[5] Subhashitas are known for their inherent moral and ethical advice, instructions in worldly wisdom and guidance in making righteous deeds.
[8] Author Ludwik Sternbach describes that such wise sayings in poetic form not only contain beautiful thoughts but they also make the expressions in cultivated language.
[3] He further says that such form of Indian literature had a tinge of poetry, the poetical skill being exhibited in the intricate play of words which created a slight wit, humour, satire and sententious precepts; they arose laughter, scorn, compass and other moods.
[6] The Subhashita Sudhanidhi, as Dr. K Krishnamoorthy writes in his critical edition, also serves as a source-material to reconstruct the early Vijayanagara kingdom.
[11] From the beginning of the 10th century AD several writers contributed immensely in collecting and preserving different wise sayings of contemporary and earlier poets.
Other anthologies of subhashita verses from unknown and known authors, estimated from early 1st millennium AD, are Jayavallabha's Vajjalagga and Chapannaya's Gahao.
परोपकाराय दुहन्ति गावः परोपकाराय शरीरम् एतत् For benevolence, tree bears fruit For benevolence, river flows with water For benevolence, cow gives milk For benevolence, a spirit is with human body[21] Garments are cleaned by water,the mind by truth,the soul by ahimsa,the intellect by knowledge.Pure connection may convince a lover's heart,that ampler blessings flow when we're apart,when she is here, my lady is but one,when she's away, in all things I see her alone.There are tens of thousands of Subhashita in Indian literature covering topics as diverse as humor, sarcasm, criticism, politics, eroticism, emotions, love, wealth, daily life, society, learning, stages of life, ethics, morals, spirituality, deities, medicine, food, festivals, prayer, riddles, science, mathematics, poetry, language, art, Vedas, Upanishads, Puranas, Itihasas, and other subjects.
Unlike subhashitas and lokokti whose authors are unknown or long forgotten, sutras are attributed to sages, famous or known personalities.