More than 2000 years ago, there was a kingdom in southern India named Mahilaropya. The Kingdom was ruled by king Amarshakti. Amarshakti had three sons, Bahushakti, Ugrashakti and Anantashakti.
King Amarshakti was a just and able king, well versed in the knowledge of society, economics and diplomacy, however his sons were complete idiots. They would never spend time studying and acquiring knowledge, instead they spent their entire time playing around and doing mischiefs. This worried the good king, for he wanted his children to be prepared to conduct the duties of running a kingdom without hassle.
One day the king decided to discuss his worries among his ministers and asked for their advice. The king said, “My wise ministers, I am really worried about my children. They do not spend their time studying scriptures. I am worried that they are not prepared to run this kingdom after me. I urge you all to suggest a way out.”
One of the ministers said, “O King! The first twelve years are spent in learning grammar, after that Manu’s Dharmashastra, then Chanakya’s Arthashastra and in the end one learns Vatsyayana’s Kamashastra. It is after learning all four that one's knowledge is complete.”
Hearing this the king replied, “Human life is very uncertain and learning all these scriptures and understanding them well will require a very long time. Isn’t there a faster way to gain all this knowledge? I want them to be prepared before I decide to handover this kingdom to them.”
At this point a minister named Sumati spoke, “There is a learned teacher by the name of Vishnusharma. He is wise and loved by his disciples. I suggest you hand over the responsibilities of your children to him. He is the only one capable of imparting knowledge to your kids in a short duration.”
Considering Sumati’s advice, the King invited Vishnusharma to his court and said, “O learned one! I need your help. I want you to educate my children and teach them about social, practical and political matters in a short time. If you do that I will reward you with 100 villages.”
Vishnusharma heard the king patiently and replied, “O king! I am a teacher. I would not even know what to do with the reward of 100 villages. I do not have that kind of desire. However I will certainly take up the responsibility of educating your kids and if I fail to educate them appropriately in the next 6 months, I will happily accept any punishment you deem suitable.”
Hearing these words from the learned teacher, the King became free of worries and he instructed his children to go with the teacher to his gurukul and study as per his instructions.
Vishnusharma brought those princes with him to his gurukul and started teaching them through interesting stories centered around animal characters. Vishnusharma divided his lessons into five parts. First part was about differences or conflicts among friends, the second part was choosing the right friend and forming relationships, the third part was about stories of crows and owls, the fourth part was about what to do in desperate situations and the fifth part was how to navigate in situations about which one does not have complete visibility. Thus Vishnusharma imparted social and practical knowledge to young princes through interesting stories.
These five chapters collectively became popular as Panchtantra and teach children basic knowledge about dealing with social situations and impart moral lessons. In this series we will be bringing out stories from Panchtantra with interesting visuals, which you can watch with your kids.
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More than 2000 years ago, there was a kingdom in southern India named Mahilaropya. The Kingdom was ruled by king Amarshakti. Amarshakti had three sons, Bahushakti, Ugrashakti and Anantashakti.
King Amarshakti was a just and able king, well versed in the knowledge of society, economics and diplomacy, however his sons were complete idiots. They would never spend time studying and acquiring knowledge, instead they spent their entire time playing around and doing mischiefs. This worried the good king, for he wanted his children to be prepared to conduct the duties of running a kingdom without hassle.
One day the king decided to discuss his worries among his ministers and asked for their advice. The king said, “My wise ministers, I am really worried about my children. They do not spend their time studying scriptures. I am worried that they are not prepared to run this kingdom after me. I urge you all to suggest a way out.”
One of the ministers said, “O King! The first twelve years are spent in learning grammar, after that Manu’s Dharmashastra, then Chanakya’s Arthashastra and in the end one learns Vatsyayana’s Kamashastra. It is after learning all four that one's knowledge is complete.”
Hearing this the king replied, “Human life is very uncertain and learning all these scriptures and understanding them well will require a very long time. Isn’t there a faster way to gain all this knowledge? I want them to be prepared before I decide to handover this kingdom to them.”
At this point a minister named Sumati spoke, “There is a learned teacher by the name of Vishnusharma. He is wise and loved by his disciples. I suggest you hand over the responsibilities of your children to him. He is the only one capable of imparting knowledge to your kids in a short duration.”
Considering Sumati’s advice, the King invited Vishnusharma to his court and said, “O learned one! I need your help. I want you to educate my children and teach them about social, practical and political matters in a short time. If you do that I will reward you with 100 villages.”
Vishnusharma heard the king patiently and replied, “O king! I am a teacher. I would not even know what to do with the reward of 100 villages. I do not have that kind of desire. However I will certainly take up the responsibility of educating your kids and if I fail to educate them appropriately in the next 6 months, I will happily accept any punishment you deem suitable.”
