Panchatantra Book 0 - The Beginning of the Panchatantra: King Amarshakti and His Three Princes
Table of Contents
Introduction to the Panchatantra
If I want to share Panchatantra as a story, then should I not start with ‘Once upon a time there was a king’? That is how I remember most stories were like when I was growing up. The Panchatantra is not meant to be different. So, let me start before the stories of the Panchatantra. Before the animals take over. So, this will start with a story of a king. Not a lion king like in the stories but a king who was very much a human, like me and you.
So, in a faraway kingdom on the banks of the Southern Ocean was a country so beautiful that poets compared this place to a beautiful woman. There was a wish-fulfilling tree in that kingdom. Not literally. The king was said to be like that wish-fulfilling tree. Whatever was asked for would be granted. He was wise and also very powerful. His enemies trembled when they heard his name. He had won kingdoms with the might of his sword. His allies swore by him and were always by his side. This king had a name, Amarshakti. A king like this should be very pleased – right? No, he wasn’t. The king had three young sons whom he had named based on how he wanted them to be. He wanted them to be powerful and strong and have infinite strength. What he got were three young men who hated learning. Their names were Bahushakti, Ugrashakti, and Anantashakti. Their names had power (Shakti), but the princes were not aware how to use it. They spent their days in games and hunting. Statecraft did not bother them. Many teachers had tried their hand at it, and the princes had refused to obey them. They would find ways to get rid of these teachers. They left teachers waiting for them while they busied themselves with their games. If somehow, they were forced, the teachers would see the signs – boredom, yawning, doodling or nodding off.
This attitude of the princes worried the king. What would happen to his sons? He would look after them till he could. After that? And what would happen to the kingdom after he was gone? His enemies were clever. If they realised the ruler was weak, physically or mentally, they would annex the kingdom. Sometimes he felt it was better to have no children than to have those who lacked sense of diplomacy and statecraft. How would his sons distinguish the good from the bad? How would they know whom to trust and whom to avoid? This worried him constantly. They were like cows that gave no milk, had no calves and could barely move, but were there and had to be taken care of.
One day he spoke to his ministers. He said, “Listen to me. You have advised whenever I have needed your help. Today is one of those days. You know my three sons. They are not bad; they are just not clever. They refuse to learn and need to know how to deal with life. I do not want them to be known as fools. Our kingdom has so many scholars. Our land funds their work. Is there no one amongst them who can help my sons?” A minister said, “Sire, I am sorry, but I do not think what you want is practical. Your sons need to learn from the beginning. They need to study and complete their formal education. After that they will have to learn philosophy and study the Vedas and Upanishads. You want them to learn fast, and I feel they will take many years, maybe a decade or so if not more.” Many ministers agreed with this. Teaching someone to become intelligent was tough, and that too on fast-track mode; that was a herculean task.
Among the many ministers in the court, there was someone called Sumati. True to his name, he was wise and most of the time, he knew what needed to be done. He usually spoke when the noise had died down. Sumati asked for permission to speak after the other ministers had finished. When granted permission, he addressed all and said, “I beg to differ with what was just said. What needs to be looked at is how the princes can become wise. What was just said was about literacy, and the princes should have no problem learning the texts. The question is how will they get to apply the learning from the texts? So, what is needed is a summary of all texts, explained in a way that the princes understand. Education is limitless and one can spend a lifetime and still feel that they have not learnt anything. What is needed is someone like a swan who can extract the solid contents of milk and leave the water behind, and then give the princes exactly that.” Sumati paused. The other ministers nodded in agreement.
Sumati then looked at the king and said, “Sire, I would like to add something. I know of a scholar whose name is Vishnu Sharma. He is very learned and has taught many students. He has a unique method of teaching, and I am sure the three princes will benefit a lot if this scholar teaches them.”
The king said, “You know my sons and their problems. Do you think this scholar will be able to help them?”
Sumati said, “Sire, how will we know till we have spoken to the teacher? As I said, I know of the scholar but I have not personally interacted with him. Here is what I suggest; there is no harm in sending for Vishnu Sharma. Let him come and then let us talk to him and see what he has to say.”
The king liked this idea and had the scholar sent for. Vishnu Sharma arrived. He was an old man and he seemed intelligent. There was something in his eyes which said this. He was duly welcomed and shown the respect a scholar deserves. When Vishnu Sharma was rested after his journey, the king told him in detail about his sons and then said, “I have heard about you from my minister. I have three sons. They need to learn how to deal with life. Please let me know if you can teach my sons and make them intelligent.”
