Sri Chanakya Niti-Shastra

Sri Chanakya Niti-Shastra: Chapter One
The Political Ethics of Chanakya Pandit

  
1. Humbly bowing down before the almighty Lord Sri Vishnu, the Lord of the three worlds, I recite
maxims of the science of political ethics (niti) selected from the various satras.

2. That man who by the study of these maxims from the shastras acquires a knowledge of the most
celebrated principles of duty, and understands what ought and what ought not to be followed, and
what is good and what is bad, is most excellent.

3. Therefore with an eye to the public good, I shall speak that which, when understood, will lead to
an understanding of things in their proper perspective.

4. Even a pandit comes to grief by giving instruction to a foolish disciple, by maintaining a wicked
wife, and by excessive familiarity with the miserable.

5. A wicked wife, a false friend, a saucy servant and living in a house with a serpent in it are nothing
but death.

6. One should save his money against hard times, save his wife at the sacrifice of his riches, but
invariably one should save his soul even at the sacrifice of his wife and riches.

7. Save your wealth against future calamity. Do not say, "What fear has a rich man of calamity?"
When riches begin to forsake one even the accumulated stock dwindles away.

8. Do not inhabit a country where you are not respected, cannot earn your livelihood, have no
friends, or cannot acquire knowledge.

9. Do not stay for a single day where there are not these five persons: a wealthy man, a brahmana
well versed in Vedic lore, a king, a river and a physician.

10. Wise men should never go into a country where there are no means of earning one's livelihood,
where the people have no dread of anybody, have no sense of shame, no intelligence, or a
charitable disposition.

11. Test a servant while in the discharge of his duty, a relative in difficulty, a friend in adversity, and
a wife in misfortune.

12. He is a true friend who does not forsake us in time of need, misfortune, famine, or war, in a
king's court, or at the crematorium (smashana).

13. He who gives up what is imperishable for that which is perishable, loses that which is
imperishable; and doubtlessly loses that which is perishable also.

14. A wise man should marry a virgin of a respectable family even if she is deformed. He should not
marry one of a low-class family, though beautiful. Marriage in a family of equal status is preferable.

15. Do not put your trust in rivers, men who carry weapons, beasts with claws or horns, women, and
members of a royal family.

16. Even from poison extract nectar, wash and take back gold if it has fallen in filth, receive the
highest knowledge (Krishna consciousness) from a low born person; so also a girl possessing
virtuous qualities (stri-ratna) even if she be born in a disreputable family.

17. Women have hunger two-fold, shyness four-fold, daring six-fold, and lust eight-fold as
compared to men.
  
Sri Chanakya Niti-Shastra: Chapter Two
The Political Ethics of Chanakya Pandit
 
  
1. Untruthfulness, rashness, guile, stupidity, avarice, uncleanliness and cruelty are a women's seven
natural flaws.

2. To have ability for eating when dishes are ready at hand, to be robust and virile in the company of
one's religiously wedded wife, and to have a mind for making charity when one is prosperous are
the fruits of no ordinary austerities.

3. He whose son is obedient to him, whose wife's conduct is in accordance with his wishes, and who
is content with his riches, has his heaven here on earth.

4. They alone are sons who are devoted to their father. He is a father who supports his sons. He is a
friend in whom we can confide, and she only is a wife in whose company the husband feels
contented and peaceful.

5. Avoid him who talks sweetly before you but tries to ruin you behind your back, for he is like a
pitcher of poison with milk on top.

6. Do not put your trust in a bad companion nor even trust an ordinary friend, for if he should get
angry with you, he may bring all your secrets to light.

7. Do not reveal what you have thought upon doing, but by wise council keep it secret being
determined to carry it into execution.

8. Foolishness is indeed painful, and verily so is youth, but more painful by far than either is being
obliged in another person's house.

9. There does not exist a ruby in every mountain, nor a pearl in the head of every elephant; neither
are the sadhus to be found everywhere, nor sandal trees in every forest.

10. Wise men should always bring up their sons in various moral ways, for children who have
knowledge of niti-sastra and are well-behaved become a glory to their family.

11. Those parents who do not educate their sons are their enemies; for as is a crane among swans,
so are ignorant so are ignorant sons in a public assembly.

12. Many a bad habit is developed through overindulgence, and many a good one by chastisement,
therefore beat your son as well as your pupil; never indulge them. ("Spare the rod and spoil the
child.")


13. Let not a single day pass without your learning a verse, half a verse, or a fourth of it, or even one
letter of it; nor without attending to charity, study and other pious activity.

14. Separation from the wife, disgrace from one's own people, an enemy saved in battle, service to
a wicked king, poverty, and a mismanaged assembly: these six kinds of evils, if afflicting a person,
burn him even without fire.

15. Trees on a river bank, a woman in another man's house, and kings without counsellors go
without doubt to swift destruction.

16. A brahmana's strength is in his learning, a king's strength is in his army, a vaishya's strength is in
his wealth and a shudra's strength is in his attitude of service.

17. The prostitute has to forsake a man who has no money, the subject a king that cannot defend
him, the birds a tree that bears no fruit, and the guests a house after they have finished their meals.

18. Brahmanas quit their patrons after receiving alms from them, scholars leave their teachers after
receiving education from them, and animals desert a forest that has been burnt down.

19. He who befriends a man whose conduct is vicious, whose vision impure, and who is notoriously
crooked, is rapidly ruined.

20. Friendship between equals flourishes, service under a king is respectable, it is good to be
business-minded in public dealings, and a handsome lady is safe in her own home.


Sri Chanakya Niti-Shastra: Chapter Three
The Political Ethics of Chanakya Pandit
 
  
1. In this world, whose family is there without blemish? Who is free from sickness and grief? Who is
forever happy?

2. A man's descent may be discerned by his conduct, his country by his pronunciation of language,
his friendship by his warmth and glow, and his capacity to eat by his body.

3. Give your daughter in marriage to a good family, engage your son in learning, see that your
enemy comes to grief, and engage your friends in dharma. (Krsna consciousness).

4. Of a rascal and a serpent, the serpent is the better of the two, for he strikes only at the time he is
destined to kill, while the former at every step.

5. Therefore kings gather round themselves men of good families, for they never forsake them
either at the beginning, the middle or the end.

6. At the time of the pralaya (universal destruction) the oceans are to exceed their limits and seek to
change, but a saintly man never changes.

7. Do not keep company with a fool for as we can see he is a two-legged beast. Like an unseen thorn
he pierces the heart with his sharp words.

8. Though men be endowed with beauty and youth and born in noble families, yet without
education they are like the palasa flower which is void of sweet fragrance.

9. The beauty of a cuckoo is in its notes, that of a woman in her unalloyed devotion to her husband,
that of an ugly person in his scholarship, and that of an ascetic in his forgiveness.

10. Give up a member to save a family, a family to save a village, a village to save a country, and the
country to save yourself.

11. There is no poverty for the industrious. Sin does not attach itself to the person practicing japa
(chanting of the holy names of the Lord). Those who are absorbed in maunam (silent contemplation
of the Lord) have no quarrel with others. They are fearless who remain always alert.

12. ...

13. What is too heavy for the strong and what place is too distant for those who put forth effort?
What country is foreign to a man of true learning? Who can be inimical to one who speaks
pleasingly?

14. As a whole forest becomes fragrant by the existence of a single tree with sweet-smelling
blossoms in it, so a family becomes famous by the birth of a virtuous son.

15. As a single withered tree, if set aflame, causes a whole forest to burn, so does a rascal son
destroy a whole family.

16. As night looks delightful when the moon shines, so is a family gladdened by even one learned
and virtuous son.

17. What is the use of having many sons if they cause grief and vexation? It is better to have only
one son from whom the whole family can derive support and peacefulness.

18. Fondle a son until he is five years of age, and use the stick for another ten years, but when he
has attained his sixteenth year treat him as a friend.

19. He who runs away from a fearful calamity, a foreign invasion, a terrible famine, and the
companionship of wicked men is safe.

20 He who has not acquired one of the following: religious merit (dharma), wealth (artha),
satisfaction of desires (kama), or liberation (moksa) is repeatedly born to die.

21. Lakshmi, the Goddess of wealth, comes of Her own accord where fools are not respected, grain
is well stored up, and the husband and wife do not quarrel.


Sri Chanakya Niti-Shastra: Chapter Four
The Political Ethics of Chanakya Pandit


1. These five: the life-span, the type of work, wealth, learning and the time of one's death are
determined while one is in the womb.

2. Offspring, friends and relatives flee from a devotee of the Lord: yet those who follow him bring
merit to their families through their devotion.

3. Fish, tortoises, and birds bring up their young by means of sight, attention and touch; so do
saintly men afford protection to their associates by the same means.

4. As long as your body is healthy and under control and death is distant, try to save your soul; when
death is immanent what can you do?

5. Learning is like a cow of desire. It, like her, yields in all seasons. Like a mother, it feeds you on your
journey. Therefore learning is a hidden treasure.

6. A single son endowed with good qualities is far better than a hundred devoid of them. For the
moon, though one, dispels the darkness, which the stars, though numerous, can not.

7. A still-born son os superior to a foolish son endowed with a long life. The first causes grief for but
a moment while the latter like a blazing fire consumes his parents in grief for life.

8. Residing in a small village devoid of proper living facilities, serving a person born of a low family,
unwholesome food, a frowning wife, a foolish son, and a widowed daughter burn the body without
fire.

9. What good is a cow that neither gives milk nor conceives? Similarly, what is the value of the birth
of a son if he becomes neither learned nor a pure devotee of the Lord?

