The Kural · Character

Fortune

Personified concept of luck and destiny in the moral verses.

minor

First appearance: xxiv glory

Fortune's tie to Kauṭilya is one of the pressures that moves The Kural—worth meeting in the text, not only on a cast list.

Referenced indirectly through the concept of wealth and the condition of the rich under a tyrant.

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With Kauṭilya (psychological): Fortune is personified and interacts with Kauṭilya as a symbolic force, representing luck or destiny in political affairs. With Lakshmi (social): Fortune and Lakshmi are linked as…

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See Fortune in xxiv glory

Character Web

2 connections

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Relationship types

Psychological
Social

Character groups

Kural Commentators and Scholars

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Narrative arc

Story tension across the book — this chapter sits in Exposition.

Setup
Escalation
Breaking point
Aftermath
Closing

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Relationships

Kauṭilya
psychological · ambivalent
Fortune is personified and interacts with Kauṭilya as a symbolic force, representing luck… How this plays out →
Lakshmi
social · positive

Relationship notes

How these ties play out is in the reading companion — open the free preview.

See Fortune in xxiv glory

In the story

Fortune appears across 16 companion beats. Open any chapter in the free preview to see the notes beside the text.

Part II—Wealth
Referenced indirectly through the concept of wealth and the condition of the rich under a tyrant.
Part III—Love
Referenced indirectly in the context of the husband's promise to return laden with glory and wealth.
XXXVIII: Destiny
Fortune is personified as the arbiter of resolution, intelligence, and the turning of events from good to evil or vice versa.
XLVIII: Judging of Strength
Implied as the consequence of overreaching or living beyond one's measure.
XLIX: Judging the Opportune Moment
Fortune is personified as a force that can be bound by acting in harmony with time.
LII: Testing and Employment of Men
Mentioned as departing from the prince who resents a skilled servant's friendly advances.
LX: Energy
Personified as a force that seeks out the home of the energetic man.
LXI: Abstention from Sloth
Implied as the favor of princes that cannot help the slothful.
LXII: Manly Exertion
Fortune is personified as something that may fail a man, but the disgrace is in deliberate inaction, not in failure.
LXXXVI: The Defiant Spirit
Referenced as smiling upon those who ignore provocation, contrasting with Destiny's role in ruin.
XC: Refraining from Offending the Great Ones
Referenced indirectly as the prosperity that is lost when the mighty are offended.
XCI: Submission to Wife Government
Fortune is mentioned as favoring men who do not dote on their wives.
XCII: Prostitutes
Referenced as forsaking men who delight in prostitutes, drink, and dice.
XCVIII: Greatness
Fortune is mentioned as falling to the lot of the little-minded, leading to insolence.
CIV: Husbandry
Personified as 'the fair one called Earth' who laughs at the sluggard.
Endnotes
Referenced as the Goddess of Fortune, synonymous with Lakshmi.

Chapter companion notes

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See Fortune in xxiv glory

See Fortune in Part II—Wealth