Six faults to give up
षड् दोषाः पुरुषेणेह हातव्या भूतिम् इच्छता ।
निद्रा तन्द्रा भयं क्रोध आलस्यं दीर्घसूत्रता ॥
ṣaḍ doṣāḥ puruṣeṇeha hātavyā bhūtim icchatā |
nidrā tandrā bhayaṃ krodha ālasyaṃ dīrghasūtratā ||
Translation
Six faults must be given up by a person in this world who wants to prosper: sleep, drowsiness, fear, anger, laziness and procrastination.
Meaning
This list comes originally from Vidura's counsel to King Dhṛtarāṣṭra in the Mahābhārata (Udyogaparvan) and was taken into the Hitopadeśa, where the pigeon king quotes it to his flock caught in the net.
The best word in it is the last: dīrghasūtratā, literally "having a long thread", the habit of spinning a task out endlessly, i.e. procrastination. A dīrghasūtra is someone who always puts things off.
The verse shows a common Sanskrit pattern: a number announced first (ṣaḍ doṣāḥ, "six faults"), then the list.
Word by word · 13 words
| Devanagari | IAST | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| षट् | ṣaṭ | six |
| दोषाः | doṣāḥ | faults (nom. pl. m.) |
| पुरुषेण | puruṣeṇa | by a person (instr. sg.) |
| इह | iha | here, in this world |
| हातव्याः | hātavyāḥ | are to be given up (gerundive of √hā) |
| भूतिम् | bhūtim | prosperity, success (acc. sg. f.) |
| इच्छता | icchatā | by one who wants (pres. participle of √iṣ, instr. sg.) |
| निद्रा | nidrā | sleep, oversleeping |
| तन्द्रा | tandrā | drowsiness, sluggishness |
| भयम् | bhayam | fear |
| क्रोधः | krodhaḥ | anger |
| आलस्यम् | ālasyam | laziness |
| दीर्घसूत्रता | dīrghasūtratā | procrastination ("long-thread-ness") |
Pronunciation
ṣaḍ doṣāḥ puruṣeṇeha hātavyā bhūtim icchatā |
nidrā tandrā bhayaṃ krodha ālasyaṃ dīrghasūtratā ||
- dīrghasūtratā: long ī and ū: dīr-gha-sūt-ra-tā.
- ṣaḍ: retroflex ṣ and ḍ, the tongue curled back for both.
- A final visarga ḥ is a soft "h" breath that echoes the vowel before it: namaḥ sounds like "nama-ha" (lightly).
- ṃ (anusvāra) is a nasal: it sounds like m before p/b/m, n before t/d, ṅ before k/g, and a nasalised vowel before s/ś/h.