Living by good words

The goal of the Hitopadesha appears to be the welfare and success of individuals and society at large.

It is said that good advice lasts longer than good deeds. Appreciating good advice is therefore inherent to humans but acting upon it remains subjective, as individuals sometimes don't know what's good for them. Social media may have stretched this predicament further by algorithmically supporting deeply ingrained biases. But good advice is still appreciated. Animal fables in story-telling format have been popular ever since oral-aural societies evolved this dynamic medium of transmitting wisdom. Composed some two centuries before Christ, the stories of the Panchatantra bear testimony to the earliest of such efforts.

Another collection, the Hitopadesha, which was sponsored by a medieval Indian ruler called Dhavalachandra to instruct his children in the science of wise conduct, was probably composed by Narayana between 800 and 950 CE. Arranged in four sections entitled Wining Friends, Losing Friends, Waging War, and Making Peace, these tales of anthropomorphized birds and animals provide solutions to a range of problematic situations in which humans might find themselves. This recent idiomatic translation of the original Sanskrit text by historian Shonaleeka Kaul aims to retain the freshness and wit of the original. 

The stories are about behavioral and relationship paradoxes and almost read like a survival guide. They offer practical observations about life by mixing the ideal with the real, and the sacred with the profane. It is clear that the storyteller knows that listeners and readers might find it difficult to get at the essence of these tales as deeply ingrained tendencies promote subjectivity. The stories, therefore, encourage the cultivation of emotional intelligence, self-awareness, restraint, diplomacy, and patience. It's no surprise that they continue to help us understand life.

The British East India Company, to get a sense of the socio-cultural bearings that defined Indian society, encouraged Charles Wilkins’ translation of two classical texts, the Bhagavad Gita (1784) and the Hitopadesha (1787). Several versions of the latter have appeared since then though the art of simple storytelling as a medium and a message has lost much of its social relevance. Gone are the days when children huddled around their grandparents to listen to bedtime stories, an intergenerational process of transferring wisdom.

Still, many of these stories continue to appeal to us. The most popular one is 'Unity is Strength', a tale about trapped pigeons. In it, the older pigeon guides the flock to lift the net that constrains them and fly off together. The embedded message, that those who wish to advance must give up six weaknesses including excess sleep, languor, sloth, fear, anger, and verbosity, has wide implications. In the fable, collective inspiration could trigger an unimagined response. The plots of these stories are flexible and open to multiple interpretations, which give the compilation a cross-cultural appeal. Kaul provides a reflective introduction to the text and suggests that the goal of the Hitopadesha appears to be the welfare and success of individuals and society at large. 

The collection allows readers to reconcile to the realities of life with its inherent contradictions and inconsistencies. Much before human psychology had emerged as a formal subject of enquiry, these stories captured the complexity of male and female psyches with relative ease. This pithy book has something for everyone, whether it is the haughty ruler or the shrewd minister, the innocent husband or his conniving wife, the cunning enemy or the clever friend. The artifice of using animals and birds to narrate a parable is used in various collections including the Panchatantra, the Hitopadesha, the Brihatkatha and the Nitopadesha. To revive interest in tales of anthropomorphized birds and animals as learning tools in the age of artificial intelligence is to bring rich insights from our co-existence with animals to the modern realm. Translator Shonaleeka Kaul deserves credit for her acumen in dealing with the classical vernacular text, and for dedicating this work filled with the voices of animals and birds to her beloved canine.

Hitopdesha by Narayana
Translated by Shonaleeka Kaul
Aleph Books, New Delhi 
Extent: 197, Price: Rs. 599.

First published in the Hindustan Times on Feb 24, 2023