Introduction :
Hitopadesha is divided into 4 parts as follows :
Winning of Friends – contains 6 stories
Losing of Friends – contains 9 stories
War – contains 7 stories
Peace – contains 12 stories
Some of the stories in this book seem to be similar to stories from Panchatantra. But in the Panchatantra each story has been simplified too much and so has lost many layers of storytelling. In contrast, stories in the Hitopadesa still contain the complexity and multiple layers of the story from the perspective of each character. Unlike the simplistic stories of the Panchatantra, we find that in Hitopadesa the author has beautifully explained how each character is thinking, arguing with other characters, reasoning and rationalizing and then acting. So in each story the author has detailed the thinking process which each character uses to either arrive at a point of wisdom or a foolish decision depending on each individual’s way of thinking.
Another interesting aspect of the Hitopadesa is that the author weaves through each story slowly with a lot of attention given to the thoughts running through the mind of each character and the communication between different characters. It also has a story within a story each leading to the next point of wisdom being made by the author. While the original text is complex, I have tried to minimize the complexity and hope my version of it will make an interesting read for you. We will take only 1-2 stories at a time for each post. The stories have an interesting way of unraveling and I am sure you will have fun reading it. Almost each sentence has a lesson in it, so don’t miss it!
The Hitopadesa starts with an invocation of Lord Siva to bless the book so that whatever is accomplished through it is for the good of the world and people in general.
The author, Narayan Pandit deliberately starts the book by voicing his thoughts on ‘knowledge and wisdom’ and why they are important in a person’s life and so says,
“Among all things on earth, knowledge is truly the best because it:
> cannot be stolen from you, once you have it, it is yours; cannot be bought by anyone as only that person who is capable of absorbing that knowledge can have it. Even if a fool pays for it he can neither absorb it nor use it appropriately ; and it is indestructible
> Knowledge once known and absorbed remains with the one who is capable.Just like the river flows many miles to unite with the ocean, a knowledgeable person is able to reach out for the best opportunities and get access to the most important and powerful people through his knowledge. Thus, it is knowledge which leads to prosperity.
> Right knowledge provides prudence and good judgment, which makes a person fit for important roles and positions in life. This gives the person access to power and wealth, which if used for doing good, provides one with happiness.
> To become famous a person can acquire 2 kinds of knowledge – in areas of physical training like wrestling, gymnastics, martial arts, etc or in areas of literary studies. Knowledge of physical arts becomes useless in old age but literary knowledge is evergreen.
> If wise thoughts and wisdom stories are shared at an early age with children, then it is like a pattern impressed upon an earthen vessel before it is baked – the impression of wise thoughts stays on it forever
> A wise person should seek knowledge and wisdom as if he/she were immortal and practice virtue as if death was very near.
The Story as narrated by Narayan Pandit:
The Kingdom of Patliputra, on the banks of river Bhagirathi, was ruled by a king named Dhavalachandra. He was a very virtuous king. Once a wise man related the following verses to him:
> it is the eye of learning which resolves many doubts and reveals hidden or less understood things. Those who do not possess this eye are the real blind.
> There are 4 things which are a disadvantage in life – youth, wealth, power and being inconsiderate. While each of these is a disadvantage, when all 4 come together then it becomes the biggest disadvantage of life.
Hearing this, the King became very a concerned about his sons who were not inclined to learning, were young, wealthy, powerful and often inconsiderate of others. His mind started going through many thoughts. He wondered whether it was better not to have sons at all or to lose a son than to have a foolish one.
He felt the unborn or dead son can cause pain only once but a foolish son will be a pain forever. He felt that it was better to be blessed with one accomplished son than have a hundred foolish ones. The king felt sure that non virtuous sons were equal to having an enemy.
Then he started thinking whether having sons who were virtuous or not was given by fate and nothing could be done about it. Being a man of great intelligence and wisdom he reflected that the belief that fate decided everything was a lazy and defeatist man’s way of thinking. He thought that while fate has its place one cannot abandon one’s own effort to attain his goals – without action nothing is ever accomplished.