10. When one is consumed by the sorrows of life, three things give him relief: offspring, a wife, and
the company of the Lord's devotees.

11. Kings speak for once, men of learning once, and the daughter is given in marriage once. All
these things happen once and only once.

12. Religious austerities should be practiced alone, study by two, and singing by three. A journey
should be undertaken by four, agriculture by five, and war by many together.

13. She is a true wife who is clean (suci), expert, chaste, pleasing to the husband, and truthful.

14. The house of a childless person is a void, all directions are void to one who has no relatives, the
heart of a fool is also void, but to a poverty stricken man all is void.

15. Scriptural lessons not put into practice are poison; a meal is poison to him who suffers from
indigestion; a social gathering is poison to a poverty stricken person; and a young wife is poison to
an aged man.

16. That man who is without religion and mercy should be rejected. A guru without spiritual
knowledge should be rejected. The wife with an offensive face should be given up, and so should
relatives who are without affection.

17. Constant travel brings old age upon a man; a horse becomes old by being constantly tied up;
lack of sexual contact with her husband brings old age upon a woman; and garments become old
through being left in the sun.

18. Consider again and again the following: the right time, the right friends, the right place, the
right means of income, the right ways of spending, and from whom you derive your power.

19. For the twice-born the fire (Agni) is a representative of God. The Supreme Lord resides in the
heart of His devotees. Those of average intelligence (alpa-buddhi or kanista-adhikari) see God only
in His sri-murti (deity form), but those of broad vision see the Supreme Lord everywhere.
  

Sri Chanakya Niti-Shastra: Chapter Five
The Political Ethics of Chanakya Pandit

  
1. Agni is the worshipable person for the twice-born; the brahmana for the other castes; the
husband for the wife; and the guest who comes for food at the midday meal for all.

2. As gold is tested in four ways by rubbing, cutting, heating and beating -- so a man should be
tested by these four things: his renunciation, his conduct, his qualities and his actions.

3. A thing may be dreaded as long as it has not overtaken you, but once it has come upon you, try to
get rid of it without hesitation.

4. Though persons be born from the same womb and under the same stars, they do not become
alike in disposition as the thousand fruits of the badari tree.

5. He whose hands are clean does not like to hold an office; he who desires nothing cares not for
bodily decorations; he who is only partially educated cannot speak agreeably; and he who speaks
out plainly cannot be a deceiver.

6. The learned are envied by the foolish; rich men by the poor; chaste women by adulteresses; and
beautiful ladies by ugly ones.

7. Indolent application ruins study; money is lost when entrusted to others; a farmer who sows his
seed sparsely is ruined; and an army is lost for want of a commander.

8. Learning is retained through putting into practice; family prestige is maintained through good
behaviour; a respectable person is recognised by his excellent qualities; and anger is seen in the
eyes.

9. Religion is preserved by wealth; knowledge by diligent practice; a king by conciliatory words; and
a home by a dutiful housewife.

10. Those who blaspheme Vedic wisdom, who ridicule the life style recommended in the satras, and
who deride men of peaceful temperament, come to grief unnecessarily.

11. Charity puts and end to poverty; righteous conduct to misery; discretion to ignorance; and
scrutiny to fear.

12. There is no disease (so destructive) as lust; no enemy like infatuation; no fire like wrath; and no
happiness like spiritual knowledge.

13. A man is born alone and dies alone; and he experiences the good and bad consequences of his
karma alone; and he goes alone to hell or the Supreme abode.

14. Heaven is but a straw to him who knows spiritual life; so is life to a valiant man; a woman to him
who has subdued his senses; and the universe to him who is without attachment for the world.

15. Learning is a friend on the journey; a wife in the house; medicine in sickness; and religious merit
is the only friend after death.

16. Rain which falls upon the sea is useless; so is food for one who is satiated; in vain is a gift for one
who is wealthy; and a burning lamp during the daytime is useless.

17. There is no water like rainwater; no strength like one's own; no light like that of the eyes; and no
wealth more dear than food grain.

18. The poor wish for wealth; animals for the faculty of speech; men wish for heaven; and godly
persons for liberation.

19. The earth is supported by the power of truth; it is the power of truth that makes the sun shine
and the winds blow; indeed all things rest upon truth.

20. The Goddess of wealth is unsteady (chanchala), and so is the life breath. The duration of life is
uncertain, and the place of habitation is uncertain; but in all this inconsistent world religious merit
alone is immovable.

21. Among men the barber is cunning; among birds the crow; among beasts the jackal; and among
women, the malin (flower girl).

22. These five are your fathers; he who gave you birth, girdled you with sacred thread, teaches you,
provides you with food, and protects you from fearful situations.

23. These five should be considered as mothers; the king's wife, the preceptor's wife, the friend's
wife, your wife's mother, and your own mother.
  
 
Sri Chanakya Niti-Shastra: Chapter Six
The Political Ethics of Chanakya Pandit

  
1. By means of hearing one understands dharma, malignity vanishes, knowledge is acquired, and
liberation from material bondage is gained.

2. Among birds the crow is vile; among beasts the dog; the ascetic whose sins is abominable, but he
who blasphemes others is the worst chandala.

3. Brass is polished by ashes; copper is cleaned by tamarind; a woman, by her menses; and a river by
its flow.

4. The king, the brahmana, and the ascetic yogi who go abroad are respected; but the woman who
wanders is utterly ruined.

5. He who has wealth has friends. He who is wealthy has relatives. The rich one alone is called a
man, and the affluent alone are respected as pandits.

6. As is the desire of Providence, so functions one's intellect; one's activities are also controlled by
Providence; and by the will of Providence one is surrounded by helpers.

7. Time perfects all living beings as well as kills them; it alone is awake when all others are asleep.
Time is insurmountable.

8. Those born blind cannot see; similarly blind are those in the grip of lust. Proud men have no
perception of evil; and those bent on acquiring riches see no sin in their actions.

9. The spirit soul goes through his own course of karma and he himself suffers the good and bad
results thereby accrued. By his own actions he entangles himself in samsara, and by his own efforts
he extricates himself.

10. The king is obliged to accept the sins of his subjects; the purohit (priest) suffers for those of the
king; a husband suffers for those of his wife; and the guru suffers for those of his pupils.

11. A father who is a chronic debtor, an adulterous mother, a beautiful wife, and an unlearned son
are enemies ( in one's own home).

12. Conciliate a covetous man by means of a gift, an obstinate man with folded hands in salutation,
a fool by humouring him, and a learned man by truthful words.

13. It is better to be without a kingdom than to rule over a petty one; better to be without a friend
than to befriend a rascal; better to be without a disciple than to have a stupid one; and better to be
without a wife than to have a bad one.

14. How can people be made happy in a petty kingdom? What peace can we expect from a rascal
friend? What happiness can we have at home in the company of a bad wife? How can renown be
gained by instructing an unworthy disciple?

15. Learn one thing from a lion; one from a crane; four a cock; five from a crow; six from a dog; and
three from an ass.

16. The one excellent thing that can be learned from a lion is that whatever a man intends doing
should be done by him with a whole-hearted and strenuous effort.

17. The wise man should restrain his senses like the crane and accomplish his purpose with due
knowledge of his place, time and ability.

18. To wake at the proper time; to take a bold stand and fight; to make a fair division (of property)
among relations; and to earn one's own bread by personal exertion are the four excellent things to
be learned from a cock.

19. Union in privacy (with one's wife); boldness; storing away useful items; watchfulness; and not
easily trusting others; these five things are to be learned from a crow.

20. Contentment with little or nothing to eat although one may have a great appetite; to awaken
instantly although one may be in a deep slumber; unflinching devotion to the master; and bravery;
these six qualities should be learned from the dog.

21. Although an ass is tired, he continues to carry his burden; he is unmindful of cold and heat; and
he is always contented; these three things should be learned from the ass.

22. He who shall practice these twenty virtues shall become invincible in all his undertakings.
  

Sri Chanakya Niti-Shastra: Chapter Seven
The Political Ethics of Chanakya Pandit

  
1. A wise man should not reveal his loss of wealth, the vexation of his mind, the misconduct of his
own wife, base words spoken by others, and disgrace that has befallen him.

2. He who gives up shyness in monetary dealings, in acquiring knowledge, in eating and in
business, becomes happy.

3. The happiness and peace attained by those satisfied by the nectar of spiritual tranquillity is not
attained by greedy persons restlessly moving here and there.

4. One should feel satisfied with the following three things; his own wife, food given by Providence
and wealth acquired by honest effort; but one should never feel satisfied with the following three;
study, chanting the holy names of the Lord (japa) and charity.

5. Do not pass between two brahmanas, between a brahmana and his sacrificial fire, between a wife
and her husband, a master and his servant, and a plough and an ox.

6. Do not let your foot touch fire, the spiritual master or a brahmana; it must never touch a cow, a
virgin, an old person or a child.

7. Keep one thousand cubits away from an elephant, a hundred from a horse, ten from a horned
beast, but keep away from the wicked by leaving the country.

8. An elephant is controlled by a goad (ankusha), a horse by a slap of the hand, a horned animal
with the show of a stick, and a rascal with a sword.

9. Brahmanas find satisfaction in a good meal, peacocks in the peal of thunder, a sadhu in seeing
the prosperity of others, and the wicked in the misery of others.

10. Conciliate a strong man by submission, a wicked man by opposition, and the one whose power
is equal to yours by politeness or force.

11. The power of a king lies in his mighty arms; that of a brahmana in his spiritual knowledge; and
that of a woman in her beauty youth and sweet words.

