The self-controlled and vehement hero (Dhīroddhata) is altogether dominated by pride and jealousy, wholly devoted to magic practices and deceit, self-assertive, fickle, irascible and boastful.
—Dhanañjaya, in the Daśarūpaka, 2.5
The hand dextrous in grasping the halfa grass, fuel and stones, ladle, melted butter and the oblation vessel, unsheathed a flaming sword, eager to conquer the earth.
—Talagunda inscription of Mayūraśarma (4th century)
(In Śākala) the women, drunk and naked, laugh and dance outdoors in the city; unadorned with garlands or unguents, they drunkenly sing various obscene songs that are as musical as a donkey’s bray or a camel’s bleat. They are without restraint in intercourse as in all other matters; in drunken madness they call each other various endearing epithets. Making drunk cries to their husbands, these fallen women give themselves up to dancing without observing restrictions even on sacred days.
What man would willingly dwell, even for a moment, among these fallen, depraved Bāhlīkas?
Crossing the Śatadru, returning to my own country, I await to cast my eyes again upon the beautiful women with thick frontal bones, with blazing stickers of red arsenic on their foreheads, with streaks of jet black collyrium on their eyes!
—Mahābhārata 8.44
On another occasion, Cāṇakya wished to test the youths, so while Candragupta was sleeping, he ordered Pabbata to remove his woolen thread without breaking it or waking the owner, which Pabbata was unable to do. When Candragupta was set the problem, however, he solved it after the manner of Alexander and the Gordian knot: he cut off Pabbata’s head, and Cāṇakya was not the man to be displeased at this.
—a tale from the Mahāvamsa, not canon in this story, as told by Thomas Trautmann (1971), Kauṭilya and the Arthaśāstra: a statistical investigation of the authorship and evolution of the text, p 14.
He went to Gautama Haridrumata and said to him: “I wish to become your student, Sir – may I come to you, Sir?” He said to him: “Of what family are you, my friend?”
He replied: “I do not know, Sir, of what family I am. I asked my mother, and she answered – in my youth when I had to move about much as a servant, I conceived thee; I do not know of what family thou art; I am Jabala by name, thou art Satyakāma (analogous, Philalethes). I am therefore Satyakāma Jabala, Sir.
He said to him: “No one but a true Brāhmaṇa would speak so honestly. Go and fetch fuel, friend, I shall initiate you as a Brāhmaṇa. You have not swerved from the truth.”
—Chandogya Upanishad 4.4-9.
The man who is ingenious and wise, who is accompanied by a friend, and who knows the intentions of others, as also the proper time and place for doing everything, can gain over, very easily, even a woman who is very hard to be obtained.
—Vatsyayana, in the Kāma Sutra, 1.5
It is not only in this but in many other cases that, though the practice of a science is known to all, only a few persons are acquainted with the theory of that science.
—Vatsyayana, in the Kāma Sutra, 1.3
“karmanye vadhikaraste ma phaleshu kadachana
ma karmaphalaheturbhurma te sangostvakarmani”
“You have the right to work only but never to its fruit;.
Let not the fruits of action be your motive, nor let your attachment be to inaction.”
—quoted to Kr̥ṣṇa, Bhagavad Gītā 2.47
hato va prapsyasi swargam jitva va bhokshyase mahim
tasmad uttishtha kaunteya yuddhaya krita-nishchayah
If you fight, you will either be slain on the battlefield and go to the celestial abodes, or you will gain victory and enjoy the kingdom on earth.
Therefore arise with determination, O son of Kunti, and be prepared to fight.
—Bhagavad Gītā 2.37
Air, water, earth, fire, sky, mind, intelligence and ego together constitute the nature created by me.
—quoted to Krishna, Bhagavad Gītā 7.4
Vasudeva-sutaṃ-devaṃ – Kaṃsa-cāṇūra-mardanam – Devakī-paramānandaṃ – Kṛṣṇaṃ vande Jagadgurum
The god sired by Vasudeva, the slayer of Kaṃsa and Cāṇūra, the greatest son of Devakī, salutations to Kṛṣṇa, the Preceptor of the world.
You learned people assembled at this sacred ceremony know it for certain that we two hereby accept each other as companions for life and agree to live together most cordially as husband and wife. May the hearts of us both be blended and beat in unison. May we love each other like the very breath of our lives. As the all-pervading God sustains the universe, so may we sustain each other. As a Professor loves his student, so may we love each other steadfastly and faithfully.
Distant though we were, one from the other, we stand now united. May we be of one mind and spirit! Through the grace of God, may the eyes radiate benevolence. Be thou my shield. May thou have a cheerful heart and a smiling face. May thou be a true devotee of God and mother of heroes. May thou have at heart the welfare of all living beings!
– Rig Veda 10.85.44-47
