Why the Panchatantra Was Written
A king had three sons who would not open a book. An eighty-year-old teacher promised to make them wise in six months — using nothing but stories.
In the south there was a prosperous city called Mahilaropya, ruled by a king named Amarashakti — brave, generous, and versed in every art. But his three sons — Bahushakti, Ugrashakti and Anantashakti — turned out to be hopeless dullards. They loathed books, and good sense never came near them.
The king summoned his ministers and laid out his grief: "What use is this great kingdom to sons who have no judgement? A son unborn or a son dead is better than a fool. The first two hurt you briefly; a fool burns you all your life."
The council offered the usual remedies — twelve years for grammar, then the treatises on duty, on wealth, on love. Then a minister named Sumati spoke: "Life is short and uncertain; where is the time? The science of words is endless and our years are few. Take the essence instead, as a swan draws only the milk from a mixture. There is a brahmin here, Vishnu Sharma, master of every branch of learning. Hand the princes to him."
The king called Vishnu Sharma and offered him a hundred villages. The brahmin refused the payment outright — "I do not sell learning. But hear my lion's roar: if I do not make your sons masters of wise conduct within six months, let my name be erased."
Delighted, the king gave over the princes. For their sake Vishnu Sharma composed five books — The Loss of Friends, The Winning of Friends, Of Crows and Owls, Loss of Gains, and Ill-Considered Action — and in six months he turned the three dullards into men of judgement. Those five books are this work, famous ever since for making the young wise.
अधीते य इदं नित्यं नीतिशास्त्रं शृणोति च । न पराभवमाप्नोति शक्रादपि कदाचन ॥
Moral: Whoever studies this book of wise conduct daily, and listens to it, is never defeated — not even by Indra himself.
From the Panchatantra, the Prologue.
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