Vishnu Sharma said he wanted to meet the princes. The king said he would send for the princes, but Vishnu Sharma was not okay with that. He wanted to observe the princes in an environment in which they were comfortable. He asked to be taken to the princes. The princes were playing with their pet dogs. Seeing Vishnu Sharma, they stopped. The dogs were chained up, and Vishnu Sharma spoke with them.
He decided to test them and said, “Do not be afraid of me. I can sense your uneasiness, and I promise you I shall not teach you. What if I tell you stories? If so, why don’t we all walk together while I tell you a story of a fox and a farmer. How is that? There is a catch here. You will have to tell me what you learnt from this. Is that fine?”
The princes agreed, and while they strolled around, Vishnu Sharma said,
“In a city lived a farmer who had a plot of land. He tilled the land, planted sugarcane and set up a protective fence to ensure animals did not rob him of his crop. However hard he tried, there was someone who always beat him. This someone was a clever fox. Wherever the fox would find a gap, it would sneak in and ransack the field. Troubled by this, the farmer decided to set a trap and catch the fox. He purposely cleared a gap in the fence to make an open pathway. In the evening, holding a bowl of cooked rice in one hand and a thick wooden club in the other, he lay down near the opening with dishevelled hair and closed eyes, feigning death.
“When the fox arrived and saw the farmer lying there motionless, suspicion arose in its mind. Stepping back to a safe distance, the fox thought, ‘This is neither a battlefield nor is it a place of war. I have never seen anyone die in such a manner anywhere! Why is he lying here like this? And that too with a bowl of rice and a club. Could this be a trap to kill me? Or did he choke on his food while walking down this path and die suddenly? I must not trust this blindly. To test whether he is truly dead or faking it, I will head toward the nearby town. If he is really dead, the townsfolk will be weeping and wailing; if the farmer is not dead, they will be silent.’
“The fox went close to the town and inspected all four directions. Seeing no one crying, it realised the truth - This was a trick set up to kill it. Laughing at its own intelligence, the fox said, ‘I have witnessed a strange death - a man holding a club in one hand and food in the other! Yet, there is no mourning or chaos in the town. He who runs away now is the one who survives.’
“With that, praising its own cleverness, the fox ran away and saved its life.”
Something in the teacher’s voice made the princes comfortable. They spoke about many things, and after that Vishnu Sharma left and went back to the king. He told the king he was willing to take on the task. The king said, “Respected teacher, if you keep your promise, I shall give you as much land as you want, as many cows as you want and as much gold as you need.”
Vishnu Sharma was offended. He then said to the king, “O king, I shall be very frank and honest with you. I am not here for a commercial exchange. Even if you give a lot more land or a lot of wealth, I shall not sell my knowledge. Also, look at me. I am eighty years old and I have no greed. Here is what I shall do for you. Give me custody of your sons. I need six months. In those six months, I shall transform them. I am a Brahmin, and I do not lie. I will train your sons to become great future leaders. If I am unable to do so, I give you my word. I shall leave this profession altogether. I am a devotee of Goddess Saraswati and with her blessings I shall undertake this experiment. I request you to make a note of the date when you send your sons to my ashram. Six months from that day, you will see your sons, completely transformed.”
Amarshakti was impressed. The other ministers who heard this were also very pleased. The king consulted Sumati and agreed to have his sons sent with Vishnu Sharma. After the princes left with the scholar, the king felt relieved. He felt at peace.
Vishnu Sharma took the three princes with him. There, over the period of six months, he told them five types of stories. He even made it clear to the princes that he would not ask them to read or write anything. They were to listen to stories and at the end of the stories, they were to share what they had learnt.
Vishnu Sharma divided the stories into five different categories. These categories were Mitrabheda (The Loss of Friends), Mitraprapti (The Winning of Friends), Kakolukiyam (The Story of Crows and Owls), Labdhapranasam (The Loss of Gains), and Apariksitakarakani (Rash Action). These five categories became known as the Panchatantra.
As for the princes, they learnt from the scholar for six months, and when that period was over, they returned to their father as intelligent young men.
And this is how the Panchatantra starts. If you were expecting animals, be patient. When I start telling you what the stories in the five books were, you shall meet the various animals and see the antics. This is all for now.
In the next Panchatantra post, I shall share the first Panchatantra story – the story of a lion king, a bullock and two jackals.
About this post
While writing this, I have taken some creative liberty. I do not want to share a translation of the Panchatantra. I want to share something which people will enjoy. The story of the fox here is not my creation. In the Kannada version of the Panchatantra, the teacher (who is called Vasubhaga Bhatta there) tells this story to test the princes.
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