Varna description in Shukranitisaara

[Margie Parikh]

Namaste!

I came across the description of people in four Varnas by Shukracharya. It is fascinating that one would expect the Guru of demons to differ from the mainstream thought, but Shukracharya says the same thing as Lord Krishna did in Geeta! Both emphasize classification - Varna vyavastha - based on गुण and कर्म. 

While the question remains as to how exactly the demons differed from the deva, I made a short quiz out of shlokas in the Shukranitisara - a link to it appears at the bottom of my Blog here:

http://wp.me/pMlld-kp 

I am wondering if eventually one can develop a full-fledged, psychometrically sound test out of it.

Have a great day!

margie

[Arvind_Kolhatkar]

I am no scholar of शुक्रनीति or शुक्रनीतिसार or of several other texts that lay down rules by which the kings should conduct their affairs and common persons should carry on with their lives.  Yet, I would say the following in answer to the question above.

Shukra, the reputed Guru of the Demons, is  a mythological creation dating from the very ancient past and finding in him any real historical person is an impossible task.  Texts like शुक्रनीति or शुक्रनीतिसार, on the other hand, were created in much later times, most probably between the first to the tenth century of the present era.  These have been written by a real though unknown person, who was a Brahmin law-giver like Manu, Narada etc.  These works cover much the same ground as the works of these other lawgivers

Incidentally, several versions of शुक्रनीतिसार may be extant.  The one that I have  - 1890 (?) Calcutta edition with a commentary by जीवानंद विद्यासागर does not contain your quoted verses, at least not at the mentioned numbers.

Arvind Kolhatkar.

[Margie Parikh]

Namaste Arvindji,

What you are writing makes sense - because as I browse through the text, I find that the ideology is same as the classical one - for example, the belief that Varna is decided by one's Guna and Karma - the same thing is said in almost identical way in Geeta (where Lord Krishna says that Four Varnas are craeted by me based on Guna and Karma). There are so many such similarities that one begins to believe that if the Guru of demons is saying these things, then Demons are Gods! I mean, even if we have only a broad idea that the demons were demons not because they lacked bravery, skill, intelligence, opulence or capabilities - just that much of it was 'misdirected' or not used in desirable manner. in fact, demons like Ravana were offsprings of sages. So, in a text on Neeti - policy guideline - one expects to find what core beliefs separate the demons from the Devas. 

So far, I have not found it.

If you or anyone reading this have a list of sources of different versions of Shukraniti/sara, kindly point those to me.

Best regards,

Margie Parikh

Margie Parikh, PhD

Lecturer, BK School of Business Management,

Gujarat University

University Road, Ahmedabad

Gujarat, India

[Mandala Pati]

Namaste!

I'm looking for original text (hopefully typed) of Shukra-niti. Also I need English translation of the treatise. Plus Sukra-niti-sara.
If someone has links for those documents, I'd be gratuful. Thank You.

[shankara]

Namaste,

Scanned versions are available on the internet. Links are given below.

Sukra Niti English translation - https://archive.org/stream/Sacred_Books_of_the_Hindus/SBH%2013%20-%20Sukra%20Niti%20English%20Translation%201924

Sukranitisara English translation by Gustav Oppert - http://dli.serc.iisc.ernet.in/handle/2015/326876

Sukranitisara with Sanskrit commentary by Jivananda Vidyasagara

https://ia601904.us.archive.org/3/items/Complete_Works_of_Jibananda_Vidyasagara/Sukra_Niti_Sara_with_Skt_Commentary_-_Jivananda_Vidyasagara_1890.pdf

Sukra Niti Sara English translation by Benoy Kumar Sarkar

https://archive.org/stream/Sacred_Books_of_the_Hindus/SBH%2013%20-%20Sukra%20Niti%20Sara%20English%20Translation%20-%20Benoy%20Kumar%20Sarkar%201914

regards
shankara

---

From: Mandala Pati <manda...@gmail.com>
To: samskrita <sams...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Friday, 25 December 2015 9:30 PM
Subject: [Samskrita] Re: Varna description in Shukranitisaara

Namaste!

I'm looking for original text (hopefully typed) of Shukra-niti. Also I need English translation of the treatise. Plus Sukra-niti-sara.
If someone has links for those documents, I'd be gratuful. Thank You.

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[Taff Rivers]

Scanned copiies will be of no use, should you be searching for and extracting some text etc. perhaps for making notes.
 
For that, this site should have what you want:

      http://www.patheos.com/blogs/hindu2/2014/09/chanakya-niti-pdf-downloads/


Taff

 analyst/programmer R&D  retd.

[Hnbhat B.R.]

raeted by me based on Guna and Karma).

There are so many such similarities that one begins to believe that if the Guru of demons is saying these things, then Demons are Gods!

Indeed, the demons are called  Erstwhile Gods and differring with them naturally

शुक्रशिष्या दितिसुताः पूर्वदेवाः सुरद्विषः ।।१-१-१२।। Amara 1.1.22.

as both are cousin brothers, the children of दिति  अदिति, the two cowives of Kashyapa Prajapati. respectively. The children of दिति deprived of the wealth and pleasure of heaven and enjoyed traditional by the children of अदिति - अादित्य-s only and दैत्य-s living in exile for ever in spite of the best teachings from शुक्राचार्य with rare exceptions like Prahlada, Vibhishana etc. This is according to Purana-s.