Chanakya’s Sutra: Governance Rooted in Humility

Chanakya left us not only strategies, but sutras — crisp principles for life and governance. One sequence, carefully reconstructed by scholar Ashok Garde, is especially powerful:

“Sukhasya mūlam dharmaḥ, dharmasya mūlam arthaḥ, arthasya mūlam rājyam, rājyasya mūlam indriyajayaḥ, indriyajayasya mūlam vinayaḥ.”

• Happiness rests on dharma.
• Dharma rests on resources.
• Resources rest on the kingdom (organization).
• A kingdom rests on control of the senses.
• And control of the senses rests on vinaya — humility, discipline, restraint.

This is a sutra of discovery: that true power is not outward, but inward. A leader who cannot govern himself cannot govern a state.

🌿 Governance matures only when rooted in humility.