The Pancatantra

by Visnu Sarma

  is negligent loses his sovereignty.

  ‘Therefore, O King! I took upon myself the vow of lying on the razor-sharp sword-blade by associating with the enemy. What Your Majesty expressed in words I experienced in person. How wisely it is said:

  (219) Biding his time the wise man bears

  even his enemy on his shoulders.

  That is what the mighty black serpent did

  and ended up devouring countless frogs.’

  ‘And how did that happen,’ asked Cloud Hue. And then Live Firm began the tale of The Frogs that rode snakeback.

  In a certain region lived a black serpent of a ripe old age, named Weak Venom. He deliberated over his sad situation thus: ‘How in the world can I now manage to have a comfortable living?’ He then crawled along to a deep pool inhabited by a great assemblage of frogs. There he flopped down as if he were infirm.

  As he stayed thus, one of the frogs swimming near the edge of the pool asked, ‘Uncle, how is it that you are not gliding around today, as you normally do, hunting for food?’

  ‘My good friend,’ replied the serpent. ‘What desire for food can someone like myself have whose fortunes are at their lowest ebb? Just now, in the early hours of the night, I was crawling around looking for food and noticing a frog I duly prepared to grab him. He too having noticed me, slipped in somewhere where a group of Brāhmanas were intent on reciting the sacred texts to themselves; nor could I make out which way the frog had slithered away. But at the edge of the pool the son of one of the Brāhmanas was standing and mistaking his great toe for a frog, I bit it hard; the boy died instantaneously. The father, stung by grief, cursed me in the following words: “Oh! You! Villainous creature! Because you stung to death my innocent son, you shall suffer for this evil act by becoming a vehicle for frogs; and you shall live entirely on what the frogs allow you for food.” So here I am, your vehicle, O, you frogs.’

  The silly frog immediately carried this news to all the other frogs. They were all so excited about it that they approached the frog-king, Watertoes, in a body and told him of it. He, in turn, thinking what a wonderful happening it was, swam out of the pool in a great hurry and accompanied by his ministers went to where Weak Venom lay and climbed on to the serpent’s outspread hood. The other frogs in order of seniority also climbed on to the serpent’s back. Why say more; yet others, not finding any room on the serpent’s back hopped behind Weak Venom as best as they could as he started moving Weak Venom for his part keen on securing a comfortable living for himself, showed them many different fancy turns and movements that he knew, so that King Watertoes enjoying the contact with the serpent’s body exclaimed with delight:

  (220) ‘Oh! What fun it is to ride on Weak Venom!

  No horse or lordly elephant

  no fine chariot, or palanquin

  can at all compare with him.’

  The next day, Weak Venom, wily rogue that he was, barely managed to crawl at a snail’s pace, which prompted Watertoes to remark, ‘Why, friend Weak Venom, why are you not carrying us nicely as you did before?’ To this Weak Venom promptly replied, ‘My lord, through lack of food, I do not have the strength to carry you properly today.’

  ‘Well, my good chap, why don’t you eat a few of these low-born commoner frogs?’ said Watertoes casually.

  The sound of these words made Weak Venom thrill with delight in every limb. But then he made haste to observe, ‘You see, my lord, I have this curse of the Brāhmana hanging over my head. But now that you have issued this command for me to eat a few frogs, I am simply delighted.’

  Weak Venom now started eating frogs and he continued to do so without interruption, so much so that in a few days, he grew strong.

  Gratified by the happy turn of events, he laughed to himself, as he reflected:

  (221) ‘Through a clever stratagem

  have I killed and eaten,

  many varied kinds of frogs.

  Now, as I keep devouring them,

  how long will the supply last;

  that is the big question.’

  As for Watertoes, a real simpleton, he was effectively fooled by Weak Venom’s glib and deceitful talk, so that he did not have a clue as to what was going on,

  Then one day, another huge black serpent happened to come that way. Seeing Weak Venom acting as a vehicle for frogs he was totally amazed; and he remarked, ‘Friend, these frogs are our food; yet they ride on your back. This is contrary to all accepted practice; it is disagreeable, sir.’

