A blog where I write about Indian classical literature. I share about texts like the Mahabharata, the Ramayana, and the Hitopadesha. I focus on the regional versions from Bengal, talking about the works of Krittibas Ojha and Kashiram Das. As Hitopadesha was composed in Bengal, I have added that. I plan to add more texts in the future. Read through and discover and enjoy the stories they tell and their philosophy.
Navigating the site The post below tells you about the structure of the blog and how to navigate it. Navigating the Blog . My posting schedu...
Kacha had enrolled himself as a student under Rishi Shukracharya. Along with his tasks he would run errands for his guru. Once he took the cattle to the forest, for the cattle to graze. There, the Daityas spotted him and killed him. Devyani, Rishi Shukracharya’s daughter, pleaded with her father to bring Kacha back to life. The rishi did that, and Kacha returned.
In the start of Book 2, Vishnu Sharma began explaining how friendships can break apart. The story introduced Vardhaman, a merchant who believed that prosperity comes through effort, enterprise, and the wise use of resources, leading him to leave home in search of greater success. During his journey, his bull Sanjeevaka was injured and left behind. The abandoned animal recovered, grew strong, and eventually became a powerful presence in the forest. Meanwhile, the lion king Pingalaka was frightened by the sound of Sanjeevaka’s bellow, and the jackal brothers Karataka and Damanaka began discussing the situation. Karataka warned against interfering in matters beyond one's place and began telling the story of a monkey and a log to illustrate his point.
The last post that I had posted here was on Saudasa and how Vashistha cursed him to become a rakshasa. This actually began to make me think about curses.
The last post was about Ganga liberating the sons of Sagara. I had also shared in detail about Ganga’s travel and the geography of Bengal. Today’s post is about a king who was cursed and got liberated by the grace of Ganga.
Vaishampayan had narrated the origin of the lunar dynasty, the dynasty to which Janamejaya belonged. While talking about that, he had said King Yayati had been cursed by Rishi Shukracharya to become old. The king had then exchanged the old age for his son’s youth. Janamejaya wanted to know about that. Rishi Vaishampayan started telling the king about the curse.
Table of Contents
The princes had been listening to Vishnu Sharma tell them stories. Having heard about the stories regarding ‘Making friends’, the princes asked Vishnu Sharma:
Respected teacher. You have told us how one should make friends. In life, we see friendships break. Tell us about that, so we can learn about that too.
Vishnu Sharma said:
Listen to me then, I will tell you about that. In a forest lived a lion, who became friendly with a bull and how that friendship was broken by a crafty jackal.
The princes said:
What is this about?
Vishnu Sharma started telling the story of the lion, the bull and the jackal.
The last post was about when Ganga had turned northwards. At that spot a bone of a sinner fell. The moment that happened, all the sins of the sinner vanished. Messengers of Yama had come to take the sinner away but attendants of Vishnu took the sinner away from them. Hearing this, Yama went to Vishnu, who told him about the greatness of Ganga. In this post, we continue Ganga’s journey till the sons of Sagara are liberated.
Janamejaya had wanted to know about Bharata, and Vaishampayan then told him and all others gathered there, the story of Dushyanta and Shakuntala, and about their son Bharata.
While Book 1 (The Acquisition of Friends) teaches the princes on how to make friends, Book 2 shifts the focus from cooperation to dissolution. It talks about how established friendships can be broken from inside by information manipulation.
Before I start with Book 2 of Hitopadesha, I thought of sharing a summary of what was there in Book 1 and what one can learn from that, in terms of competency and life skills.
