Envy watches. Coveting reaches. The previous chapter warned against the corrosion of grudging another's success; this one warns against the moment the hand extends. Valluvar's word is 'veḵku' — not mere wanting, but the specific itch to seize what belongs to someone else. The chapter does not moralize from above. It builds a case like a trial lawyer: first the damage report (your family will be destroyed), then the character witnesses (the just, the wise, the disciplined — none of them covet), then the cross-examination (what good is your vast learning if you still grab?), and finally the closing argument that inverts every expectation. The wealth you protect by not coveting will outlast the wealth you steal. The pride of wanting nothing conquers more than any army. Valluvar's deepest move is structural: he places this chapter immediately after envy because he knows the psychology — jealousy is the spark, coveting is the fire, and theft is the ash.