12. Do not be very upright in your dealings for you would see by going to the forest that straight
trees are cut down while crooked ones are left standing.

13. Swans live wherever there is water, and leave the place where water dries up; let not a man act
so -- and come and go as he pleases.

14. Accumulated wealth is saved by spending just as incoming fresh water is saved by letting out
stagnant water.

15. He who has wealth has friends and relations; he alone survives and is respected as a man.

16. The following four characteristics of the denizens of heaven may be seen in the residents of this
earth planet; charity, sweet words, worship of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and satisfying
the needs of brahmanas.

17. The following qualities of the denizens of hell may characterise men on earth; extreme wrath,
harsh speech, enmity with one's relations, the company with the base, and service to men of low
extraction.

18. By going to the den of a lion pearls from the head of an elephant may be obtained; but by
visiting the hole of a jackal nothing but the tail of a calf or a bit of the hide of an ass may found.

19. The life of an uneducated man is as useless as the tail of a dog which neither covers its rear end,
nor protects it from the bites of insects.

20. Purity of speech, of the mind, of the senses, and the of a compassionate heart are needed by one
who desires to rise to the divine platform.

21. As you seek fragrance in a flower, oil in the sesamum seed, fire in wood, ghee in milk, and
jaggery (guda) in sugarcane; so seek the spirit that is in the body by means of discrimination. 
  
 
Sri Chanakya Niti-Shastra: Chapter Eight
The Political Ethics of Chanakya Pandit

  
1. Low class men desire wealth; middle class men both wealth and respect; but the noble, honour
only; hence honour is the noble man's true wealth.

2. ...

3. The lamp eats up the darkness and therefore it produces lamp black; in the same way according
to the nature of our diet (sattva, rajas, or tamas) we produce offspring in similar quality.

4. O wise man! Give your wealth only to the worthy and never to others. The water of the sea
received by the clouds is always sweet. The rain water enlivens all living beings of the earth both
movable (insects, animals, humans, etc.) and immovable (plants, trees, etc.), and then returns to the
ocean it value multiplied a million fold.


5. The wise who discern the essence of things have declared that the yavana (meat eater) is equal in
baseness to a thousand candalas the lowest class), and hence a yavana is the basest of men; indeed
there is no one more base.

6. After having rubbed oil on the body, after encountering the smoke from a funeral pyre, after
sexual intercourse, and after being shaved, one remains a chandala until he bathes.

7. Water is the medicine for indigestion; it is invigorating when the food that is eaten is well
digested; it is like nectar when drunk in the middle of a dinner; and it is like poison when taken at
the end of a meal.

8. Knowledge is lost without putting it into practice; a man is lost due to ignorance; an army is lost
without a commander; and a woman is lost without a husband.

9. A man who encounters the following three is unfortunate; the death of his wife in his old age, the
entrusting of money into the hands of relatives, and depending upon others for food.

10. Chanting of the Vedas without making ritualistic sacrifices to the Supreme Lord through the
medium of Agni, and sacrifices not followed by bountiful gifts are futile. Perfection can be achieved
only through devotion (to the Supreme Lord) for devotion is the basis of all success.

11. ...

12. ...

13. There is no austerity equal to a balanced mind, and there is no happiness equal to contentment;
there is no disease like covetousness, and no virtue like mercy.

14. Anger is a personification of Yama (the demigod of death); thirst is like the hellish river Vaitarani;
knowledge is like a kamadhenu (the cow of plenty); and contentment is like Nandanavana (the
garden of Indra).

15. Moral excellence is an ornament for personal beauty; righteous conduct, for high birth; success
for learning; and proper spending for wealth.

16. Beauty is spoiled by an immoral nature; noble birth by bad conduct; learning, without being
perfected; and wealth by not being properly utilised.

17. Water seeping into the earth is pure; and a devoted wife is pure; the king who is the benefactor
of his people is pure; and pure is the brahmana who is contented.

18. Discontented brahmanas, contented kings, shy prostitutes, and immodest housewives are
ruined.

19. Of what avail is a high birth if a person is destitute of scholarship? A man who is of low
extraction is honoured even y the demigods if he is learned.

20. A learned man is honoured by the people. A learned man commands respect everywhere for his
learning. Indeed, learning is honoured everywhere.

21. those who are endowed with beauty and youth and who are born of noble families are
worthless if they have no learning. They are just like the kimshuka blossoms ( flowers of the palasa
tree) which, though beautiful, have no fragrance.

22. The earth is encumbered with the weight of the flesh-eaters, wine-bibblers, dolts and
blockheads, who are beasts in the form of men.

23. There is no enemy like a yajna (sacrifice) which consumes the kingdom when not attended by
feeding on a large scale; consumes the priest when the chanting is not done properly; and
consumes the yajaman (the responsible person) when the gifts are not made. 
  

Sri Chanakya Niti-Shastra: Chapter Nine
The Political Ethics of Chanakya Pandit

  
1. My dear child, if you desire to be free from the cycle of birth and death, then abandon the objects
of sense gratification as poison. Drink instead the nectar of forbearance, upright conduct, mercy,
cleanliness and truth.
 
2. Those base men who speak of the secret faults of others destroy themselves like serpents who
stray onto anthills.
 
3. Perhaps nobody has advised Lord Brahma, the creator, to impart perfume to gold; fruit to the
sugarcane; flowers to the sandalwood tree; wealth to the learned; and long life to the king.
 
4. Nectar (amrita) is the best among medicines; eating good food is the best of all types of material
happiness; the eye is the chief among all organs; and the head occupies the chief position among all
parts of the body.
 
5. No messenger can travel about in the sky and no tidings come from there. The voice of its
inhabitants as never heard, nor can any contact be established with them. Therefore the brahmana
who predicts the eclipse of the sun and moon which occur in the sky must be considered as a
vidwan (man of great learning).
 
6. The student, the servant, the traveller, the hungry person, the frightened man, the treasury
guard, and the steward: these seven ought to be awakened if they fall asleep.
 
7. The serpent, the king, the tiger, the stinging wasp, the small child, the dog owned by other
people, and the fool: these seven ought not to be awakened from sleep.
 
8. Of those who have studied the Vedas for material rewards, and those who accept foodstuffs
offered by shudras, what potency have they? They are just like serpents without fangs.
 
9. He who neither rouses fear by his anger, nor confers a favour when he is pleased can neither
control nor protect. What can he do?
 
10. The serpent may, without being poisonous, raise high its hood, but the show of terror is enough
to frighten people -- whether he be venomous or not.

 
11. Wise men spend their mornings in discussing gambling, the afternoon discussing the activities
of women, and the night hearing about the activities of theft. (The first item above refers to the
gambling of King Yuddhisthira, the great devotee of Krishna. The second item refers to the glorious
deeds of mother Sita, the consort of Lord Ramachandra. The third item hints at the adorable
childhood pastimes of Sri Krishna who stole butter from the elderly cowherd ladies of Gokula.
Hence Chanakya Pandita advises wise persons to spend the morning absorbed in Mahabharata, the
afternoon studying Ramayana, and the evening devotedly hearing the Srimad-Bhagvatam.)
 
12. By preparing a garland for a Deity with one's own hand; by grinding sandal paste for the Lord
with one's own hand; and by writing sacred texts with one's own hand -- one becomes blessed with
opulence equal to that of Indra.
 
13. ...
 
14. Poverty is set off by fortitude; shabby garments by keeping them clean; bad food by warming it;
and ugliness by good behaviour.
  

Sri Chanakya Niti-Shastra: Chapter Ten
The Political Ethics of Chanakya Pandit

  
1. One destitute of wealth is not destitute, he is indeed rich (if he is learned); but the man devoid of
learning is destitute in every way.

2. We should carefully scrutinise that place upon which we step (having it ascertained to be free
from filth and living creatures like insects, etc.); we should drink water which has been filtered
(through a clean cloth); we should speak only those words which have the sanction of the satras;
and do that act which we have carefully considered.

3. He who desires sense gratification must give up all thoughts of acquiring knowledge; and he who
seeks knowledge must not hope for sense gratification. How can he who seeks sense gratification
acquire knowledge, and he who possesses knowledge enjoy mundane sense pleasure?

4. What is it that escapes the observation of poets? What is that act women are incapable of doing?
What will drunken people not prate? What will not a crow eat?

5. Fate makes a beggar a king and a king a beggar. He makes a rich man poor and a poor man rich.

6. The beggar is a miser's enemy; the wise counsellor is the fool's enemy; her husband is an
adulterous wife's enemy; and the moon is the enemy of the thief.

7. Those who are destitute of learning, penance, knowledge, good disposition, virtue and
benevolence are brutes wandering the earth in the form of men. They are burdensome to the earth.

8. Those that are empty-minded cannot be benefited by instruction. Bamboo does not acquire the
quality of sandalwood by being associated with the Malaya Mountain.

9. What good can the scriptures do to a man who has no sense of his own? Of what use is as mirror
to a blind man?

10. Nothing can reform a bad man, just as the posterious cannot become a superior part of the body
though washed one hundred times.

11. By offending a kinsman, life is lost; by offending others, wealth is lost; by offending the king,
everything is lost; and by offending a brahmana one's whole family is ruined.

12. It is better to live under a tree in a jungle inhabited by tigers and elephants, to maintain oneself
in such a place with ripe fruits and spring water, to lie down on grass and to wear the ragged barks
of trees than to live amongst one's relations when reduced to poverty.

