PANCHATANTRA - Fifth Strategy: Imprudence

Following is the highlights of these stories, please click on the story name to read in detail.

Imprudence

• Whoever without judgment does what the foolish barber in this chapter did comes to eternal grief.

The Brahmani and The Mongoose

• Wisdom is always superior to learning.
• Self-interest is good; Too much of it will earn a man the fate of Chakradhara.

The Lion That Sprang to Life

• He who has a narrow mind thinks this is mine, this is his. To a large-hearted person the whole world is his
  family.
• Even if one is very learned, if he is without common sense becomes the butt of ridicule.

The Tale of Two Fish and a Frog

• What God chooses to save survives sans human effort and no human effort can save what God ordains to perish.
• Where one cannot pierce sun and wind the wits of a resourceful man enter.
• One should not leave motherland, for, nothing is happier than one’s own land.
• He who cannot control cough or cannot keep sleep at bay or cannot resist good food should not burgle a house.
• Wisdom alone without education does not serve any purpose.

The Story of The Weaver

• He who has no wits of his own or does not heed advice of friends perishes as the weaver in this story.

The Miserly Father

• He who covets the impossible or builds castles in the air comes to certain grief.
• He who is overwhelmed by greed and doesn’t weigh its consequences, will become a victim of deceit like King Chandra in this story.
• He who wants to live in peace must leave a house of daily strife. Conflict breaks up kingdoms like bad words separate friends.
• He who spares himself the spectacle of a friend in distress, of his house occupied by an enemy or of the division of his country, is the happiest.

Tale Of The Bird With Two Heads

• Alone, do not eat delicious food, do not sleep when others are awake, neither should you travel alone nor ponder alone over matters.
• Those who feed on the rich do not help them in distress.
• When their wealth is in tact everyone hovers around the rich.

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PANCHATANTRA - Fourth Strategy: Loss of Gains

Following is the highlights of these stories, please click on the story name to read in detail.

The Croc and The Monkey

The Greedy Cobra and The King of Frogs

The Lion and The Foolish Donkey

The Story of The Potter

A Three-in-One Story

The Carpenter’s Wife

The Price of Indiscretion

The Jackal’s Strategy

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PANCHATANTRA - Third Strategy: Of Crows and Owls

Following is the highlights of these stories, please click on the story name to read in detail.

Of Crows and Owls

• Trust not even a close friend who earlier was your enemy.
• Never accept peace with an enemy who is not just for, he will break his word and stab you in the back.
• Bend to the enemy when he is strong attack him when he is vulnerable. Don’t wage a war if it doesn’t bring power, or wealth or friendship.
• Neither peace nor bravado can subdue a strong enemy where these two do not work. Flight is the best alternative.

Elephants and Hares

• The great Manu had said that it was better to abandon a person to save the whole community, abandon the community to save the village and abandon the village to save the country. Even if the land were fertile, a wise king would abandon it if it were in the interests of his subjects.

The Cunning Mediator

• Doing good to others is virtue. Tormenting others is vice.
• Words out of tune with times, words that bring grief in the end, words that bring pain to others, are, any day, as good as poison.

The Brahmin and The Crooks

• There is hardly any person who is not misled by the servility of a new servant or the sweet words of a guest or the mock tears of a wily woman.

The Brahmin and The Cobra

• Love once betrayed cannot be regained.
• Blessed and happy is the man with a caring and loving wife. A home is not a home without a wife; A wifeless home is like a jungle.

The Old Man, His Young Wife and The Thief

• If two rivals quarrel among themselves, we would be the beneficiaries.

The Tale of Two Snakes

• The learned have said that where wicked men are honoured and wise men are insulted, there will be fear, famine and death.

The Wedding of The Mouse

• I want you know that a crow is a crow and cannot become an owl.

Tale of The Golden Droppings

• He survives who anticipates a danger and acts to avert it, he who does not comes to grief.
• If you want to achieve your goal you will have to put up with all inconvenience and discomfort.

Frogs That Rode a Snake

• What you have said is correct. Great men do not give up what they have begun even in the face of obstacles. Cowards, afraid of failure, do not venture at all. There are some that begin a task and give it up when there is a problem. But courageous people do not give up whatever dangers they face.
• It is dangerous to leave a fire un extinguished a debt unredeemed an enemy uncrushed and a disease untreated.

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PANCHATANTRA - Second Strategy: Gaining Friends

Following is the highlights of these stories, please click on the story name to read in detail.

Gaining Friends

• Fools can never foresee peril.
• People often lose sense when danger lurks in the corner.
• Even if a wise man has everything he needs, he should still seek friends. Even if all the rivers flow into the Sea, the Sea still waits for the Moon to come out.