Hearing these words from the learned teacher, the King became free of worries and he instructed his children to go with the teacher to his gurukul and study as per his instructions.
Vishnusharma brought those princes with him to his gurukul and started teaching them through interesting stories centered around animal characters. Vishnusharma divided his lessons into five parts. First part was about differences or conflicts among friends, the second part was choosing the right friend and forming relationships, the third part was about stories of crows and owls, the fourth part was about what to do in desperate situations and the fifth part was how to navigate in situations about which one does not have complete visibility. Thus Vishnusharma imparted social and practical knowledge to young princes through interesting stories.
These five chapters collectively became popular as Panchtantra and teach children basic knowledge about dealing with social situations and impart moral lessons. In this series we will be bringing out stories from Panchtantra with interesting visuals, which you can watch with your kids.
Silly heron and crab
Many herons used to live on one of the trees in the jungle. A black dreadful snake lived in the hole of the same tree. He used to eat the young ones of the herons without the wings. Once upon seeing the snake eating his children and being saddened by their death, the heron went to the bank of the river and sat down with tears in his eyes.
Seeing him like this, a crab came to him and asked, "Sir! What happened? Why are you crying today?" The heron said, "Brother! What should I do? The snake living in the trunk of the tree ate my unfortunate children. That's why I'm crying with sadness. Tell me if there is any way to destroy that snake.
After listening to the heron, the crab thought that since herons are our enemy, I will tell him a way that all his children will be destroyed. Thinking so, he said, "Brother! If so, then put pieces of fish from the hole of the mongoose to that of the snake. On doing so, the mongoose will follow the same route and kill the snake.
The heron did the same. The mongoose reached the snake's hole and on seeing the snake, the mongoose killed it. After killing the snake, the mongoose also ate the herons living on that tree one by one.
That is why it is said that before taking any advice, one should also think about its consequences.
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Stories of Panchtantra
More than 2000 years ago, there was a kingdom in southern India named Mahilaropya. The Kingdom was ruled by king Amarshakti. Amarshakti had three sons, Bahushakti, Ugrashakti and Anantashakti.
King Amarshakti was a just and able king, well versed in the knowledge of society, economics and diplomacy, however his sons were complete idiots. They would never spend time studying and acquiring knowledge, instead they spent their entire time playing around and doing mischiefs. This worried the good king, for he wanted his children to be prepared to conduct the duties of running a kingdom without hassle.
One day the king decided to discuss his worries among his ministers and asked for their advice. The king said, “My wise ministers, I am really worried about my children. They do not spend their time studying scriptures. I am worried that they are not prepared to run this kingdom after me. I urge you all to suggest a way out.”
One of the ministers said, “O King! The first twelve years are spent in learning grammar, after that Manu’s Dharmashastra, then Chanakya’s Arthashastra and in the end one learns Vatsyayana’s Kamashastra. It is after learning all four that one's knowledge is complete.”
Hearing this the king replied, “Human life is very uncertain and learning all these scriptures and understanding them well will require a very long time. Isn’t there a faster way to gain all this knowledge? I want them to be prepared before I decide to handover this kingdom to them.”
At this point a minister named Sumati spoke, “There is a learned teacher by the name of Vishnusharma. He is wise and loved by his disciples. I suggest you hand over the responsibilities of your children to him. He is the only one capable of imparting knowledge to your kids in a short duration.”
Considering Sumati’s advice, the King invited Vishnusharma to his court and said, “O learned one! I need your help. I want you to educate my children and teach them about social, practical and political matters in a short time. If you do that I will reward you with 100 villages.”
Vishnusharma heard the king patiently and replied, “O king! I am a teacher. I would not even know what to do with the reward of 100 villages. I do not have that kind of desire. However I will certainly take up the responsibility of educating your kids and if I fail to educate them appropriately in the next 6 months, I will happily accept any punishment you deem suitable.”
Hearing these words from the learned teacher, the King became free of worries and he instructed his children to go with the teacher to his gurukul and study as per his instructions.
Vishnusharma brought those princes with him to his gurukul and started teaching them through interesting stories centered around animal characters. Vishnusharma divided his lessons into five parts. First part was about differences or conflicts among friends, the second part was choosing the right friend and forming relationships, the third part was about stories of crows and owls, the fourth part was about what to do in desperate situations and the fifth part was how to navigate in situations about which one does not have complete visibility. Thus Vishnusharma imparted social and practical knowledge to young princes through interesting stories.
These five chapters collectively became popular as Panchtantra and teach children basic knowledge about dealing with social situations and impart moral lessons. In this series we will be bringing out stories from Panchtantra with interesting visuals, which you can watch with your kids.