13. The brahmana is like tree; his prayers are the roots, his chanting of the Vedas are the branches,
and his religious act are the leaves. Consequently effort should be made to preserve his roots for if
the roots are destroyed there can be no branches or leaves.

14. My mother is Kamala devi (Lakshmi), my father is Lord Janardana (Vishnu), my kinsmen are the
Vishnu-bhaktas (Vaisnavas) and, my homeland is all the three worlds.

15. (Through the night) a great many kinds of birds perch on a tree but in the morning they fly in all
the ten directions. Why should we lament for that? (Similarly, we should not grieve when we must
inevitably part company from our dear ones).

16. He who possesses intelligence is strong; how can the man that is unintelligent be powerful? The
elephant of the forest having lost his senses by intoxication was tricked into a lake by a small rabbit.
(this verse refers to a famous story from the niti-sastra called pancatantra compiled by the pandit
Vishnusharma 2500 years ago).

17. Why should I be concerned for my maintenance while absorbed in praising the glories of Lord
Vishwambhara (Vishnu), the supporter of all. Without the grace of Lord Hari, how could milk flow
from a mother's breast for a child's nourishment? Repeatedly thinking only in this way, O Lord of
the Yadus, O husband of Lakshmi, all my time is spent in serving Your lotus feet.

18. ...

19. ...

20. ...

Sri Chanakya Niti-Shastra: Chapter Eleven
The Political Ethics of Chanakya Pandit
 
  
1. Generosity, pleasing address, courage and propriety of conduct are not acquired, but are inbred
qualities.

2. He who forsakes his own community and joins another perishes as the king who embraces an
unrighteous path.


3. The elephant has a huge body but is controlled by the ankusha (goad): yet, is the goad as large as
the elephant? A lighted candle banishes darkness: is the candle as vast as the darkness. A mountain
is broken even by a thunderbolt: is the thunderbolt therefore as big as the mountain? No, he whose
power prevails is really mighty; what is there in bulk?

4. ...

5. He who is engrossed in family life will never acquire knowledge; there can be no mercy in the
eater of flesh; the greedy man will not be truthful; and purity will not be found in a woman a
hunter.

6. The wicked man will not attain sanctity even if he is instructed in different ways, and the nim tree
will not become sweet even if it is sprinkled from the top to the roots with milk and ghee.

7. Mental dirt cannot be washed away even by one-hundred baths in the sacred waters, just as a
wine pot cannot be purified even by evaporating all the wine by fire.

8. It is not strange if a man reviles a thing of which he has no knowledge, just as a wild hunter's wife
throws away the pearl that is found in the head of an elephant, and picks up a gunj(a type of seed
which poor tribals wear as ornaments).

9. He who for one year eats his meals silently (inwardly meditating upon the Lord's prasadam);
attains to the heavenly planets for a thousand crore of years. ( Note: one crore equals ten million)

10. The student (brahmacari) should completely renounce the following eight things -- his lust,
anger, greed, desire for sweets, sense of decorating the body, excessive curiosity, excessive sleep,
and excessive endeavour for bodily maintenance.

11. ...

12. He alone is a true brahmana (dvija or "twice-born") who is satisfied with one meal a day, who
has the six samskaras (or acts of purification such as garbhadhana, etc.) performed for him, and who
cohabits with his wife only once in a month on an auspicious day after her menses.

13. The brahmana who is engrossed in worldly affairs, brings up cows and is engaged in trade is
really called a vaishya.

14. The brahmana who deals in lac-die, articles, oil, indigo, silken cloth, honey, clarified butter,
liquor, or flesh is called a shudra.

15. The brahmana who thwarts the doings of others, who is hypocritical, selfish, and a deceitful
hater, and while speaking mildly cherishes cruelty in his heart, is called a cat.

16. The brahmana who destroys a pond, a well, a tank, a garden and a temple is called a mleccha.

17. The brahmana who steals the property of the Deities and the spiritual preceptor, who cohabits
with another's wife, and who maintains himself by eating anything and everything s called a
chandala.

18. The meritorious should give away in charity all that they have in excess of their needs. By charity
only Karna, Bali and King Vikramaditya survive even today. Just see the plight of the honeybees
beating their legs in despair upon the earth. They are saying to themselves, "Alas! We neither
enjoyed our stored-up honey nor gave it in charity, and now someone has taken it from us in an
instant."
  

Sri Chanakya Niti-Shastra: Chapter Twelve
The Political Ethics of Chanakya Pandit

  
1. He is a blessed grihasta (householder) in whose house there is a blissful atmosphere, whose sons
are talented, whose wife speaks sweetly, whose wealth is enough to satisfy his desires, who finds
pleasure in the company of his wife, whose servants are obedient, in whose house hospitality is
shown, the auspicious Supreme Lord is worshiped daily, delicious food and drink is partaken, and
who finds joy in the company of devotees.
 
2. One who devotedly gives a little to a brahmana who is in distress is recompensed abundantly.
Hence, O Prince, what is given to a good brahmana is got back not in an equal quantity, but in an
infinitely higher degree.
 
3. Those men who are happy in this world, who are generous towards their relatives, kind to
strangers, indifferent to the wicked, loving to the good, shrewd in their dealings with the base,
frank with the learned, courageous with enemies, humble with elders and stern with the wife.
 
4. O jackal, leave aside the body of that man at once, whose hands have never given in charity,
whose ears have not heard the voice of learning, whose eyes have not beheld a pure devotee of the
Lord, whose feet have never traversed to holy places, whose belly is filled with things obtained by
crooked practices, and whose head is held high in vanity. Do not eat it, O jackal, otherwise you will
become polluted.
 
5. "Shame upon those who have no devotion to the lotus feet of Sri Krishna, the son of mother
Yasoda; who have no attachment for the describing the glories of Srimati Radharani; whose ears are
not eager to listen to the stories of the Lord's lila." Such is the exclamation of the mridanga sound of
dhik-tam dhik-tam dhigatam at kirtana.
 
6. What fault of spring that the bamboo shoot has no leaves? What fault of the sun if the owl cannot
see during the daytime? Is it the fault of the clouds if no raindrops fall into the mouth of the chatak
bird? Who can erase what Lord Brahma has inscribed upon our foreheads at the time of birth?
 
7. A wicked man may develop saintly qualities in the company of a devotee, but a devotee does not
become impious in the company of a wicked person. The earth is scented by a flower that falls upon
it, but the flower does not contact the odour of the earth.
 
8. One indeed becomes blessed by having darshan of a devotee; for the devotee has the ability to
purify immediately, whereas the sacred tirtha gives purity only after prolonged contact.
 
9. A stranger asked a brahmana, "Tell me, who is great in this city?" The brahmana replied, "The
cluster of palmyra trees is great." Then the traveller asked, "Who is the most charitable person?" The
brahmana answered, "The washerman who takes the clothes in the morning and gives them back
in the evening is the most charitable." He then asked, "Who is the ablest man?" The brahmana
answered, "Everyone is expert in robbing others of their wives and wealth." The man then asked the
brahmana, "How do you manage to live in such a city?" The brahmana replied, "As a worm survives
while even in a filthy place so do I survive here!"
 
10. The house in which the lotus feet of brahmanas are not washed, in which Vedic mantras are not
loudly recited, and in which the holy rites of svaha (sacrificial offerings to the Supreme Lord) and
swadha (offerings to the ancestors) are not performed, is like a crematorium.
 
11. (It is said that a sadhu, when asked about his family, replied thusly): truth is my mother, and my
father is spiritual knowledge; righteous conduct is my brother, and mercy is my friend, inner peace
is my wife, and forgiveness is my son: these six are my kinsmen.
 
12. Our bodies are perishable, wealth is not at all permanent and death is always nearby. Therefore
we must immediately engage in acts of merit.
 
13. Arjuna says to Krishna. "Brahmanas find joy in going to feasts, cows find joy in eating their
tender grass, wives find joy in the company of their husbands, and know, O Krishna, that in the
same way I rejoice in battle.
 
14. He who regards another's wife as his mother, the wealth that does not belong to him as a lump
of mud, and the pleasure and pain of all other living beings as his own -- truly sees things in the
right perspective, and he is a true pandit.
 
15. O Raghava, the love of virtue, pleasing speech, and an ardent desire for performing acts of
charity, guileless dealings with friends, humility in the guru's presence , deep tranquillity of mind,
pure conduct, discernment of virtues, realised knowledge of the sastras, beauty of form and
devotion to God are all found in you." (The great sage Vasistha Muni, the spiritual preceptor of the
dynasty of the sun, said this to Lord Ramachandra at the time of His proposed coronation).
 
16. The desire tree is wood; the golden Mount Meru is motionless; the wish-fulfilling gem cintamani
is just a stone; the sun is scorching; the moon is prone to wane; the boundless ocean is saline; the
demigod of lust lost his body (due to Shiva's wrath); Bali Maharaja, the son of Diti, was born into a
clan of demons; and Kamadhenu (the cow of heaven) is a mere beast. O Lord of the Raghu dynasty!
I cannot compare you to any one of these (taking their merits into account).
 
17. Realised learning (vidya) is our friend while travelling , the wife is a friend at home, medicine is
the friend of a sick man, and meritorious deeds are the friends at death.
 
18. Courtesy should be learned from princes, the art of conversation from pandits, lying should be
learned from gamblers and deceitful ways should be learned from women.
 
19. The unthinking spender, the homeless urchin, the quarrel monger, the man who neglects his
wife and is heedless in his actions -- all these will soon come to ruination.
 
20. The wise man should not be anxious about his food; he should be anxious to be engaged only in
dharma. The food of each man is created for him at his birth.
 
