Managerial Analysis of Vidur Niti

Vidur Niti is a part of the Mahabharata, the great Indian epic authored by Krishna Dvaipayana Ved Vyasa. It spans chapters 33 to 40 of the Udyoga Parva and comprises 588 Sanskrit shlokas.

Vidur, an incarnation of Yama (the god of justice), served as the Prime Minister of the Hastinapur kingdom. On the eve of the Mahabharata war between the Kauravas and Pandavas, King Dhritarashtra-troubled and unable to sleep-summoned Vidur at midnight for counsel. He requested a discourse on the ethics of governance. The dialogue continued until 4 a.m. Although the king agreed with Vidur's insights, he felt powerless to act on them due to the influence of his eldest son Duryodhana, who held the real power.

The 588 shlokas in Vidur Niti have been thematically classified into various categories, including:

Qualities of Good, Bad, and Vicious Individuals

Ethical Logic and Wisdom

Traits of Effective Kings and Leaders

Contemporary Management Topics such as self-control, oral communication, committee systems, stress management, leadership qualities, emotional intelligence, and policy strategies.

Six case studies have also been derived from the text, along with sections on family management and managing friendships.

This research project, conducted under the Ved Vyasa Chair at Shri Govind Guru University, Godhra, Gujarat, aims to establish that Vidur, as early as 3200 BCE, had a profound understanding of governance and management principles and articulated them with ethical clarity and logical reasoning.

Each Sanskrit shloka in this book is followed by Roman transliteration and an English commentary for better understanding. A chapter-wise summary is provided at the end for ease of revision.

About the Author's:

Professor N. M. Khandelwal (b. 2 October 1942), M.Com. (Gold Medalist), Ph.D., CBA (Canada), FIAA, has over 40 years of postgraduate teaching and research experience, including 34 years as an academic administrator. He has served as Professor, Head, Dean, and Director at Saurashtra University and M.D.S. University.

He has also led several MBA institutions, including GLS NRIBM (Ahmedabad), ITM Bhilwara, Government Engineering College (Ajmer), ALTS, and RKCBM (Rajkot). As a distinguished academic, he has been invited as Visiting Professor/Fellow by various universities.

Prof. Khandelwal has guided 23 Ph.D. scholars and completed four post-doctoral research projects. He has published numerous books, research papers, and articles and is a widely respected authority on Indian ethos and values for managers. He has visited U.S. universities twice and held prominent academic leadership roles, including:

President, Indian Accounting Association

General Secretary, Inter-University Council of Business Education and Research

Current Chairman, IAA Standing Committee on Accounting Standards

Dr. Pratapsinh Chauhan Vice-Chancellor (2nd Term), Shri Govind Guru University (SGGU), Godhra, Gujarat (Former VC- Saurashtra University, Rajkot) is a double Gold-Medallist awarded with prestigious "Sheth Hargovinddas Laxmidas Gold Medal" and "Shri L. K. Dholakiya Gold Medal" in Masters. He has been awarded with "CRMS Fellowship" after completing "Fellowship for Faculty Development Programme" at Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Ahmedabad (F.D.P.M) in 2001. He received "Best Paper award" in "International Conference on Finance & Accounting, Organized by Research and Development, Association", Jaipur (2010). He was also awarded with "Best Research Paper" on "Measurement of Shareholder Value Creation" Organized by International Conference on "Business, Economics, Management and Behavioral Sciences" (ICBEMBS'2012), Planetary Scientific Research Centre, Dubai.

He was also a member of Executive Committee, National Accreditation and Assessment Council, (NAAC) from 2016 to 2019 and Member of Standing Committee of NAAC and Member of General Council from 2016 to 2018. He has been Chairperson of many committees of NAAC and UGC in last 20 years. He has presented papers at 89 International, National and State Level Conferences and 43 research papers have been published in reputed journals for Management and Commerce. He has published 20 books and has successfully guided 62 research scholars leading to award of Ph.D. He was also panel member on discussion on Intellectual Property Rights, organized by Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Ahmedabad, in May, 2001. He can be reached at prof.pratapsinh@gmail.com