Panchatantra, explained
If you were a 90s kid, this Reel is going to blow your mind.
You might vaguely remember hearing, reading or watching these tales of talking & walking animals called “Panchatantra.” But they’re more than simple bedtime stories & here’s the tea.
The legend goes that 2000-2500 years ago, there was a king with 3 sons who weren’t exactly class toppers, so a sage named Vishnu Sharma (or Vasubhaga) distilled the concepts & ideas of our dharma (ethics) & artha (governance) shashtras i.e. textbooks on how to live life & manage the kingdom, into simple stories featuring talking animals & mythical creatures.
While the inspiration to write these stories may have been different, and even the author’s name is said to be a pen name, the goal was to teach children how to wisely live life, make complicated moral decisions, and become mature enough to handle ethics, warfare, politics, conflict, cheating, etc.
As the name suggests, Panchatantra is actually a set of 5 books talking about 5 important principles:
1. Mitra-bheda - On conflicts between friends/loss of friends - how you should choose your friends or it will put you in trouble
2. Mitra-sampatti/laabha - On advantages of good friendships/gaining friends - how friendships can pull you out of trouble
3. Kākolūkīyam - On strategic war & peace, featuring crows & owls - how to control your position & community in peace & war time
4. Labdhapraṇāśam - On losing what you’ve gained by making mistakes - how to realise the value of what you’ve been given
5. Aparīkṣitakārakaṃ - On the consequences of hasty decisions & actions - how to not make imprudent decisions
The jackals Kartaka & Damanaka, the Pingalaka lion, the Kurma tortoise, the Market & Makar i.e. monkey & crocodile, the Uluka (owl), the blue jackal & the mice - all were created to teach young readers complicated adult topics that would influence their actions as kings & rulers of the future.
The characters in the stories also start narrating stories, creating an “Inception” of stories, like the Russian Doll storytelling method.
So our India was probably one of the first countries to, in one way, create such an innovative curriculum of hands-on practical survival skills for kids & Panchatantra is also said to have influenced many folklore across the world. Panchatantra is one of India’s most widely translated scriptures/literature pieces, marking its immense influence on other countries & cultures.