The Crow-Rat Discourse

• Enmity is of two kinds. The first is natural and the second is artificial. The second kind disappears when what caused it disappears. But natural enmity ends only with the death of one of the two enemies.

Meeting a New Friend

• They are happy who are fortunate not to witness the destruction of crops and the decline of the people.
• Nothing is impossible for a competent person. There is no land that does not respond to effort.
• For a scholar every country is his own country and there is no enemy for a sweet-tongued person. Learning and power are not the same. Remember that the king is respected only in his country but a scholar is honoured everywhere.

The Hermit and The Mouse

• You must not accept the hospitality of such a host who does not welcome you gladly, does not offer you a proper seat and does not make inquiries about your well-being.
• When a man earns a lot of wealth, that pile of money increases his strength and confidence.

Shandili and Sesame Seeds

• Learned men can measure the strength of the rival by just looking at him.
• The man gets what he is destined to. Even God cannot alter destiny.

Story of The Merchant’s Son

• Man gets what is in his destiny; Even God cannot prevent it; To me it makes no difference.
• What’s mine can never become others.

The Unlucky Weaver

• He enjoys life with whatever he has. What’s the use of being rich but miserly?
• Our luck is linked to what we have done in a previous birth. If you have done a good deed in your previous birth, you will reap the harvest in this birth without your effort.
• If you don’t have it in your destiny, you will not get it even with effort. Just as sun and shade are inseparable, cause and effect are also linked to each other.

The Rescue of a Deer

• It is easier to get friends who talk sweetly but difficult to find friends who venture to tell you the truth however bitter it is. The latter alone deserve to be called friends.
• A rich person who does not spend money is as poor as any poor person can be. Not being able to enjoy is common to both the poor and the miserly rich. Nothing on this earth is greater than charity and there is no greater enemy than miserliness.

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PANCHATANTRA - First Strategy: The loss of friends

Following is the highlights of these stories, please click on the story name to read in detail.

The Loss of Friends

The Monkey and The Wedge

• It is not wise to poke our nose into affairs that are not our concern.

The Jackal and The Drum

• Great men do not harm weaker people. They take on only their equals.
• That is what is unique about brave people.

The Fall and Rise of A Merchant

• Elders have always held that even if the king is not willing to heed good advice, it is the duty of his ministers to offer him advice.

The Foolish Sage and The Jackal

• When time and tide are against you, don't give up. Wise men keep on trying till they succeed in getting what they want. The Goddess of Wealth favours the man who persists. Pray God by all means, but put in your own effort. Even if you don't succeed, you will be free of blame.

The Crafty Crane and The Craftier Crab

• He who is wise is stronger than the strong.

The Cunning Hare and The Witless Lion

• Friendship and gold are the rewards of war. Wise men do not go to war unless there are gains.
• You have to crush the enemy and disease at the first opportunity? Otherwise, they will grow in strength and crush you.
• Even without asking, offer good advice to him whom you want to protect from indignity.
• You should not make friends with people you do not know.

The Bug and The Poor Flea

• The Bug and The Poor Flea: It is not proper for you to ask a guest to leave even if he is a wicked person. You must welcome him, ask him about his health, say words that comfort him and request him to take rest. That is how good hosts treat their guests.

The Story of The Blue Jackal

• Do not to trust him whose conduct, caste and courage are not known. He who abandons his own folk will perish.

The Camel, The Jackal and The Crow

• You shall not kill someone who came seeking hospitality. According to our elders, you cannot kill even an enemy who came trusting you. He who kills so commits the sin of killing hundred Brahmins.
• No gift of land or cow or food is greater than the gift of an assurance?

The Bird Pair and The Sea

• All good men should come to the rescue of friends and relatives in times of need. Those who do not heed the advice of their well-wishers meet their end very bad.

Tale of The Three Fish

• Any day, the survivors are those who foresee a danger in time and those who deal with it when it comes. Those who leave things to fate and believe in luck will destroy themselves.
  

The Elephant and The Sparrow

• He is a friend who comes to your aid when you are in need. Everyone tries to be friendly when you are prospering.

The Lion and The Jackal

• One should not preach to one who is not a disciple. The learned have said there is nothing impossible or forbidden for an intelligent being.

Suchimukha and The Monkey

• He who cherishes his welfare should not talk to a gambler or an inefficient workman. So is the person a fool who talks to an idiot or a pleasure seeker.
• If you counsel a fool it will only provoke him and not pacify.
• If you feed milk to a snake it will increase its store of poison. That's why you should not offer advice to everyone.

