Chāṇakya Nīti — The Verses of Practical Wisdom, taught by Acharya T Krishnatrey. This lesson is free to read.
<pre data-block="statement">What this chapter covers | This chapter teaches that learning (vidyā) is the supreme wealth — the one asset no thief can steal, no ruler can tax, no share can divide. Its four verses show that knowledge left in the book is as useless as money in another's hand when the moment of need arrives (16.20), that learning dissolves distance and foreignness among four portable powers (3.13), that parents who fail to educate act, in effect, as enemies (2.11), and that learning is the true beauty of the plain-looking (3.9). The thread throughout: vidyā counts only when it lives in you, retrievable under pressure.</pre>