21. He who is not shy in the acquisition of wealth, grain and knowledge, and in taking his meals, will
be happy.
 
22. As centesimal droppings will fill a pot so also are knowledge, virtue and wealth gradually
obtained.
 
23. The man who remains a fool even in advanced age is really a fool, just as the Indra-Varuna fruit
does not become sweet no matter how ripe it might become.


Sri Chanakya Niti-Shastra: Chapter Thirteen
The Political Ethics of Chanakya Pandit

  
1. A man may live but for a moment, but that moment should be spent in doing auspicious deeds. It
is useless living even for a kalpa (4,320,000,000 years) and bringing only distress upon the two
worlds (this world and the next).
 
2. We should not fret for what is past, nor should we be anxious about the future; men of
discernment deal only with the present moment.
 
3. It certainly is nature of the demigods, men of good character, and parents to be easily pleased.
Near and distant relatives are pleased when they are hospitably received with bathing, food, and
drink; and pandits are pleased with an opportunity for giving spiritual discourse.
 
4 Even as the unborn babe is in the womb of his mother, these five are fixed as his life destiny: his
life span, his activities, his acquisition of wealth and knowledge, and his time of death.
 
5. O see what a wonder it is! The doings of the great are strange: they treat wealth as light as a
straw, yet, when they obtain it, they bend under its weight.
 
6. He who is overly attached to his family members experiences fear and sorrow, for the root of all
grief is attachment. Thus one should discard attachment to be happy.
 
7. He who is prepared for the future and he who deals cleverly with any situation that may arise are
both happy; but the fatalistic man who wholly depends on luck is ruined.
 
8. If the king is virtuous, then the subjects are also virtuous. If the king is sinful, then the subjects
also become sinful. If he is mediocre, then the subjects are mediocre. The subjects follow the
example of the king. In short, as is the king so are the subjects.
 
9. I consider him who does not act religiously as dead though living, but he who dies acting
religiously unquestionably lives long though he is dead.
 
10. He who has acquired neither virtue, wealth, satisfaction of desires nor salvation (dharma, artha,
kama, moksa), lives an utterly useless life, like the "nipples" hanging from the neck of a goat.
 
11. The hearts of base men burn before the fire of other's fame, and they slander them being
themselves unable to rise to such a high position.
 
12. Excessive attachment to sense pleasures leads to bondage, and detachment from sense
pleasures leads to liberation; therefore it is the mind alone that is responsible for bondage or
liberation.
 
13. He who sheds bodily identification by means of knowledge of the indwelling Supreme Self
(Paramatma), will always be absorbed in meditative trance (samadhi) wherever his mind leads him.
 
14. Who realises all the happiness he desires? Everything is in the hands of God. Therefore one
should learn contentment.
 
15. As a calf follows its mother among a thousand cows, so the (good or bad) deeds of a man follow
him.
 
16. He whose actions are disorganised has no happiness either in the midst of men or in a jungle --
in the midst of men his heart burns by social contacts, and his helplessness burns him in the forest.
 
17. As the man who digs obtains underground water by use of a shovel, so the student attains the
knowledge possessed by his preceptor through his service.
 
18. Men reap the fruits of their deeds, and intellects bear the mark of deeds performed in previous
lives; even so the wise act after due circumspection.
 
19. Even the man who has taught the spiritual significance of just one letter ought to be worshiped.
He who does not give reverence to such a guru is born as a dog a hundred times, and at last takes
birth as a chandala (dog-eater).
 
20. At the end of the yuga, Mount Meru may be shaken; at the end of the kalpa, the waters of the
seven oceans may be disturbed; but a sadhu will never swerve from the spiritual path.
 
21. There are three gems upon this earth; food, water, and pleasing words -- fools (mudhas)
consider pieces of rocks as gems.
  

Sri Chanakya Niti-Shastra: Chapter Fourteen
The Political Ethics of Chanakya Pandit

  
1. Poverty, disease, sorrow, imprisonment and other evils are the fruits borne by the tree of one's
own sins.

2. Wealth, a friend, a wife, and a kingdom may be regained; but this body when lost may never be
acquired again.

3. The enemy can be overcome by the union of large numbers, just as grass through its
collectiveness wards off erosion caused by heavy rainfall.

4. Oil on water, a secret communicated to a base man, a gift given to a worthy receiver, and
scriptural instruction given to an intelligent man spread out by virtue of their nature.

5. If men should always retain the state of mind they experience when hearing religious instruction,
when present at a crematorium ground, and when in sickness -- then who could not attain
liberation.

6. If a man should feel before, as he feels after, repentance -- then who would not attain perfection?

7. We should not feel pride in our charity, austerity, valour, scriptural knowledge, modesty and
morality for the world is full of the rarest gems.

8. He who lives in our mind is near though he may actually be far away; but he who is not in our
heart is far though he may really be nearby.

9. We should always speak what would please the man of whom we expect a favour, like the hunter
who sings sweetly when he desires to shoot a deer.

10. It is ruinous to be familiar with the king, fire, the religious preceptor, and a woman. To be
altogether indifferent of them is to be deprived of the opportunity to benefit ourselves, hence our
association with them must be from a safe distance.

11. We should always deal cautiously with fire, water, women, foolish people, serpents, and
members of a royal family; for they may, when the occasion presents itself, at once bring about our
death.

12. He should be considered to be living who is virtuous and pious, but the life of a man who is
destitute of religion and virtues is void of any blessing.

13. If you wish to gain control of the world by the performance of a single deed, then keep the
following fifteen, which are prone to wander here and there, from getting the upper hand of you:
the five sense objects (objects of sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch); the five sense organs (ears,
eyes, nose, tongue and skin) and organs of activity (hands, legs, mouth, genitals and anus).

14. He is a pandit (man of knowledge) who speaks what is suitable to the occasion, who renders
loving service according to his ability, and who knows the limits of his anger.

15 One single object (a woman) appears in three different ways: to the man who practices austerity
it appears as a corpse, to the sensual it appears as a woman, and to the dogs as a lump of flesh.

16. A wise man should not divulge the formula of a medicine which he has well prepared; an act of
charity which he has performed; domestic conflicts; private affairs with his wife; poorly prepared
food he may have been offered; or slang he may have heard.

17. The cuckoos remain silent for a long time (for several seasons) until they are able to sing sweetly
(in the Spring ) so as to give joy to all.

18. We should secure and keep the following: the blessings of meritorious deeds, wealth, grain, the
words of the spiritual master, and rare medicines. Otherwise life becomes impossible.

19. Eschew wicked company and associate with saintly persons. Acquire virtue day and night, and
always meditate on that which is eternal forgetting that which is temporary.
  

Sri Chanakya Niti-Shastra: Chapter Fifteen
The Political Ethics of Chanakya Pandit

  
1. For one whose heart melts with compassion for all creatures; what is the necessity of knowledge,
liberation, matted hair on the head, and smearing the body with ashes.

2. There is no treasure on earth the gift of which will cancel the debt a disciple owes his guru for
having taught him even a single letter ( that leads to Krishna consciousness).

3. There are two ways to get rid of thorns and wicked persons; using footwear in the first case and in
the second shaming them so that they cannot raise their faces again thus keeping them at a
distance.

4. He who wears unclean garments, has dirty teeth, as a glutton, speaks unkindly and sleeps after
sunrise -- although he may be the greatest personality -- will lose the favour of Lakshmi.

5. He who loses his money is forsaken by his friends, his wife, his servants and his relations; yet
when he regains his riches those who have forsaken him come back to him. Hence wealth is
certainly the best of relations.

6. Sinfully acquired wealth may remain for ten years; in the eleventh year it disappears with even
the original stock.

7. A bad action committed by a great man is not censured (as there is none that can reproach him),
and a good action performed by a low-class man comes to be condemned (because none respects
him). Just see: the drinking of nectar is excellent, but it became the cause of Rahu's demise; and the
drinking of poison is harmful, but when Lord Shiva (who is exalted) drank it, it became an ornament
to his neck (nila-kanta).

8. A true meal is that which consists of the remnants left after a brahmana's meal. Love which is
shown to others is true love, not that which is cherished for one's own self. to abstain from sin is
true wisdom. That is an act of charity which is performed without ostentation.

9. For want of discernment the most precious jewels lie in the dust at the feet of men while bits of
glass are worn on their heads. But we should not imagine that the gems have sunk in value, and the
bits of glass have risen in importance. When a person of critical judgement shall appear, each will
be given its right position.

10. Sastric knowledge is unlimited, and the arts to be learned are many; the time we have is short,
and our opportunities to learn are beset with obstacles. Therefore select for learning that which is
most important, just as the swan drinks only the milk in water.

11. He is a chandala who eats his dinner without entertaining the stranger who has come to his
house quite accidentally, having travelled from a long distance and is wearied.

12. One may know the four Vedas and the Dharma-sastras, yet if he has no realisation of his own
spiritual self, he can be said to be like the ladle which stirs all kinds of foods but knows not the
taste of any.

13. Those blessed souls are certainly elevated who, while crossing the ocean of life, take shelter of a
genuine brahmana, who is likened unto a boat. They are unlike passengers aboard an ordinary ship
which runs the risk of sinking.

14. The moon, who is the abode of nectar and the presiding deity of all medicines, although
immortal like amrta and resplendent in form, loses the brilliance of his rays when he repairs to the
abode of the sun (day time). Therefore will not an ordinary man be made to feel inferior by going to
live at the house of another.