How a Sparrow Came to Grief

You should offer advice to those who seek it and cherish it? Advice to him who is indifferent is like a cry in the wilderness. Don't try to do that.

The Foolish Crane and The Mongoose

• If you want to wipe out your enemy your words should be soft like butter and your heart like a stone. if you have a strategy, you must also know what the strategy would lead to.
• Papabuddhi considered only the crooked plan but not what would follow. He reaped the consequences.

The King and The Foolish Monkey

• A king who cares for his life should not have a fool as his servant.

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The King and The Foolish Monkey

Once upon a time, there was a king who kept a monkey as a pet. The monkey served the king in whatever way he could. He had a free run of the royal household because he was the king’s pet. One hot day the monkey sat fanning by the side of the king who was sleeping. He noticed a fly on the chest of the king and tried to swish it away. The fly would go away for the moment and come back again to sit on the king's chest.

The monkey could take it no longer and decided to teach the fly a lesson. He looked for a dagger to kill it and when he found it brought it down with all force on the fly. The fly flew away but the king died as result of the dagger blow delivered by the monkey.
Karataka said, “Therefore, the lesson is that a king who cares for his life should not have a fool as his servant.’ He went on to relate a second story to show how shrewd people save the lives of others.

Once upon a time a Brahmin lived in a big city and as a result of his misdeeds in his previous birth he became a thief. He saw four other Brahmins from another city selling a variety of goods in his city. He thought he should somehow deprive the four Brahmins of their money and through sweet words become their good friend. He was useful to them in whatever way he could. True, it comes naturally for women of vice to act coy and for charlatans to pretend to be learned.

The four visitors sold all their goods and with the money from the sales bought pearls and precious jewels. The Brahmin thief was keeping an eye on what they were doing even as he pretended to serve them faithfully. One day, in the presence of the Brahmin, the traders cut open their thighs and storing the jewels and pearls inside the thighs sewed them back.

The Brahmin was disappointed that they did not give him even a small part of their wealth. He immediately decided to follow them and kill them in the middle of their journey back home and take all that wealth from them.

He told the traders with tears in his eyes, “Friends, you seem to be ready to leave me behind. My heart is broken because it is difficult for me to snap the bonds of friendship with you. If you will be so kind as to take me with you, I will be very grateful to you.”

Moved by his request, the traders started their homeward journey accompanied by the Brahmin thief. They passed through several villages, towns and cities before they reached a village inhabited by thugs. Suddenly, they heard a group of crows loudly shouting, “You thugs, very rich people are coming. Come, kill them and become rich.”

The thugs at once attacked the Brahmin traders with sticks and began examining their bags. But they found nothing. They were surprised because this was the first time that the words of the crows turned out to be false. They told the traders, “O traders, the crows always tell the truth. You have the money with you somewhere. Take it out or we will cut every limb of yours and bring it out.”

The Brahmin thief pondered, “These thugs will certainly pierce the body of the traders to grab the jewels. My turn also will come. It is better I offer myself to these thugs and save the lives of the Brahmins. There is no point in fearing death because it will come today or after hundred years. One cannot escape it.”

With these thoughts on his mind, the Brahmin thief asked the thugs to first kill him and see if there was anything valuable on his body. The thugs accepted the offer and found nothing on him after they pierced his body. They let go the other four Brahmins thinking that they also did not have anything precious on their bodies.

As Karataka and Damanaka were discussing the ways of the world, Sanjeevaka engaged Pingalaka in a short battle in which Pingalaka clawed him to death. But the lion was immediately struck by remorse and, recalling the good days he had spent with the bullock, began repenting:

“O I have committed a great sin by killing my friend. There cannot be a greater sin than killing a trusted friend. They who forget a favour or breach a trust or let down a friend will all go to hell as long as the sun and the moon shine in the sky. A king will perish whether what he loses is his kingdom or a faithful servant. A servant and a kingdom are not the same because you can always win back the kingdom but not a trusted servant. In the court, I have always praised Pingalaka. How can I explain his death to the courtiers?”

Damanaka approached the grief-stricken king and told him, “O lord, ruing the death of a grass eater is cowardice. It is not good for a king like you. The learned have always said that it is not a sin to kill a person for treason even if that person is a father, brother, son, wife or a friend. Similarly, one must abandon a tender-hearted king, a Brahmin who eats all kinds of food, an immodest woman, a wicked assistant, a disobedient servant and an ungrateful person.”

Damanaka continued, “You are mourning the death of someone who does not deserve sympathy. Though you are talking like a learned man, you forget that learned men do not think of the past or the dead.”