He also thought to himself – ‘Prosperity comes to an energetic, lion like personality. But an abject man leaves all things to fate and never takes action’. He felt that a person should take on fate with energy and actions. The king, being wise, was of the opinion that just like a chariot needs 2 wheels to move, without action even destiny or fate cannot be fulfilled. Just like from a lump of clay a potter makes a pot or a bowl or whatever he wishes, so also a man of action makes his own destiny. He further had the following thoughts :
> Fruit lying in front of the crow cannot fulfill his hunger, unless he takes action to eat it
> A job cannot be done only by wishes, but has to be accompanied by suitable action
> A child does not become learned and educated just by being born but has to be trained through efforts and actions of the parents
> A person of a noble family, young and beautiful but having no knowledge is like a beautiful but scentless kimsuka flower (aka Flame of the forest flower)
> A well dressed fool can also shine in a group of people but only as long as s/he does not open his/her mouth
Having reflected in this way, the King, who by now, had become quite concerned about his own sons, decided to call the assembly of all learned masters from his and surrounding kingdoms to find a teacher for his wayward sons.
He was of the opinion that the mind of a person develops according to whom he/she associates with. So a person will develop lower in thinking if he/she associates with low thinking or unlearned people. If interacting or associating with equals, the person remains where he/she already is. But if associating with intelligent and learned people, a person can attain greater knowledge, and distinction in life. Therefore, he became determined to find an intelligent and learned person to help his non-virtuous sons to gain knowledge and wisdom so that they could govern the kingdom wisely when he was no longer alive.
When everyone invited had arrived and settled down, the King, addressing the assembly, asked if there was anyone who could help his wayward and ignorant sons learn the art of politics and governance of the kingdom.
Knowing the character of the Princes, all wise and learned Pandits remained silent as they saw this as a very difficult task. But there was one Pandit, by the name of Vishnusarman, who rose and responded as follows :
“The princes being born in a high family have potential and so can be helped to learn. In a mine of rubies we cannot find crystals. The princes coming from a family of highly attained, intelligent ancestors and family members, were ripe for higher levels of learning.”
Vishnusarman promised to attain his goal within 6 months of starting work with the Princes. The King was overjoyed and handed over the training of his sons to Vishnusarman with great courtesy to him.
Soon enough, Vishnusarman met the princes for their first lesson. Once the introductions were completed and all were comfortably settled, he said to the princes – ‘With the enjoyment of literary works the time of the wise passes, and that of the fool with vice, sleep, or contention. So we shall start with learning literature through some stories.
I shall start with the wonderful story of the crow, tortoise and others called The Winning of Friends’.Vishnusarman (VS) – There were 4 friends, the crow, tortoise, deer and mouse. They had no wealth or power, but they always succeeded in achieving whatever aims they had.
Princes – How is that?
VS – On the banks of the river Godavari there is a silk cotton tree. From all quarters and directions, birds come in the evening to spend the night in this tree. On a certain night when the moon was full and could be seen over the mountains on the western side, a crow called Laghupatnak was awake and saw a hunter coming towards the open field nearby with his nets. He said to himself, ‘this is an inauspicious sight, something not so good is bound to happen.
VS at this point stresses one point to the Princes – many things which can cause fear and grief happen daily for the fool but not the wise. So a person must know every morning he/she wakes that any danger can present itself in their life. But the fool and the wise will act differently to deal with the same situation.
VS then continues with the story – The hunter scattered grains of rice on the field and then set up his net and hid himself to wait for the birds to appear in the morning. At dawn, a group of pigeons flew by. The king of pigeons, Chitragreev, noticed the grains of rice in the field. He noticed his group of pigeons eyeing the rice grains hungrily and being wise remarked, ‘From where can grains of rice come in a jungle like this, we should carefully investigate before going for the rice, otherwise we may become like the traveler who was killed by an old tiger.The other pigeons asked, ‘How was that?’
