Vidura Niti
विदुरनीतिः
— Sri Veda Vyasa (Mahabharata, Udyoga Parva)
Vidura's night-long discourse to the sleepless King Dhritarashtra on the eve of the Kurukshetra war — a self-contained classic of niti-shastra embedded in the Mahabharata's Udyoga Parva (chapters 33-40 of the BORI Critical Edition, the prajāgara sub-parva). 532 shlokas across 8 chapters: the duties of a king, the marks of the wise and the fool, friendship, control of the senses, and the consequences of adharma.
8 chapters · 530 verses
Chapters · अध्याय
- 1
Udyoga 33 — Vidura summoned
त्रयस्त्रिंशोऽध्यायः
Dhritarashtra, unable to sleep with dread of the coming war, summons Vidura. Vidura opens by listing the seventeen kinds of fools and the marks of the wise.
104 verses
- 2
Udyoga 34 — Duties of a king
चतुस्त्रिंशोऽध्यायः
Vidura on the conduct of a wise ruler: control of the senses, justice toward friend and foe alike, and the four upayas (sama, dana, bheda, danda).
83 verses
- 3
Udyoga 35 — On wealth, dharma, and friends
पञ्चत्रिंशोऽध्यायः
On the three pursuits (dharma, artha, kama), the company one should keep, and the warning signs of a kingdom in decline.
67 verses
- 4
Udyoga 36 — Eight virtues, eight vices
षट्त्रिंशोऽध्यायः
On the eight virtues of a man, the marks of greatness, and the maxim 'one mother, one daughter, one quarrel, one death'.
72 verses
- 5
Udyoga 37 — Short verses on right conduct
सप्तत्रिंशोऽध्यायः
Aphoristic verses: the lamp of the household, the worth of truth, the cost of envy, the value of forgiveness.
60 verses
- 6
Udyoga 38 — Duties to brothers and kin
अष्टत्रिंशोऽध्यायः
A direct appeal to Dhritarashtra: do not destroy the Pandavas, who are righteous, brave, and your own kin; the consequences of adharma fall on the whole lineage.
44 verses
- 7
Udyoga 39 — Sanat-Sujata invoked
एकोनचत्वारिंशोऽध्यायः
Vidura, having reached the limits of his own counsel, invokes the sage Sanatsujata to speak directly to the king on the nature of death and immortality.
70 verses
- 8
Udyoga 40 — Closing exhortations
चत्वारिंशोऽध्यायः
The last counsel: the marks of a truth-speaker, the marks of a thief of words, and final warnings against the path Duryodhana has set.
30 verses
Sanskrit text from the BORI Critical Edition, mirrored by sanskritdocuments.org (public domain)