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Alam
part eccentric ... part fun .... stubborn .. but not stuck up ... very open to different views, ideas and possibilities ... varied interests ... engineer ... mba ... trying-to-be-a-good-entrepreneur ... ex-software ... ex-quality ... ex-tobacco ... ex-alcohol ... trying-to-be-ex-cancer
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Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Vidya Dadati Vinayam - Gyan from the past

Bringing to you the famous 6th verse from the preface of "Hitopadesha" .

Wikipedia tells us that Hitopadesha is a Sanskrit text that was probably written by a guy named Narayan and that " ..The book has many stories in common with the Panchatantra; it is believed that the author Narayana loved the Pachatantra so much that he rewrote it, improving the flow and adding stories of his own .." .

The book probably contains stories and gives us some "good advice".... There is no unanimity(on the net) on the year of creation of these verses ... some say they were writen in 11th - 12th century AD... I haven't read the book (though might have read the stories at various places)

So here we go -

विद्या ददाति विनयं विनयाद्याति पात्रताम् ।
पात्रत्वाद्धनमाप्नोति धनाद्धर्मं ततः सुखम् ॥

vidyA dadAti vinayaM, vinayAdyAti pAtratAM ।
pAtratvAddhanamApnoti, dhanAddharmaM tataH sukhaM ।।

विद्या vidyA = knowledge ददाति dadAti = dad verb, to give विनयं vinayaM = training, discipline, cultured mannerism (from training), humbleness, Prudence(my interpretation for usage) yAti = comes पात्रताम् pAtratAM = worthiness pAtratvAt = from worthiness । dhanaM = wealth, money, enrichment dhanAt = from wealth, from enrichment(my interpretation for usage) dharmaM = Right thought and action, Right conduct (my interpretation of usage) some words morph when used in combined form in Devanagari rendition of sanskrit , have not given the devanagari for those words in this translation key

My interpretation -
Knowledge makes one prudent, prudence begets worthiness ।
Worthiness creates wealth and enrichment, enrichment leads to right conduct, right conduct brings contentment ।।

They had taught me these words in school Sanskrit ... but that was a very long time back ... and school was such a waste of time .....

Coming soon - Interesting Persian words and their usage in Hindustani

Sources for which links were not given in the post - HITOPADESHA -Collection of Tales , Practical Sanskrit Note at facebook