Pandit Vishnu Sharman

ভালো লাগলো বেশ! অনেকদিন পর নীতিকথার কোন বই পড়লাম। পাঁচটি তন্ত্র বা নীতি নিয়ে পঞ্চতন্ত্র। এ পাঁচটি তন্ত্র হল, (১) মিত্রভেদ (বন্ধু-বিচ্ছেদ), (২) মিত্রলাভ (বন্ধু লাভ), (৩) কাকোলূকীয় (চিরশত্রুতা), (৪) লব্ধপ্রনাশ (পেয়ে হারানো) ও (৫) অপরীক্ষিতকারক (না ভেবে কাজ করা)।
পশু পাখির মুখ দিয়ে গল্প বলিয়ে হাজার খানিক বছর আগেই মানব প্রকৃতিকে মোটামুটি একটা ছকে ফেলে দিয়েছে এই বইটি! আজকের দিনে নীতিকথাস্বরূপ এই গল্পগুলির আবেদন কতটুকু জানিনা কিন্তু সেই সময়ের প্রেক্ষিতে গল্পবলিয়ের পর্যবেক্ষণ আর উদ্ভাবনী ক্ষমতার দৌড় দেখলে কিছুটা ভাবতে হয় বটে। বিষ্ণুশর্মার এই গল্পগুলোর সাথে ঈশপের কিছু কিছু গল্পের আশ্চর্য মিলও লক্ষ্যনীয়। আরেকটা চমৎকার ব্যাপার হল চরিত্রগুলোর নামকরণ। ক্রথনক (ঊট), মন্থরক (কচ্ছপ), দমনক ও করটক (শেয়াল), পিঙ্গলক(সিংহ) ইত্যাদি নামগুলো গল্পগুলোকে অন্যরকম মাত্রা দিয়েছে। সবচেয়ে যা মজা লেগেছে তা হল গল্পগুলোর ধারাবাহিকতা। মিথলজি জাতীয় কাজগুলোতে ধারাবাহিকতা বজায় রেখে গল্প বলার এই ঢং টা প্রচলিত যা গল্পের আকর্ষণকে আরো অনেক বাড়িয়ে তোলে।

জীবনে বেশীর ভাগ কাজই না ভেবে হঠাৎ ঝোঁকের বসে করা, তাই হয়ত ৫ম তন্ত্র টাই (না ভেবে কাজ করা) বেশী ভালো লাগলো।… (more)

The Panchatantra or Pañcatantra, ('Five Principles') was originally a canonical collection of Sanskrit as well as Pali animal fables in verse and prose. The original Sanskrit text, now long lost, and which some scholars believe was composed in the 3rd century BCE, is attributed to Vishnu Sarma. However, based as it is on older oral traditions, its antecedents among storytellers probably hark back to the origins of language and the subcontinent's earliest social groupings of hunting and fishing folk gathered around campfires. It is certainly the most frequently translated literary product of India and there are over 200 versions in more than 50 languages.

In the Indian tradition, the Panchatantra is a nītiśāstra, a treatise on political science and human conduct, or nīti. One of the early Western scholars on the Panchatantra was Dr. Johannes Hertel, who viewed the book as having a Machiavellian character. Other scholars dismiss this assessment as one-sided, and even view the stories as teaching dharma, or proper moral conduct.

It illustrates, for the benefit of princes who may succeed to a throne, the central Hindu principles of Raja niti (political science) through an inter-woven series of colorful animal tales. These operate like a succession of Russian dolls, one narrative opening within another, sometimes three or four deep. It consists of five books, which are called:

Mitra Bhedha (The Loss of Friends)
Mitra Laabha, also called Mitra Samprāpti (The Winning (or Gaining) of Friends)
Kākolūkīyam (Crows and Owls)
Labdhapraṇāśam (Loss Of Gains)
Aparīkṣitakārakaṃ (Ill-Considered Action / Rash deeds)

Each distinct part of the book contains at least one story and usually more, which are 'emboxed' in the main story, called the 'frame-story'. Sometimes there is a double emboxment; another story is inserted in an 'emboxed' story. Moreover, the whole work begins with a brief introduction, which as in a frame all five parts are regarded as 'emboxed. Vishnu Sarma's idea was that humans can assimilate more about their own habitually unflattering behavior if it is disguised in terms of entertainingly configured stories about supposedly less illustrious beasts than themselves.

The work is an ancient and vigorous multicultural hybrid that to this day continues an erratic process of cross-border mutation and adaptation as modern writers and publishers struggle to fathom, simplify and re-brand its complex origins.… (more)

The Panchatantra or Pañcatantra, ('Five Principles') was originally a canonical collection of Sanskrit as well as Pali animal fables in verse and prose. The original Sanskrit text, now long lost, and which some scholars believe was composed in the 3rd century BCE, is attributed to Vishnu Sarma. However, based as it is on older oral traditions, its antecedents among storytellers probably hark back to the origins of language and the subcontinent's earliest social groupings of hunting and fishing folk gathered around campfires. It is certainly the most frequently translated literary product of India and there are over 200 versions in more than 50 languages.

In the Indian tradition, the Panchatantra is a nītiśāstra, a treatise on political science and human conduct, or nīti. One of the early Western scholars on the Panchatantra was Dr. Johannes Hertel, who viewed the book as having a Machiavellian character. Other scholars dismiss this assessment as one-sided, and even view the stories as teaching dharma, or proper moral conduct.

It illustrates, for the benefit of princes who may succeed to a throne, the central Hindu principles of Raja niti (political science) through an inter-woven series of colorful animal tales. These operate like a succession of Russian dolls, one narrative opening within another, sometimes three or four deep. It consists of five books, which are called:

Mitra Bhedha (The Loss of Friends)
Mitra Laabha, also called Mitra Samprāpti (The Winning (or Gaining) of Friends)
Kākolūkīyam (Crows and Owls)
Labdhapraṇāśam (Loss Of Gains)
Aparīkṣitakārakaṃ (Ill-Considered Action / Rash deeds)

Each distinct part of the book contains at least one story and usually more, which are 'emboxed' in the main story, called the 'frame-story'. Sometimes there is a double emboxment; another story is inserted in an 'emboxed' story. Moreover, the whole work begins with a brief introduction, which as in a frame all five parts are regarded as 'emboxed. Vishnu Sarma's idea was that humans can assimilate more about their own habitually unflattering behavior if it is disguised in terms of entertainingly configured stories about supposedly less illustrious beasts than themselves.

The work is an ancient and vigorous multicultural hybrid that to this day continues an erratic process of cross-border mutation and adaptation as modern writers and publishers struggle to fathom, simplify and re-brand its complex origins.… (more)