These words of Damanaka worked like a tonic providing relief to Pingalaka’s troubled mind. Pleased with this advice, the lion king reappointed Damanaka as his minister and continued to rule the forest.

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The Foolish Crane and The Mongoose

A big banyan tree was home to a number of cranes in a forest. In the hollow of that tree lived a cobra, which used to feed on the young cranes which did not yet learn to fly. When the mother crane saw the cobra killing her offspring, she began crying. Seeing the sorrowing crane, a crab asked her what made her cry.

The crane told the crab, “Every day, the cobra living in this tree is killing my children. I am not able to contain my grief. Please show me some way to get rid of this cobra.”

The crab then thought, “These cranes are our born enemies. I shall give her advice that is misleading and suicidal. That will see the end of all these cranes. Elders have always said that if you want to wipe out your enemy your words should be soft like butter and your heart like a stone.

Then the crab told the crane, “Uncle, strew pieces of meat from the mongoose's burrow to the hollow of the cobra. The mongoose will follow the trail of meat to the cobra burrow and will kill it.”

The crane did as the crab advised her. The mongoose came following the meat trail and killed not only the cobra but also all the cranes on the tree. “That is why,” the king's men said, “if you have a strategy, you must also know what the strategy would lead to. Papabuddhi considered only the crooked plan but not what would follow. He reaped the consequences.”

Karataka told Damanaka, “That's why like Papabuddhi you haven't foreseen what will happen if you went ahead with your plans. You have an evil mind. I knew it from your plans to endanger the life of our lord. Your place is not with us. If a rat had a 1000-pound scale for its lunch, is it any wonder that a kite carried away a child?”

“What about it,” asked Damanaka. Karataka told him the following story.

Jeernadhana was the son of a rich merchant. But he had lost all his wealth. He thought he should go abroad, for, he told himself that he who had once prospered should not live in the same place as a poor man. People who respected him once would now look down upon him and shun him. Deciding to go abroad to seek his fortune, he mortgaged with a local merchant the 1000-pound balance his ancestors had left behind.

He went abroad with the money the merchant gave him and after several years came home and asked the merchant to return him the balance.

The merchant said, “O my, where is the balance? The rats have gnawed at it for food.”
Jeernadhana replied without emotion, “I cannot blame you for what the rats have done. The world is like that. Nothing really is permanent. Any way, I am going to the river to take the purification bath. Please send with me your son Dhanadeva to look after my needs.”

Afraid that Jeernadeva would accuse him of theft, the merchant called his son and told him, “Son, your uncle is going to the river for a bath. You accompany him taking with you all the things he needs to take his bath. Men offer help not only out of kindness but also out of fear, greed etc. If one offers help for reasons other than this, you have to be wary of such a person.”

The merchant's son followed Jeernadeva to the river. After taking bath, he led the boy into a nearby cave and, pushing the boy inside, closed it with a huge boulder. When Jeernadeva returned from the river, the merchant asked him, “O honoured guest, didn't you bring back my son? Where is he? Please tell me.”

Jeernadeva told him, “A kite has carried away your boy. There was nothing I could do.”
“You cheat, is this possible? How can a kite carry away a boy? Bring my boy back. Otherwise, I will go to the king and complain.”

“Yes, just as a kite cannot carry away a boy, rats also cannot eat away heavy iron balance. If you want your boy, give me back my balance,” said Jeernadeva.

Both of them took the dispute to the king's court. The merchant complained to the judges that Jeernadeva had kidnapped his child. The judges ordered him to return the boy to the merchant. Jeernadeva told the judges the entire story. Thereupon, the judges ordered Jeernadeva to return the boy and the merchant to give back the balance to Jeernadeva.
Karataka then told Damanaka, “You have done this foul deed because you were jealous of the king's friendship with Sanjeevaka. It is not without reason that our elders have said:

“Fools hate the learned
The poor blame the rich
The miser riles the giver
The wicked abhor the virtuous”

“You have tried to help us. But you have hurt us. It is like the well-meaning monkey killing the king,” said Karataka.

“What did the monkey do?” asked Damanaka.

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How a Sparrow Came to Grief

A pair of sparrows made their home on a branch of a big tree and lived happily there.Soon it was winter and it began to rain heavily. Frequent gusts of wind made the cold unbearable. At this time, a monkey completely drenched in the rain and shivering from cold, came scurrying to the tree for cover.

Seeing the condition of the monkey, the female sparrow said, “Gentleman, with your feet and hands you seem to be a human being. Why didn't you build a house for yourself?' Angered by this uncalled for advice, the monkey said, “you stupid, why do not you shut up and mind your business?' The monkey told himself, “My, what impudence! 