15. This humble bee, who always resides among the soft petals of the lotus and drinks abundantly
its sweet nectar, is now feasting on the flower of the ordinary kutaja. Being in a strange country
where the lotuses do not exist, he is considering the pollen of the kutaja to be nice.

16. (Lord Vishnu asked His spouse Lakshmi why She did not care to live in the house of a brahmana,
when She replied) " O Lord a rishi named Agastya drank up My father (the ocean) in anger; Brighu
Muni kicked You; brahmanas pride themselves on their learning having sought the favour of My
competitor Sarasvati; and lastly they pluck each day the lotus which is My abode, and therewith
worship Lord Shiva. Therefore, O Lord, I fear to dwell with a brahmana and that properly.

17. There are many ways of binding by which one can be dominated and controlled in this world,
but the bond of affection is the strongest. For example, take the case of the humble bee which,
although expert at piercing hardened wood, becomes caught in the embrace of its beloved flowers
(as the petals close at dusk).

18. Although sandalwood be cut, it does not forsake its natural quality of fragrance; so also the
elephant does not give up sportiveness though he should grow old. The sugarcane does not cease
to be sweet though squeezed in a mill; so the man of noble extraction does not lose his lofty
qualities, no matter how
pinched he is by poverty.

19. ...
  

Sri Chanakya Niti-Shastra: Chapter Sixteen
The Political Ethics of Chanakya Pandit

  
1. ...

2. The heart of a woman is not united; it is divided. While she is talking with one man, she looks
lustfully at another and thinks fondly of a third in her heart.

3. The fool (mudha) who fancies that a charming young lady loves him, becomes her slave and he
dances like a shakuntal bird tied to a string.

4. Who is there who, having become rich, has not become proud? What licentious man has put an
end to his calamities? What man in this world has not been overcome by a woman? Who is always
loved by the king? Who is there who has not been overcome by the ravages of time? What beggar
has attained glory? Who has become happy by contracting the vices of the wicked?

5. ...

6. A man attains greatness by his merits, not simply by occupying an exalted seat. Can we call a
crow an eagle (garuda) simply because he sits on the top of a tall building.

7. ...

8. The man who is praised by others as great is regarded as worthy though he may be really void of
all merit. But the man who sings his own praises lowers himself in the estimation of others though
he should be Indra (the possessor of all excellences).

9. If good qualities should characterise a man of discrimination, the brilliance of his qualities will be
recognised just as a gem which is essentially bright really shines when fixed in an ornament of gold.

10. Even one who by his qualities appears to be all knowing suffers without patronage; the gem,
though precious, requires a gold setting.

11. I do not deserve that wealth which is to be attained by enduring much suffering, or by
transgressing the rules of virtue, or by flattering an enemy.

12. ...

13. Those who were not satiated with the enjoyment of wealth, food and women have all passed
away; there are others now passing away who have likewise remained unsatiated; and in the future
still others will pass away feeling themselves unsatiated.

14. All charities and sacrifices (performed for fruitive gain) bring only temporary results, but gifts
made to deserving persons (those who are Krishna consciousness) and protection offered to all
creatures shall never perish.

15. A blade of grass is light, cotton is lighter, the beggar is infinitely lighter still. Why then does not
the wind carry him away? Because it fears that he may ask alms of him.

16. It is better to die than to preserve this life by incurring disgrace. The loss of life causes but a
moment's grief, but disgrace brings grief every day of one's life.

17. All the creatures are pleased by loving words; and therefore we should address words that are
pleasing to all, for there is no lack of sweet words.

18. There are two nectarean fruits hanging from the tree of this world: one is the hearing of sweet
words (such as Krishna-katha) and the other, the society of saintly men.

19. The good habits of charity, learning and austerity practised during many past lives continue to
be cultivated in this birth by virtue of the link (yoga) of this present life to the previous ones.

20. One whose knowledge is confined to books and whose wealth is in the possession of others, can
use neither his knowledge nor wealth when the need for them arises.
  

Sri Chanakya Niti-Shastra: Chapter Seventeen
The Political Ethics of Chanakya Pandit

  
1. The scholar who has acquired knowledge by studying innumerable books without the blessings
of a bonafide spiritual master does not shine in an assembly of truly learned men just as an
illegitimate child is not honoured in society.

2. We should repay the favours of others by acts of kindness; so also should we return evil for evil in
which there is no sin, for it is necessary to pay a wicked man in his own coin.

3. That thing which is distant, that thing which appears impossible, and that which is far beyond our
reach, can be easily attained through tapasya (religious austerity), for nothing can surpass austerity.

4. What vice could be worse than covetousness? What is more sinful than slander? For one who is
truthful, what need is there for austerity? For one who has a clean heart, what is the need for
pilgrimage? If one has a good disposition, what other virtue is needed? If a man has fame, what is
the value of other ornamentation? What need is there for wealth for the man of practical
knowledge? And if a man is dishonoured, what could there be worse in death?

5. Though the sea, which is the reservoir of all jewels, is the father of the conch shell, and the
Goddess of fortune Lakshmi is conch's sister, still the conch must go from door to door for alms (in
the hands of a beggar). It is true, therefore, that one gains nothing without having given in the past.

6. When a man has no strength left in him he becomes a sadhu, one without wealth acts like a
brahmacari, a sick man behaves like a devotee of the Lord, and when a woman grows old she
becomes devoted to her husband.

7. ...

8. There is poison in the fang of the serpent, in the mouth of the fly and in the sting of a scorpion;
but the wicked man is saturated with it.

9. The woman who fasts and observes religious vows without the permission of her husband
shortens his life, and goes to hell.

10. A woman does not become holy by offering by charity, by observing hundreds of fasts, or by
sipping sacred water, as by sipping the water used to wash her husbands feet.

11 ...

12. The hand is not so well adorned by ornaments as by charitable offerings; one does not become
clean by smearing sandalwood paste upon the body as by taking a bath; one does not become so
much satisfied by dinner as by having respect shown to him; and salvation is not attained by self-adornment as by cultivation of spiritual knowledge.

13. ...

14. The eating of tundi fruit deprives a man of his sense, while the vacha root administered revives
his reasoning immediately. A woman at once robs a man of his vigour while milk at once restores it.

15. He who nurtures benevolence for all creatures within his heart overcomes all difficulties and will
be the recipient of all types of riches at every step.

16. What is there to be enjoyed in the world of Lord Indra for one whose wife is loving and virtuous,
who possesses wealth, who has a well-behaved son endowed with good qualities, and who has a
grandchildren born of his children?

17. Men have eating, sleeping, fearing and mating in common with the lower animals. That in
which men excel the beasts is discretionary knowledge; hence, indiscreet men who are without
knowledge should be regarded as beasts.

18. If the bees which seek the liquid oozing from the head of a lust-intoxicated elephant are driven
away by the flapping of his ears, then the elephant has lost only the ornament of his head. The bees
are quite happy in the lotus filled lake.

19. A king, a prostitute, Lord Yamaraja, fire, a thief, a young boy, and a beggar cannot understand
the suffering of others. The eighth of this category is the tax collector.

20. O lady, why are you gazing downward? Has something of yours fallen on the ground? (She
replies) O fool, can you not understand the pearl of my youth has slipped away?

21. O ketki flower! Serpents live in your midst, you bear no edible fruits, your leaves are covered
with thorns, you are crooked in growth, you thrive in mud, and you are not easily accessible. Still for
your exceptional fragrance you are as dear as a kinsmen to others. Hence, a single excellence
overcomes a multitude of blemishes.





Ref

http://protectacow.typepad.com/photos/sri_chanakya_nitishastra/niti_shastra_003.html
http://webtechstore.hypermart.net/chanakya/niti_book.shtml

  

15 GREAT THOUGHTS BY CHANAKYA

15 GREAT THOUGHTS BY CHANAKYA

1) "Learn from the mistakes of others... you can't live long enough to make them all yourselves!!"

2)"A person should not be too honest. Straight trees are cut first and Honest people are screwed first."

3)"Even if a snake is not poisonous, it should pretend to be venomous."

4)"There is some self-interest behind every friendship. There is no friendship without self-interests. This is a bitter truth."

5)" Before you start some work, always ask yourself three questions - Why am I doing it, What the results might be and Will I be successful. Only when you think deeply and find satisfactory answers to these questions, go ahead."

6)"As soon as the fear approaches near, attack and destroy it."

7)"The world's biggest power is the youth and beauty of a woman."

8)"Once you start a working on something, don't be afraid of failure and don't abandon it. People who work sincerely are the happiest."

9)"The fragrance of flowers spreads only in the direction of the wind. But the goodness of a person spreads in all direction."

10)"God is not present in idols. Your feelings are your god. The soul is your temple."

11) "A man is great by deeds, not by birth."

12) "Never make friends with people who are above or below you in status. Such friendships will never give you any happiness."

13) "Treat your kid like a darling for the first five years. For the next five years, scold them. By the time they turn sixteen, treat them like a friend. Your grown up children are your best friends."

14) "Books are as useful to a stupid person as a mirror is useful to a blind person."

15) "Education is the Best Friend. An Educated Person is Respected Everywhere. Education beats the Beauty and the Youth."

India (Proud to be an Indian)

The application has failed to start because cv210.dll was not found"

Answer  :Copy all the DLLs in \OpenCV\bin to \WINDOWS\System32.

Sort and search algo

Sorting algorithm

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In computer science, a sorting algorithm is an algorithm that puts elements of a list in a certain order. The most-used orders are numerical order and lexicographical order. Efficient sorting is important for optimizing the use of other algorithms (such as search and merge algorithms) that require sorted lists to work correctly; it is also often useful for canonicalizing data and for producing human-readable output. More formally, the output must satisfy two conditions:

1. The output is in nondecreasing order (each element is no smaller than the previous element according to the desired total order);
2. The output is a permutation, or reordering, of the input.