  Weak Venom answered his kinsman, saying:

  (222) ‘I know quite well it is not right

  I should let the frogs ride me piggyback.

  I’ll put up with it for a while, my friend,

  as did the Brāhmana butter-blind.’

  ‘And how was that?’ asked the other snake. And Weak Venom then began the tale of The Brāhmana’s Revenge.

  In a certain settlement lived a Brāhmana named Yajnadatta whose wife was a loose woman constantly chasing other men, She was forever making’ delicious sweetmeats59 of butter and sugar and taking them to a lover, behind her husband’s back.

  One day the husband spoke to her as she was preparing these sweets. ‘Dear wife,’ he began, ‘What is it that you are making? And where are you forever taking the delicious sweets you make? Now, tell me the truth.’

  The woman who possessed a ready wit told her husband a string of lies. ‘Not far from here is the shrine of the Great Goddess,’ she said, ‘I go there fasting and take the Goddess an offering of the finest, most delicious sweets that I can make.’

  Then, even as her husband was looking on, she picked up the dish of sweets and started towards the shrine of the goddess, imagining that after what she had told him, her husband was certain to believe that she always took the delicious sweets she made, to the goddess, as an offering.

  While the woman after her arrival at the shrine went down to the river for a ritual bath, her husband who had taken a different road now entered the shrine and stood concealed behind the image of the goddess.

  Meanwhile, the wife having completed her bath and ablutions now entered the shrine and performed all the prescribed rituals that were part of the worship of the goddess; lustration with holy water, anointing the image with sandal-paste, burning incense before it, offering the oblation and so on. Having done all this, the Brāhmana’s wife bowed low with folded hands and reverently made her wish. ‘May my husband go blind some way or the other. Great Goddess,’ and she prayed.

  The Brāhmana standing concealed behind the image heard his wife’s prayer and changing the tone of his voice, intoned as follows, ‘Give your husband butter, and sweets made of butter and sugar every day regularly; he shall soon become blind.’

  And that woman of easy morals being deceived by the Brāhmana’s false utterance in the shrine, duly began feeding him those very rich sweetmeats as instructed.

  Then, one day, the Brāhmana spoke in a diffident tone to his wife, ‘Dear wife, I simply do not seem to be able to see at all,’ he confided.

  The wife, overjoyed, told herself, ‘Ah! The blessing of the goddess is being fulfilled.’

  The paramour too, knowing what was happening, thought to himself. ‘Ha! What can this blind Brāhmana do to me now,’ and began frequenting the Brāhmana’s house daily to approach the wife.

  Then one fine day, seeing his wife’s paramour entering his house, the Brāhmana, as soon as the man was within reach, seized him by the hair and administered some hefty blows with a stout cudgel and added a few sharp kicks. Next, he caught hold of his wife, chopped off her nose and turned her out.

  ‘Therefore, I say to you, “I know quite well it is not right…” and the rest of it, as I said before.’ Weak Venom chuckled to himself noiselessly and spoke again, muttering: ‘Frogs come in different flavours… ta-ta-ta tum-tum….’ and murmured once more to his friend the verse he had recited before:

  (223) ‘Through a clever stratagem

  have I killed and eaten

 
; many varied sorts of frogs.

  Now, as I keep devouring them,

  how long will the supply last?

  that is the big question.’

  Watertoes hearing this verse intoned softly by Weak Venom became, uneasy; with his mind haunted by misgivings he asked himself, ‘What in the name of all the gods is this fellow muttering?’ And turning to Weak Venom he asked peremptorily, ‘Now look here, my friend, what is the meaning of these odious lines that you are intoning?’

  ‘Oh! Nothing; nothing at all,’ hissed Weak Venom attempting to mask his real purpose. And Watertoes, once again thoroughly fooled by the serpent’s ingenuous manner, was unable to see through the beast’s treacherous plans.

  To cut the tale short, Weak Venom succeeded in gobbling up every one of the frogs. Not a single frog was left; not even for seed.