This bit of a creature has the cheek to offer me advice. Makes fun of me. Unnecessary prattle. I must teach her a lesson. Why shouldn't I kill her?”

Turning to the female, the monkey said, “How does it help you to worry about my plight? Haven't you heard this saying of the elders that you should offer advice to those who seek it and cherish it? Advice to him who is indifferent is like a cry in the wilderness. Don't try to do that.”

When the female persisted, the monkey climbed up the tree and broke up the nest of the sparrow pair.

“That's why,” said Karataka to Damanaka, “you should be careful in offering advice. You are a fool who does not understand the essence of my advice. That is not your mistake. Fools ignore advice and wise men follow it and benefit by it. It is clear that you haven't heard the story of Dharmabuddhi and his son Papabuddhi, the story of how the father was killed by smoke due to the son's thoughtlessness.”

“Why don't you tell me that story,” asked Damanaka.

In a city in the north, lived two friends named Dharmabuddhi and Papabuddhi. One day, Papa thought, “I am a man without worldly wisdom and added to that I am also poor. Let me persuade Dharma to take me to far off lands and earn lots of money through his business skills. Later I will deprive him of all his wealth and live happily ever after.”

With these plans on his mind, Papa told Dharma, “My friend, you are growing old and cannot manage your business. Unless you go out into the wide world how can you tell your children about the wonders of the world? Elders have said that he is born in vain who does not see the countries in the world, learn several languages and know the dress styles of other people. You cannot earn wealth and knowledge without wide travel.”

Dharma liked this advice and taking the blessings of his teachers set out on overseas travel, taking Papa with him. Both of them earned a lot of money abroad due to the business talent of Dharma. It was time for them to return home because it is natural for people who go abroad in search of wealth and learning to think of home when they have achieved both.
As they were entering their native place, Papa told Dharma, “It is not safe to take home all this wealth because relatives and friends in need will seek help if they know about our riches. We shall bury most of our money in some secret place in this forest. Whenever we need money, we can come here and take whatever we need. You know that money tempts even saints.”

Dharma agreed to Papa's plan and went home after both of them dug a pit and covered it after burying most of their earnings in it. One midnight Papa went to the secret place in the forest and stole all the money and brought it home. Next morning, he went to Dharma and suggested that they should go to the forest because he was in need of money.

When both of them arrived at the secret spot in the forest and dug there, they found the pit empty. At once Papa began shouting loudly, “Dharma, you stole the money and nobody else. The pit was carefully covered. You must give me half of what we have buried here.' Though Dharma denied it, Papa insisted that they should take the dispute to a court of law.
When the case came before the court, the judge asked them to take oath in the name of God. But Papa quoted experts as saying that relevant documents should be produced first as proof, then witnesses would be summoned to give evidence and oath in the name of God is taken when neither documents nor witnesses are available.

"I can produce the gods of the forest as witnesses. They will determine who is guilty and who is innocent,” said Papa. Impressed by this plan, the judges asked both the parties to be present next morning at the forest for a hearing. Happy at the judges' order, Papa went home and told his father, “Father, I have stolen all Dharma's money. There is a case in the court that I can win only with your help. Otherwise, my life will be in danger.”

“What have I to do to get that money, son,” asked his father.

“There is a big tree there. You have to go now and hide in the hollow of that tree. Tomorrow morning when the judges and others assemble there, I will ask you to tell the truth. Then it is your turn to declare that Dharma is the thief,” said the son.

The father left at once for the forest to hide in the hollow of the tree. The morning of the next day, the son took a bath and went to the tree taking Dharma and the judges with him. Papa went near the tree and shouted, “O sun, moon, air, fire, earth, water, the God of Death, day and night, you are all witnesses to the history of humanity. O Goddess of the Forest, declare who among us is guilty.”

The father shouted back from inside the hollow of the tree, “Listen all of you, it is Dharma who stole the money.” The judges and the king's men heard the verdict and sat down to decide what punishment they should give Dharma. Meanwhile, Dharma filled the hollow with rags and hay, poured oil on them and threw a matchstick into it. The fire forced the half-burnt father to come out of the tree.

“All this is the work of Papa's evil mind,” said the father and soon collapsed and died. The king's men at once bound Papa hand and foot and hung him to a tree. They said, “Our elders have always said that wise men should not only be resourceful but also know the consequences of being resourceful. You have the story of how a mongoose killed all the offspring of the cranebefore his own eyes.”

When Dharma asked them to tell the story, the king's men began relating the story.

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