Since the dawn of computing, the sorting problem has attracted a great deal of research, perhaps due to the complexity of solving it efficiently despite its simple, familiar statement. For example, bubble sort was analyzed as early as 1956.^[1] Although many consider it a solved problem, useful new sorting algorithms are still being invented (for example, library sort was first published in 2004). Sorting algorithms are prevalent in introductory computer science classes, where the abundance of algorithms for the problem provides a gentle introduction to a variety of core algorithm concepts, such as big O notation, divide and conquer algorithms, data structures, randomized algorithms, best, worst and average case analysis, time-space tradeoffs, and lower bounds.

Contents  [hide]  1 Classification 1.1 Stability 2 Comparison of algorithms 3 Summaries of popular sorting algorithms 3.1 Bubble sort 3.2 Selection sort 3.3 Insertion sort 3.4 Shell sort 3.5 Comb sort 3.6 Merge sort 3.7 Heapsort 3.8 Quicksort 3.9 Counting sort 3.10 Bucket sort 3.11 Radix sort 3.12 Distribution sort 3.13 Timsort 4 Memory usage patterns and index sorting 5 Inefficient/humorous sorts 6 See also 7 References 8 External links

[edit] Classification

Sorting algorithms used in computer science are often classified by:

• Computational complexity (worst, average and best behaviour) of element comparisons in terms of the size of the list . For typical sorting algorithms good behavior is and bad behavior is . (See Big O notation.) Ideal behavior for a sort is , but this is not possible in the average case. Comparison-based sorting algorithms, which evaluate the elements of the list via an abstract key comparison operation, need at least comparisons for most inputs.
• Computational complexity of swaps (for "in place" algorithms).
• Memory usage (and use of other computer resources). In particular, some sorting algorithms are "in place". This means that they need only or memory beyond the items being sorted and they don't need to create auxiliary locations for data to be temporarily stored, as in other sorting algorithms.
• Recursion. Some algorithms are either recursive or non-recursive, while others may be both (e.g., merge sort).
• Stability: stable sorting algorithms maintain the relative order of records with equal keys (i.e., values).
• Whether or not they are a comparison sort. A comparison sort examines the data only by comparing two elements with a comparison operator.
• General method: insertion, exchange, selection, merging, etc.. Exchange sorts include bubble sort and quicksort. Selection sorts include shaker sort and heapsort.
• Adaptability: Whether or not the presortedness of the input affects the running time. Algorithms that take this into account are known to be adaptive.

[edit] Stability

Stable sorting algorithms maintain the relative order of records with equal keys. If all keys are different then this distinction is not necessary. But if there are equal keys, then a sorting algorithm is stable if whenever there are two records (let's say R and S) with the same key, and R appears before S in the original list, then R will always appear before S in the sorted list. When equal elements are indistinguishable, such as with integers, or more generally, any data where the entire element is the key, stability is not an issue. However, assume that the following pairs of numbers are to be sorted by their first component:

(4, 2)  (3, 7)  (3, 1)  (5, 6)

In this case, two different results are possible, one which maintains the relative order of records with equal keys, and one which does not:

(3, 7)  (3, 1)  (4, 2)  (5, 6)   (order maintained)
(3, 1)  (3, 7)  (4, 2)  (5, 6)   (order changed)

Unstable sorting algorithms may change the relative order of records with equal keys, but stable sorting algorithms never do so. Unstable sorting algorithms can be specially implemented to be stable. One way of doing this is to artificially extend the key comparison, so that comparisons between two objects with otherwise equal keys are decided using the order of the entries in the original data order as a tie-breaker. Remembering this order, however, often involves an additional computational cost.
Sorting based on a primary, secondary, tertiary, etc. sort key can be done by any sorting method, taking all sort keys into account in comparisons (in other words, using a single composite sort key). If a sorting method is stable, it is also possible to sort multiple times, each time with one sort key. In that case the keys need to be applied in order of increasing priority.
Example: sorting pairs of numbers as above by second, then first component:

(4, 2)  (3, 7)  (3, 1)  (5, 6) (original)

(3, 1)  (4, 2)  (5, 6)  (3, 7) (after sorting by second component)
(3, 1)  (3, 7)  (4, 2)  (5, 6) (after sorting by first component)

On the other hand:

(3, 7)  (3, 1)  (4, 2)  (5, 6) (after sorting by first component)
(3, 1)  (4, 2)  (5, 6)  (3, 7) (after sorting by second component, 
                                order by first component is disrupted).

[edit] Comparison of algorithms

The complexity of different algorithms in a specific situation.

In this table, n is the number of records to be sorted. The columns "Average" and "Worst" give the time complexity in each case, under the assumption that the length of each key is constant, and that therefore all comparisons, swaps, and other needed operations can proceed in constant time. "Memory" denotes the amount of auxiliary storage needed beyond that used by the list itself, under the same assumption. These are all comparison sorts. The run time and the memory of algorithms could be measured using various notations like theta, sigma, Big-O, small-o, etc. The memory and the run times below are applicable for all the 5 notations.

Comparison sorts

Name	Best	Average	Worst	Memory	Stable	Method	Other notes
Quicksort					Depends	Partitioning	Quicksort can be done in place with O(log(n)) stack space, but the sort is unstable[citation needed]. Naïve variants use an O(n) space array to store the partition. An O(n) space implementation can be stable[citation needed].
Merge sort				Depends; worst case is	Yes	Merging	Used to sort this table in Firefox [2].
In-place Merge sort					Yes	Merging	Implemented in Standard Template Library (STL): [3]; can be implemented as a stable sort based on stable in-place merging: [4]
Heapsort					No	Selection
Insertion sort					Yes	Insertion	Average case is also , where d is the number of inversions
Introsort					No	Partitioning & Selection	Used in SGI STL implementations
Selection sort					Depends [5].	Selection	Its stability depends on the implementation. Used to sort this table in Safari or other Webkit web browser [6].
Timsort					Yes	Insertion & Merging	comparisons when the data is already sorted or reverse sorted.
Shell sort		or	Depends on gap sequence; best known is		No	Insertion
Bubble sort					Yes	Exchanging	Tiny code size
Binary tree sort					Yes	Insertion	When using a self-balancing binary search tree
Cycle sort	—				No	Insertion	In-place with theoretically optimal number of writes
Library sort	—				Yes	Insertion
Patience sorting	—	—			No	Insertion & Selection	Finds all the longest increasing subsequences within O(n log n)
Smoothsort					No	Selection	An adaptive sort - comparisons when the data is already sorted, and 0 swaps.
Strand sort					Yes	Selection
Tournament sort	—					Selection
Cocktail sort					Yes	Exchanging
Comb sort	—	—			No	Exchanging	Small code size
Gnome sort					Yes	Exchanging	Tiny code size
Bogosort					No	Luck	Randomly permute the array and check if sorted.

The following table describes integer sorting algorithms and other sorting algorithms that are not comparison sorts. As such, they are not limited by a lower bound. Complexities below are in terms of n, the number of items to be sorted, k, the size of each key, and d, the digit size used by the implementation. Many of them are based on the assumption that the key size is large enough that all entries have unique key values, and hence that n << 2^k, where << means "much less than."

Non-comparison sorts

Name	Best	Average	Worst	Memory	Stable	n << 2k	Notes
Pigeonhole sort	—				Yes	Yes
Bucket sort (uniform keys)	—				Yes	No	Assumes uniform distribution of elements from the domain in the array.[2]
Bucket sort (integer keys)	—				Yes	Yes	r is the range of numbers to be sorted. If r = then Avg RT = [3]
Counting sort	—				Yes	Yes	r is the range of numbers to be sorted. If r = then Avg RT = [2]
LSD Radix Sort	—				Yes	No	[3][2]
MSD Radix Sort	—				Yes	No	Stable version uses an external array of size n to hold all of the bins
MSD Radix Sort	—				No	No	In-Place. k / d recursion levels, 2d for count array
Spreadsort	—				No	No	Asymptotics are based on the assumption that n << 2k, but the algorithm does not require this.

The following table describes some sorting algorithms that are impractical for real-life use due to extremely poor performance or a requirement for specialized hardware.

Name	Best	Average	Worst	Memory	Stable	Comparison	Other notes
Bead sort	—	N/A	N/A	—	N/A	No	Requires specialized hardware
Simple pancake sort	—				No	Yes	Count is number of flips.
Spaghetti (Poll) sort					Yes	Polling	This A linear-time, analog algorithm for sorting a sequence of items, requiring O(n) stack space, and the sort is stable. This requires n parallel processors. Spaghetti sort#Analysis
Sorting networks	—				Yes	No	Requires a custom circuit of size

Additionally, theoretical computer scientists have detailed other sorting algorithms that provide better than time complexity with additional constraints, including:

• Han's algorithm, a deterministic algorithm for sorting keys from a domain of finite size, taking time and space.^[4]
• Thorup's algorithm, a randomized algorithm for sorting keys from a domain of finite size, taking time and space.^[5]
• An integer sorting algorithm taking expected time and space.^[6]

Algorithms not yet compared above include:

• Odd-even sort
• Flashsort
• Burstsort
• Postman sort
• Stooge sort
• Samplesort
• Bitonic sorter
• Cocktail sort
• Topological sort

[edit] Summaries of popular sorting algorithms

[edit] Bubble sort

A bubble sort, a sorting algorithm that continuously steps through a list, swapping items until they appear in the correct order.

