The Hoax Called
Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam - 2: Panchatantra and Kautilya
Sarvesh K
Tiwari
In the previous part, we
had gleaned through hitopadesha to understand the message of ancient AchArya of
politics about ‘vasudhaiva kuTumbakam', encapsulated in a pair of satirical
fables. Far from coming as an ideal or a recommendation, the shloka there was
made to come from a shrewd subversionist, the lesson being that one has to
exercise discretion from unwittingly trusting such brotherhood-preachers, and
that the price for befriending and sheltering the wrong kind under the
influence of such unconditional brotherhood, is nothing less than
self-destruction. In the present part we continue our excursion into other
primary saMskR^ita sources, in particular pa~nchatantra and chANakyan
literature, to understand the total meaning and context of vasudhaiva
kuTumbakam.
vasudhaiva
kuTumbakam in panchatantra
While developing the
textbook of hitopadesha, nArAyaNa paNDita had the benefit of referring to,
besides other sources, the most widespread repository of fables ever composed
on planet, the great pa~nchatantra. In the preface of hitopadesha, nArAyaNa
paNDita acknowledges that he composed hitopadesh by "extracting" from
pa~nchatantra and the other texts:
Many scholars have
convincingly demonstrated that hitopadesha is a contextualized eastern
recension of an earlier southern recension of pa~nchatantra.
Now, this amazing and
fairly ancient work of AchArya viShNusharman, pa~nchatantra is probably the
single most traveled, widespread and translated work of the ancient world, and
dateable with fair certainty back to the late mauryan period, of around third
century before CE. The place of its composition is a matter of debates, and
varying opinions place it from Kashmir to Nepal
to South India. Beyond any doubt however is
that soon after its composition, it got transmitted amazingly to almost all the
contemporary major civilizations. As a result, fairly ancient derivations of
pa~nchatantra are found under various names in a number of languages, notably
in Pehlavi and Persian, Syriac and Turkic, Greek and Latin, Hebrew and Arabic,
Tibetan and Chinese. Several of the traditional fables of Europe such as those
in Pilpay's, Aesop's, Grimm's and of Persian-Arabic literature are indebted to
pa~nchatantra for their origins.
hitopadesha not only
inherited from pa~nchatantra the marvelous structure of looping tales, and
plots of fables, but also various shloka-s in exact verbatim, and this includes
the one of vasudhaiva kuTumbakam too. In aparIkshita-kArakam, the fifth tantra
of pa~nchatantra, AchArya viShNusharman records it in a fable known as ‘siMha
kAraka mUrkha brAhmaNa kathA', and assigns VK to come from a declared fool. To
understand the attitude of this nIti-text towards VK, a condensed version of
that fable is presented below:
"Once upon a time there
lived a group of four young brAhmaNa friends in some nondescript village. Three
of these were fools, although very erudite and deep gone in learning of
shAstra-s. On the other hand the fourth one was altogether lacking in
shAstra-learning, but fairly intelligent.
The learned members of
this group once contemplated upon the merits of moving to a city where they
could put their scholarship to better use. After all, what good was all the
learning if it did not yield them wealth and fame? The idea was approved
unanimously and the group at once took off towards a large city at a fair
journey's distance.
While going forth on
their way, the oldest of the scholar-fools expressed his opinion that it was
futile for the un-erudite one to join the excursion. Although the intelligence
of that fellow was not in doubt, it was useless in absence of any formal
learning, he said. The second scholar-fool agreed too and suggested that the
uneducated one should rather return back to their home-village.
However the third
scholar-fool was more generous who reminded the party that although worthless,
the fourth one was their childhood friend and therefore they ought to allow him
in sharing their exploits. It is at this juncture in the story, that this third
fool recites the shloka of vasudhaiva-kuTumbakam, and convinced the other two
scholar-fools, to let the uneducated one remain in the party. And on they went.
Upon going a little
further the travelers came upon a decaying carcass of some creature been long
dead. Seeing that, the learned members immediately decided to put their
learning to test by making the dead creature come alive.
The scholar-fool
number-one used his knowledge in gathering and properly reassembling the
skeleton according to its accurate anatomy. The number-two successfully applied
his formulae in adding organs, flesh, and skin. Our VK-reciting third one then
began his experiments of breathing prANa into it to finally resurrect it.
At this point the fourth
fellow, the intelligent though uneducated one, interrupted them. ‘Friends, wait
a minute,' warned the intelligent one, ‘listen, this dead-body appears like
that of a lion, and you people want to bring it to life. Surely, my learned
friends, if you resurrect the lion, it would put our own lives into grave
danger. Therefore, for the sake of our lives better let the beast remain as
safely dead as it now is, and move on to our destination.'
Over
Voice of India 
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