# Fortune — The Kural character guide

> Fortune in The Kural by Thiruvalluvar.

**Role:** minor

**First appearance:** 0035-xxiv-glory

## Who they are

Personified concept of luck and destiny in the moral verses.

## Relationships

### [Kauṭilya](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_kural_se/characters/kautilya)

_psychological_

Fortune is personified and interacts with Kauṭilya as a symbolic force, representing luck or destiny in political affairs.

### [Lakshmi](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_kural_se/characters/lakshmi)

_social_

Fortune and Lakshmi are linked as personified concepts of prosperity and luck, often invoked together.

## In the story

### [Part II—Wealth](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_kural_se/chapters/part-ii-wealth)

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

### [Part III—Love](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_kural_se/chapters/part-iii-love)

Referenced indirectly in the context of the husband's promise to return laden with glory and wealth.

### [XXXVIII: Destiny](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_kural_se/chapters/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](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_kural_se/chapters/xlviii-judging-of-strength)

Implied as the consequence of overreaching or living beyond one's measure.

### [XLIX: Judging the Opportune Moment](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_kural_se/chapters/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](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_kural_se/chapters/lii-testing-and-employment-of-men)

Mentioned as departing from the prince who resents a skilled servant's friendly advances.

### [LX: Energy](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_kural_se/chapters/lx-energy)

Personified as a force that seeks out the home of the energetic man.

### [LXI: Abstention from Sloth](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_kural_se/chapters/lxi-abstention-from-sloth)

Implied as the favor of princes that cannot help the slothful.

### [LXII: Manly Exertion](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_kural_se/chapters/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](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_kural_se/chapters/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](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_kural_se/chapters/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](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_kural_se/chapters/xci-submission-to-wife-government)

Fortune is mentioned as favoring men who do not dote on their wives.

### [XCII: Prostitutes](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_kural_se/chapters/xcii-prostitutes)

Referenced as forsaking men who delight in prostitutes, drink, and dice.

### [XCVIII: Greatness](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_kural_se/chapters/xcviii-greatness)

Fortune is mentioned as falling to the lot of the little-minded, leading to insolence.

### [CIV: Husbandry](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_kural_se/chapters/civ-husbandry)

Personified as 'the fair one called Earth' who laughs at the sluggard.

### [Endnotes](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_kural_se/chapters/endnotes)

Referenced as the Goddess of Fortune, synonymous with Lakshmi.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_kural_se/characters/fortune
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_kural_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_kural_se/characters