Main article: Bubble sort

Bubble sort is a simple sorting algorithm. The algorithm starts at the beginning of the data set. It compares the first two elements, and if the first is greater than the second, it swaps them. It continues doing this for each pair of adjacent elements to the end of the data set. It then starts again with the first two elements, repeating until no swaps have occurred on the last pass. This algorithm's average and worst case performance is O(n²), so it is rarely used to sort large, unordered, data sets. Bubble sort can be used to sort a small number of items (where its inefficiency is not a high penalty). Bubble sort may also be efficiently used on a list that is already sorted except for a very small number of elements. For example, if only one element is not in order, bubble sort will take only 2n time. If two elements are not in order, bubble sort will take only at most 3n time.
Bubble sort average case and worst case are both O(n²).

[edit] Selection sort

Main article: Selection sort

Selection sort is an in-place comparison sort. It has O(n²) complexity, making it inefficient on large lists, and generally performs worse than the similar insertion sort. Selection sort is noted for its simplicity, and also has performance advantages over more complicated algorithms in certain situations.
The algorithm finds the minimum value, swaps it with the value in the first position, and repeats these steps for the remainder of the list. It does no more than n swaps, and thus is useful where swapping is very expensive.

[edit] Insertion sort

Main article: Insertion sort

Insertion sort is a simple sorting algorithm that is relatively efficient for small lists and mostly sorted lists, and often is used as part of more sophisticated algorithms. It works by taking elements from the list one by one and inserting them in their correct position into a new sorted list. In arrays, the new list and the remaining elements can share the array's space, but insertion is expensive, requiring shifting all following elements over by one. Shell sort (see below) is a variant of insertion sort that is more efficient for larger lists.

[edit] Shell sort

A Shell sort, different from bubble sort in that it moves elements numerous positions swapping

Main article: Shell sort

Shell sort was invented by Donald Shell in 1959. It improves upon bubble sort and insertion sort by moving out of order elements more than one position at a time. One implementation can be described as arranging the data sequence in a two-dimensional array and then sorting the columns of the array using insertion sort.

[edit] Comb sort

Main article: Comb sort

Comb sort is a relatively simplistic sorting algorithm originally designed by Wlodzimierz Dobosiewicz in 1980. Later it was rediscovered and popularized by Stephen Lacey and Richard Box with a Byte Magazine article published in April 1991. Comb sort improves on bubble sort, and rivals algorithms like Quicksort. The basic idea is to eliminate turtles, or small values near the end of the list, since in a bubble sort these slow the sorting down tremendously. (Rabbits, large values around the beginning of the list, do not pose a problem in bubble sort.)

[edit] Merge sort

Main article: Merge sort

Merge sort takes advantage of the ease of merging already sorted lists into a new sorted list. It starts by comparing every two elements (i.e., 1 with 2, then 3 with 4...) and swapping them if the first should come after the second. It then merges each of the resulting lists of two into lists of four, then merges those lists of four, and so on; until at last two lists are merged into the final sorted list. Of the algorithms described here, this is the first that scales well to very large lists, because its worst-case running time is O(n log n). Merge sort has seen a relatively recent surge in popularity for practical implementations, being used for the standard sort routine in the programming languages Perl,^[7] Python (as timsort^[8]), and Java (also uses timsort as of JDK7^[9]), among others. Merge sort has been used in Java at least since 2000 in JDK1.3.^[10][11]

[edit] Heapsort

Main article: Heapsort

Heapsort is a much more efficient version of selection sort. It also works by determining the largest (or smallest) element of the list, placing that at the end (or beginning) of the list, then continuing with the rest of the list, but accomplishes this task efficiently by using a data structure called a heap, a special type of binary tree. Once the data list has been made into a heap, the root node is guaranteed to be the largest (or smallest) element. When it is removed and placed at the end of the list, the heap is rearranged so the largest element remaining moves to the root. Using the heap, finding the next largest element takes O(log n) time, instead of O(n) for a linear scan as in simple selection sort. This allows Heapsort to run in O(n log n) time, and this is also the worst case complexity.

[edit] Quicksort

Main article: Quicksort

Quicksort is a divide and conquer algorithm which relies on a partition operation: to partition an array an element called a pivot is selected. All elements smaller than the pivot are moved before it and all greater elements are moved after it. This can be done efficiently in linear time and in-place. The lesser and greater sublists are then recursively sorted. Efficient implementations of quicksort (with in-place partitioning) are typically unstable sorts and somewhat complex, but are among the fastest sorting algorithms in practice. Together with its modest O(log n) space usage, quicksort is one of the most popular sorting algorithms and is available in many standard programming libraries. The most complex issue in quicksort is choosing a good pivot element; consistently poor choices of pivots can result in drastically slower O(n²) performance, if at each step the median is chosen as the pivot then the algorithm works in O(n log n). Finding the median however, is an O(n) operation on unsorted lists and therefore exacts its own penalty with sorting.

[edit] Counting sort

Main article: Counting sort

Counting sort is applicable when each input is known to belong to a particular set, S, of possibilities. The algorithm runs in O(|S| + n) time and O(|S|) memory where n is the length of the input. It works by creating an integer array of size |S| and using the ith bin to count the occurrences of the ith member of S in the input. Each input is then counted by incrementing the value of its corresponding bin. Afterward, the counting array is looped through to arrange all of the inputs in order. This sorting algorithm cannot often be used because S needs to be reasonably small for it to be efficient, but the algorithm is extremely fast and demonstrates great asymptotic behavior as n increases. It also can be modified to provide stable behavior.

[edit] Bucket sort

Main article: Bucket sort

Bucket sort is a divide and conquer sorting algorithm that generalizes Counting sort by partitioning an array into a finite number of buckets. Each bucket is then sorted individually, either using a different sorting algorithm, or by recursively applying the bucket sorting algorithm. A variation of this method called the single buffered count sort is faster than quicksort.^{[citation needed]}
Due to the fact that bucket sort must use a limited number of buckets it is best suited to be used on data sets of a limited scope. Bucket sort would be unsuitable for data such as social security numbers - which have a lot of variation.

[edit] Radix sort

Main article: Radix sort

Radix sort is an algorithm that sorts numbers by processing individual digits. n numbers consisting of k digits each are sorted in O(n · k) time. Radix sort can process digits of each number either starting from the least significant digit (LSD) or starting from the most significant digit (MSD). The LSD algorithm first sorts the list by the least significant digit while preserving their relative order using a stable sort. Then it sorts them by the next digit, and so on from the least significant to the most significant, ending up with a sorted list. While the LSD radix sort requires the use of a stable sort, the MSD radix sort algorithm does not (unless stable sorting is desired). In-place MSD radix sort is not stable. It is common for the counting sort algorithm to be used internally by the radix sort. Hybrid sorting approach, such as using insertion sort for small bins improves performance of radix sort significantly.

[edit] Distribution sort

Distribution sort refers to any sorting algorithm where data is distributed from its input to multiple intermediate structures which are then gathered and placed on the output. See Bucket sort, Flashsort.

[edit] Timsort

Main article: Timsort

Timsort finds runs in the data, creates runs with insertion sort if necessary, and then uses merge sort to create the final sorted list. It has the same complexity (O(nlogn)) in the average and worst cases, but with pre-sorted data it goes down to O(n).

[edit] Memory usage patterns and index sorting

When the size of the array to be sorted approaches or exceeds the available primary memory, so that (much slower) disk or swap space must be employed, the memory usage pattern of a sorting algorithm becomes important, and an algorithm that might have been fairly efficient when the array fit easily in RAM may become impractical. In this scenario, the total number of comparisons becomes (relatively) less important, and the number of times sections of memory must be copied or swapped to and from the disk can dominate the performance characteristics of an algorithm. Thus, the number of passes and the localization of comparisons can be more important than the raw number of comparisons, since comparisons of nearby elements to one another happen at system bus speed (or, with caching, even at CPU speed), which, compared to disk speed, is virtually instantaneous.
For example, the popular recursive quicksort algorithm provides quite reasonable performance with adequate RAM, but due to the recursive way that it copies portions of the array it becomes much less practical when the array does not fit in RAM, because it may cause a number of slow copy or move operations to and from disk. In that scenario, another algorithm may be preferable even if it requires more total comparisons.
One way to work around this problem, which works well when complex records (such as in a relational database) are being sorted by a relatively small key field, is to create an index into the array and then sort the index, rather than the entire array. (A sorted version of the entire array can then be produced with one pass, reading from the index, but often even that is unnecessary, as having the sorted index is adequate.) Because the index is much smaller than the entire array, it may fit easily in memory where the entire array would not, effectively eliminating the disk-swapping problem. This procedure is sometimes called "tag sort".^[12]
Another technique for overcoming the memory-size problem is to combine two algorithms in a way that takes advantages of the strength of each to improve overall performance. For instance, the array might be subdivided into chunks of a size that will fit easily in RAM (say, a few thousand elements), the chunks sorted using an efficient algorithm (such as quicksort or heapsort), and the results merged as per mergesort. This is less efficient than just doing mergesort in the first place, but it requires less physical RAM (to be practical) than a full quicksort on the whole array.
Techniques can also be combined. For sorting very large sets of data that vastly exceed system memory, even the index may need to be sorted using an algorithm or combination of algorithms designed to perform reasonably with virtual memory, i.e., to reduce the amount of swapping required.

[edit] Inefficient/humorous sorts

These are algorithms that are extremely slow compared to those discussed above — Bogosort , Stooge sort O(n^2.7).