  Therefore, I repeat to you, “Bearing on his shoulders even a foe…” and so on, as I said before,’ concluded Live Firm.

  ‘Thus, O King,’ continued Live Firm, ‘Just as the black serpent, Weak Venom, destroyed the whole host of frogs through the sheer power of his superior intelligence, I too, have destroyed all our enemies. Indeed, it is wisely observed:

  (224) The blazing forest fire rages

  through the woods, but spares the roots of trees;

  but cool and gentle waters flooding

  rapidly in, uproot trees, roots and all.’

  Cloud Hue responded to this, saying, ‘Ah! Yes, that is so; besides:

  (225) This is the greatness of the truly great

  who wear wise policy as an ornament,

  that they never give up what they have begun,

  even when hard times bring swelling calamities.’

  Live Firm matched this, exclaiming, ‘This is so; and it is also said:

  (226) He who pays off a debt to the last coin;

  who extinguishes the last spark of a fire;

  who extirpates the last of his enemies;

  who eradicates the last trace of a disease;

  he is the wise man who never faces ruin.

  ‘My lord, you are indeed fortunate, for the enterprise that was begun, has been crowned with success. No enterprise is accomplished by valour alone; what brings final victory is the wisdom60 with which it is carried out. As we have heard:

  (227) It is not weapons that strike down the foe;

  it is wisdom that in the end lays him low;

  the arrow strikes the body; just that; no more;

  wisdom strikes at the root; destroying all;

  family, fame and sovereignty.

  ‘For that reason, success in all actions comes effortlessly only through the marriage of wisdom and valour. For:

  (228) When a man’s stars are on the rise,

  Intellect expands at the start

  of an enterprise;

  Memory becomes firm; Advantages

  on their own offer themselves;

  Counsels do not flounder;

  Judgement shines with the promise of success;

  Mind attains to lofty heights;

  the man exults in doing laudable deeds.

  ‘Sovereignty, therefore, is his who possesses wisdom, valour and magnanimity. As it is aptly said:

  (229) A person having a keen zest

  for consorting with the bravest,

  most learned and magnanimous,

  becomes virtuous;

  the practice of virtue brings wealth;

  Wealth gains him glory;

  Glory begets Authority.

  and from that he gains Sovereignty.’

  Cloud Hue impressed, remarked, ‘How admirable it is that the knowledge of statecraft brings immediate results. Possessing this knowledge you were able to infiltrate the enemy’s ranks as a person favourably inclined to them. Thus you exterminated Foe Crusher with all his retinue.’

  Whereupon Live Firm commented:

  (230) ‘Though extreme measures might be demanded

  to ensure ultimate success; to begin gentle measures are better suited.

  The Lord of Trees, the choicest in the forest

  with soaring top, sky-high, is worshipped first

  before he is felled.

  ‘On the other hand, my lord, what good is it holding forth on a future event that requires no action or requires great effort to accomplish? Indeed, it is wisely said:

  (231) Words spoken by indecisive men shying

  timidly away from persevering in their efforts

  —instead, at each step pointing

  to a hundred odd stumbling blocks—

  sound hollow when the fruits they yield

  turn out disappointing,

  and turn them into the world’s laughing stocks.

  ‘Nor for that matter do intelligent men show any negligence even in the most trivial of tasks to be done; for:

  (232) Some there are negligent, who say,

  ‘Ah! such a trivial little thing!

  That I can do without the least effort:

  why worry over it now?’—

  And they pay no attention

  to what has got to be done.

  Bitter repentance comes soon enough,

  Calamity’s invariable companion.

  ‘But for my lord who has conquered his enemy, the soundest sleep he ever enjoyed is awaiting him; as it is wisely observed:

  (233) One sleeps in peace in homes,

  where no serpents are;

  or serpents seen, are caught.

  But when a serpent appears

  and then disappears

  uneasy is one’s sleep.

  ‘And then again:

  (234) When enterprises are afoot, momentous

  from calling forth efforts prodigious,

  and persevering for their perfect consummation;

  urged on by loved ones with many a blessing,

  directed by loftiness of conception,

  shrewd policy and wild daring,

  men bestride the heights of Ambition.

