The Subhāṣitārṇava:
Sanskrit book: Literally “waves of poetry.” The name of an unedited and unpublished ‘subhāṣita-saṃgraha’ (collection of aphorisms). It consists of more than 300 pages in the Bengali script.
About the author:
Nothing is currently known about the creator of this work.
Subject matter:
‘Subhāṣita’ (सुभाषित) refers to Sanskrit metrical aphorisms. Compilations of this type of literature are generally called ‘subhāṣitasaṃgraha’.
In autumn a cloud thunders without raining, and in the rainy season it gives rain without thundering: so the commoner talks without acting, the excellent acts without speaking much.
This is a classic ‘Sanskrit nīti (moral/wisdom) aphorism’, using nature as a metaphor for human character. The comparison works on two levels:
☁️ ‘Autumn cloud’:
— thunders loudly, but produces no rain
🗣️ ‘Ordinary/petty person’ (commoner)
— talks boastfully, makes promises, but fails to act
🌧️ ‘Monsoon cloud’:
— rains abundantly, without noisy thunder
🧘 ‘Noble/excellent person’ (uttama)
— acts with substance, without excessive boasting or self-promotion
Core teaching:
True virtue and competence are shown through ‘action’, not loud words. Genuine character “delivers” quietly; false or shallow character “announces” loudly but delivers nothing.
This fits a recurring theme in Indian ethical literature distinguishing three types of people — ‘uttama’ (excellent), ‘madhyama’ (middling), and ‘adhama/nīca’ (inferior) — based on the relationship between speech and deed.
📚 On the Origin & Author (“Soebhasjitarnava”):
– The name “Soebhasjitarnava” appears to be an older ‘Dutch-influenced transliteration’ (common in colonial-era Indonesian/Malay scholarship) of ‘Subhāṣitārṇava’
— literally “Ocean (arṇava) of Good Sayings (subhāṣita)”.
– ‘Subhāṣita’ is not a single text but a ‘genre’ of Sanskrit literature — short, pithy verses of wisdom, often anonymous or compiled from multiple sources (similar to proverbs).
– Many subhāṣita anthologies exist (e.g., ‘Subhāṣita Ratna Bhāṇḍāgāra’, ‘Subhāṣita Ratnākara’), and verses like this one are frequently found scattered across:
– ‘Hitopadeśa’
– ‘Pañcatantra’
– ‘Bhartṛhari’s Nīti Śataka’
– ‘Various anonymous subhāṣita compilations’
⚠️ Honest Caveat:
– I ‘cannot confirm with certainty’ a specific author or exact verse/chapter number for this precise line, since:
– Subhāṣita verses are often ‘anonymous or attributed collectively’ to oral/folk tradition before being compiled.
– The same cloud-thunder-rain metaphor appears in ‘multiple variant forms’ across different Sanskrit texts.
– If you found this quote in a specific book/document titled “Soebhasjitarnava,” it likely refers to a ‘historical (possibly Dutch colonial-era) anthology of Sanskrit subhāṣitas’, but I don’t have verified bibliographic details (editor, publication date) for that specific compilation.
