Page 18 - Śrī Pañcatantra - Eng

xvi Preface

scriptural authorities such posers lure the unsuspecting, and
exploit these innocent persons for their own ends. Viṣṇuśarmā
introduces us to Tīkṣṇadaṁṣṭra the cat, Mandaviṣa the cobra
and the old heron called Uncle. Each faked asceticism to serve
their own selfish interests. There is little difference between
Viṣṇuśarmā’s menagerie of posers and the storefront yogīs of
today, who preach—for a hefty price—their own philosophical
concoctions based upon various manufactured false doctrines
of impersonalism.
Though childlike, Viṣṇuśarmā’s stories are not mere
entertainment as in the case of modern fables. Indeed
Viṣṇuśarmā taught the three princes how to rule an empire
through these simple stories. Since he was teaching members of
a royal court, many of Pañcatantra’s key players are duplicitous
jackals, thieves and murderers—personality types who are
typically found revolving around any seat of power.

Different categories of nīti—both nīti for the general mass
of people and rāja-nīti, nīti for the royal order — are found
in Pañcatantra. To complicate the matter—and force the
reader to weigh each situation for himself—Viṣṇuśarmā has
thrown in a hard dose of reality in the form of wicked, yet
intelligent, characters who themselves have some knowledge
of nīti. Remember that nīti urges one to think things through
for oneself before making a conclusion. Therefore, unlike the
higher śāstras, which teach the Supreme Absolute Truth, these
ślokas are subject to interpretation and adaptation according to
the ever-changing elements of time and circumstance. For the
pious person, nīti is interpreted as morality. For the shrewd self-
motivated person, nīti is the means to promote his own ends.

The Pañcatantra of Viṣṇuśarmā is the source of the later similar
work Hitopadeśa, which in turn is the source of Aesop’s Fables
and several stories in Arabian Nights. These talking animals