  What man who passionately loves

  Honour, Valour and Self-esteem,

  can rest content with an unrealized dream?

  Where is his heart packed with brooding impatience

  can space for peace be found?

  ‘And now, my heart is at peace, knowing that the enterprise I mounted has been brought to a successful conclusion. Therefore, my lord, may you now long enjoy your kingdom completely cleared of thorns. May you now rule long, ever intent on the protection of your subjects; and may the long succession of sons and grandsons and others after them, and the stability of your Royal Umbrella and Throne and the Grace of Royal Glory ever remain assured. It is said:

  (235) If a monarch his subjects does not please

  fulfilling his responsibilities,

  protection and other royal duties,

  his rulership is of little use,

  like teats hanging from the necks of ewes.

  ‘What’s more:

  (236) Passion for Virtue, aversion for Vice,

  Affection for men of good conduct:

  Such a monarch for long enjoys

  Royal Glory resplendent,

  with the white umbrella,

  waving plumes and pennant.

  ‘Nor should you, intoxicated by the access of Royal Glory,61 betray the integrity of your character, thinking, “Ah! I have regained my sovereignty.” I say this, my lord, because the splendours of monarchs are passing. The goddess, Royal Glory, is hard to climb as a bamboo’s stem. She is prone to fall precipitately; a million efforts are required to possess her securely; still she is hard to hold fast to; worship her as reverently as you may, she deceives you in the end; hers is a mind desultory as a monkey’s; wobbling as a water-droplet on a lotus leaf. She will stick with no one; restless in the extreme as the wandering winds; unreliable as an alliance with knaves; hard to control as snake-venom; momentarily gleaming bright like a fine curving line of sunset-clouds; naturally fragile like bubbles floating on waters; ungrateful as humankind;
glimpsed in a dream like a treasure-trove, only to vanish once seen. Moreover:

  (237) The moment a monarch is consecrated,

  his intelligence has to be enlisted

  in solving impending troubles; for sacred

  pitchers let fall on royal heads, disasters

  as well as holy waters.

  ‘Who in the world is safe from the clutches of misfortune! For it is wisely observed:

  (238) Rāma’s62 banishment, Bali’s63 binding,

  the long exile of Pāndu’s sons64 in far forests;

  the Vṛṣṇis’ tragic annihilation65

  and Nala’s forfeiture of his kingdom;66

  the heroic Arjuna’s term

  as a teacher of dancing67

  and the downfall of Lankaā’s great lord.68

  Remember these—Life’s vicissitudes, O King!

  All brought about by the power of Time;

  Mankind has to endure all.

  Who can be a saviour? And whom save?

  (239) Where is Dasaratha69 who rose to the Realms of Light70

  to dwell beside its great lord71 as his friend?

  Where too is the great King Sāgara72 who set

  the bounds of the mighty Ocean?

  Where is Vena’s son73 churned from his father’s right arm?

  And Manu,74 where is he, the child of the Sun?

  Ah! Powerful Time alone awakened them

  and closed their eyes again.

  ‘And again:

  (240) Where is King Māndhātā75 gone now,

  once victorious over the Triple World?

  And where is he now who swore a solemn vow

  to be ever truthful and pure?76

  Nahusa77 too, chosen to rule over the Shining Ones?78

  Ah! Where is he now? And where KeŚava,79

  Divine Lord, Knower of the Way of Truth?

  All these, possessing chariots and finest elephants,

  even seated beside Indra on his celestial seat—

  All these splendours conferred on them by Time alone.

  All driven into endless oblivion by Time alone.

  ‘Further:

  (241) Gone the king, gone the ministers;

  those beautiful woods and groves

  and all those lovely women,

  all gone, passed away; each one lost,

  mortally stung by the Great ender.80

  ‘And so, my son,’ concluded Live Firm, counselling Cloud Hue, ‘now that you have secured for yourself Royal Glory who restlessly goes to and fro like the ears of an elephant in rut, enjoy her; but make it your principal aim to rule your people justly.’