Chitragreev explained as follows – Once I saw an old tiger sitting on the banks of a river and calling out to travelers to accept the gold bracelet that he was holding in his paw. This attracted one traveler who wanted to take a chance and risk in the hope that he could easily acquire a gold bracelet for free. But he was also doubtful whether the tiger was going to trick him and kill him rather than give him the bracelet. As his greed increased, he thought he should investigate and see whether it was possible for him to outsmart the tiger and get the gold bracelet. So he asked to see the bracelet and the tiger showed it to him. Then he asked the tiger how he could trust a wild, man-eater tiger like him? The clever tiger replied that he had killed many people and animals when he was young but now that he was old, alone and without a family, he had been advised by a wise man to do donations before dying to atone for his sins. He also assured the traveler that he was too old, with hardly any claws and teeth left, to kill anyone. He went on to say that he felt the traveler was a needy person and so he would like to give him the bracelet rather than to a wealthy traveler. He asked the traveler to cleanse himself in the river as it is more auspicious to receive a donation after one is cleansed. As the traveler stepped into the river, he realized that it was shallow and marshy. He got stuck in the marsh and was pounced upon by the tiger.
The traveler in his last moments reflected –
> The natural disposition of every being dominates and does not change ever, just as by its nature milk of a cow is always sweet
> The actions of those whose mind and heart are not in his control are always ineffective
> Confidence cannot be placed in those with weapons in their hands, or those with claws or horns and in King’s families
> Knowledge without practice is a burden
Chitragreev, ended the story by saying – Well digested food, a circumspect son/daughter, a virtuous partner, a well considered speech and a well deliberated action do not create anxiety or difficulties later.
But a haughty and greedy pigeon in the group challenged the king and said – Such big principles of life do not apply to small things like how and when to have a meal. There is always danger when seeking food, so the doubtful and ever suspicious ones get only misery and no food. So saying the pigeons dived to eat the corn and got caught in the hunter’s net.
Then he continued with the story of the pigeons …As the pigeons realized they had got caught due to the wrong advise of one of their fellow pigeon, they started blaming him for their misfortune. Chitragreev intervened and told them that it was not that pigeon’s fault.
At this point VS again made a point –
> In a group, when you take a leadership position and decide on an action or initiative, the action can be successful or it can fail. If it is successful, all enjoy and claim the benefits from it, but if the same action if unsuccessful, the leader who took the decision is accused or disowned by others.
Story continues…Hearing the pigeons blaming one of the fellow pigeons, Chitragreev immediately intervened and said that they must not blame the pigeon as sometimes misfortunes can happen due to a friend. He reminded them that a friend is one who helps to resolve the problems of a person not the one who finds fault with the other or blames him for misfortune. He said that in the time of difficulty, only a coward becomes perplexed, the brave look for a solution to the problems.
He also advised that the perfect character of the great and magnanimous people is in:
> Firmness and courage in misfortune
> Meekness in prosperity
> Eloquence or expressive in the gathering of intelligent and powerful people
> Great courage in war or conflict situations
> Desire to achieve
> Perseverance in learning
The real jewel among leaders is the one who does not become full of pride in prosperity or dejected in adversity and is always firm in a conflict situation. He advised – So keep equanimity and act with firmness.
He then asked all the pigeons to heave and fly together so that they could take the net with them and fly away. He said that like the small pieces of grass when woven together become a rope and can even hold an elephant in place, the small effort of each pigeon will be able to create a big group impact. So the birds coordinated their flight and lifted the net and flew off. The hunter was left staring at his loss. Chitragreev asked all the pigeons to fly to the banks of the Gandaki river where his friend Hiranyaka the mouse lived to get his help in cutting the net.
So VS told the Princes :
> even the very learned and those who have no doubts, when confronted with greed and covetousness become afflicted in their thinking. From covetousness come feelings of obsession with a thing and such a person easily moves towards his own misery to get what he wants
> No restraint of the senses is the path to misfortune, the control of the senses is the path to success. It is only you who can decide which path to take
