No doubt Indian literature is one of the richest literature available for the world to gain wisdom. Every Indian must have read Panchtantra stories.
In the Indian tradition, The Panchatantra is a nītiśāstra. Nīti can be roughly translated as "the wise conduct of life"[1] and a śāstra is a technical or scientific treatise; thus it is considered a treatise on political science and human conduct.
Let me come to the point why suddenly today referring to Panchatantra story makes sense. I am about to recite you a 'Foolish Monkey and the King' story. Reciting will obviously solve two purposes:
1. I have nothing much to write, so it will help me reach a decent blogpost length.
2. Those who have not read or forgotten the story will be able to connect with the remaining post.
SO here it goes:
A king had a pet monkey. One day the king was sleeping and the monkey was fanning by his side. The monkey saw a fly sitting on the king’s chest. Monkey tried to shoo the fly way. The fly would return again and again to disturb the sleep. The monkey got frustrated with that and brought a sword and tried to kill the fly. In one stroke of sword the king was killed instead.
Moral of the story:
According to Panchatantra: " Never keep a foolish monkey as your assistant"
Another moral can be: "Keep the sword out of the reach of foolish monkey"
So simple is the story and so obvious is the moral, isn't it?
But today in India we might have observed that in the name of empowerment of women, backward castes and all, we have provided them with the tools which are making life for the already empowered (King) difficult.
Just from today's report it can be seen that after tougher rape laws, the false cases have increased suddenly. It is not the only case. We all might agree that cases of molestation have also increased multifold after stricter laws in the name of women empowerment. SC&ST act is another dangerous tool which instead of being used for empowerment of the needy, is fucking with the life of those having jealous and unruly colleagues in the office.
List is long but the thing is simple. India isn't yet wise enough to be given a sword in the hand. The sword of stricter laws is a must keep but the use of it must be restricted to the wiser ones (which obviously is impractical to find out). Literacy rate if not the only parameter, is one of the important factor which is directly related to the wisdom.
Matter looks simple, but believe me it is very difficult to bring it to any conclusion which can solve this problem. Hence, leaving it for you all with a food for thought as to how to make our nation a better place, a safe place for all and not just a few (you know what I'm talking about)
Just last words:
We seem to have forgotten such simple stories and hence are lacking political wisdom. Political wisdom (I'm saying) because Panchatantra were meant for that and for teaching better human conduct.
The post is intended to just relate the existing problems with the simple stories which we have read, learnt and enjoyed.
Time to go back to ancient Indian Literature. I believe there we must be able to get the solutions.
Jai Hind!
-Arian
References:
[1]
^ a b c Ryder 1925, Translator's introduction: "The Panchatantra is a niti-shastra, or textbook of niti. The word niti means roughly “the wise conduct of life.” Western civilization must endure a certain shame in realizing that no precise equivalent of the term is found in English, French, Latin, or Greek. Many words are therefore necessary to explain whatniti is, though the idea, once grasped, is clear, important, and satisfying."
http://www.excellup.com/kidsImage/panchtantra/monkeyking.aspx
No comments:
Post a Comment