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Panchatantra Book 1 - 007 - How Pingalaka’s Friendship with Sanjeevaka Caused issues in the Kingdom

Table of Contents

Recap

A respected merchant Dantila publicly humiliated Gorambha, a palace sweeper, for sitting in a seat reserved for dignitaries during a family celebration. Seeking revenge, Gorambha exploited his access to the palace to mutter a false rumour to the half-asleep king about Dantila. The king believed the insinuation without verification and immediately revoked Dantila’s privileges. Upon realizing the sweeper was behind his sudden disgrace, Dantila invited Gorambha to his home, treated him with great respect, offered expensive gifts, and apologized. Mollified, Gorambha staged another half-asleep outburst the following morning, uttering an absurd absurdity about the king's personal habits, which prompted the monarch to realize the sweeper spoke nonsense and restore Dantila to his former position. Damanaka told this tale to warn Sanjeevaka that he should not grow arrogant.

Sanjeevaka in the Court of Pingalaka

Sanjeevaka said to Damanaka, ‘You are a nice person and I will not do anything that will offend you.’

Sanjeevaka Meets Pingalaka

Soon they reached the place where Pingalaka was. The guards had been told that Damanaka was to have free access, so they did not try to stop him when he entered. Sanjeevaka seemed a bit apprehensive. Soon they went and stood in front of Pingalaka. Both Pingalaka and Sanjeevaka looked at each other. Damanaka said to Pingalaka, ‘Your Majesty, as I had told you earlier, I have brought Sanjeevaka. He is the bull that I spoke about. It now up to you how you want to take it forward.’ Sanjeevaka had been quiet. After Damanaka finished, Sanjeevaka bowed down graciously in front of Pingalaka.

Pingalaka Offers Protection

Pingalaka asked Sanjeevaka to step forward. When Sanjeevaka did, Pingalaka took his right paw, withdrew his claws, and placed that paw on Sanjeevaka’s hump. After doing that, he said, ‘How are you doing? I hope you are enjoying yourself in this forest. This is a lonely place and not much happens here. I want to know how you ended up here. Could you please tell me how that happened?’ Sanjeevaka then told Pingalaka how he had got separated from Vardhamanaka. Pingalaka, after hearing this, said, ‘My friend, do not be afraid. You are now under my protection. You can now live here freely as you wish. Just a word of caution – stay close to me. There are many dangers in this forest and even the brave animals get scared, and on top of that, you are a grass-eater.’

He then got up and along with all the animals, they went to the closest bank of river Yamuna. There, Pingalaka finally quenched his thirst. Happy, he came back and began relaxing. He then asked Damanaka to call Karataka. When the jackal came, Pingalaka announced that from this day onwards, Damanaka and Karataka would be in-charge of all administrative duties. He then called Sanjeevaka to his side and they began talking. Their conversations were intellectual and spiritual in nature and both were happy in each other’s company.

Disruption in the Kingdom

Sanjeevaka had knowledge of many administrative texts and he shared that knowledge with Pingalaka. Such was his influence that soon Pingalaka started going through a change. He started developing a love for peaceful ways and tried to give up his predatory instincts. He spent all his time with Sanjeevaka which started worrying the other animals. Damanaka and Karataka found that even if they wanted to discuss matters related to administration with Pingalaka, their king was not available. As Pingalaka began giving up hunting, animals that lived on scraps, began to leave and move elsewhere. As their source of livelihood was not there, what would the animals gain by hanging around there? And it was not these animals; this was the way things worked. Physicians live off the sick; foreigners get scammed by tricksters; merchants profit off customers; beggars from householders and scholars take advantage of the uneducated. It is said that in Shiva's household, the hungry snake wants to eat Ganesha's mouse; Kartikeya's peacock wants to eat that snake; and Parvati's lion wants to attack the peacock. When such opposition exists even in Shiva's home, how can the rest of the world be free of conflict? It is simply the nature of living beings.

Regret and Miscalculation

Damanaka and Karataka were hungry. They needed food and they used to relish the scraps Pingalaka left for them. One day, Damanaka said to Karataka, ‘Our situation is getting bad day by day. Pingalaka is devoting all his time to Sanjeevaka. He is ignoring his duties as a king. All his advisors have left. Only we are left. What do we do now?’

Karataka thought for a while and said, ‘Look. Ministers have a job. Their job is to advise the king, whether he takes it or not. Vidura kept advising Dhritarashtra even though the king never took the advice. If the king gets blind-sided, the ministers will be blamed. One more thing. This happened because of you. You brought this bull here and by doing that, you put your hand inside the fire.’

Damanaka said, ‘I agree with you. It is my fault and not the lion’s. A jackal died because it came between two rams. The ascetic lost all his wealth and a woman got her nose cut when she interfered in the affairs of another couple.’

Karataka was curious and wanted to know about this. Damanaka began telling him.

In the next post, I will talk about the jackal, the ascetic and the woman. For now, let me go through this tale and see what this has to share.

Lessons from Pingalaka and Sanjeevaka

The Fallacy of an Ascetic Ruler

A ruler cannot adopt the lifestyle of an ascetic without harming those who rely on him. Pingalaka’s transition toward non-violence seems virtuous on some level, but it destabilizes his kingdom. By abandoning hunting, he neglects his responsibility as a provider and protector, starving his subordinates and destabilizing court administration.

Conflict over resources is an aspect of existence that cannot be avoided. Attempting to suppress natural roles—such as turning a carnivorous king into a vegetarian —disrupts systemic balance and creates administrative vacuums.

Nowhere in the text does it say that Pingalaka and Sanjeevaka’s friendship was not proper. It is just that someone’s personal aspiration should not come and cast a shadow over their professional duties.

This tale is significant because it starts the transition from how the friendship began to why the friendship must end now.

Mapping the Characters

Every time the characters interact with each other, they show a different characteristic. In this tale:

Pingalaka is like a leader who, inspired by a mentor, coach, or new intellectual influence, deliberately tries to become calmer, gentler, or more "conscious" — a good-faith personal transformation — but pursues it so abruptly and totally that they fail to notice the role they hold (parent, manager, founder, provider).

Sanjeevaka is like a new specialist hire who simply does good, engaging work and ends up absorbing all of leadership's bandwidth.

Damanaka represents the facilitator who owns the outcome of what he set in motion.

Karataka represents the colleague who diagnoses correctly and explains to their partner who is responsible for the mishap.

The Dynamics of an Unnatural Alliance

Sanjeevaka is an effective choice as the "friend" of Pingalaka because the relationship is unnatural— predator and prey. Their friendship symbolically represents the union of power (lion) with knowledge (bull), but also brings tension, since a lion and a bull's relationship would be adversarial.

Comparing with Hitopadesha

This story is there in Hitopadesha but with a different reason as to why the friendship between the lion and the bull breaks. When I touch on that, I shall link that here, so you can make out the way Narayana Pandit approached his work.

Allusions to Duty and Perpetual Conflict

There are references to an event from Mahabharata and the conflict in Shiva’s household. Let me touch on that.

Karataka compares the duty of a minister to advise Pingalaka regardless of whether the king listens, to how Vidura kept counselling Dhritarashtra even though the blind king never heeded his advice. The other one is:

  • The snake (associated with Shiva, who wears serpents as ornaments) wants to eat
  • Ganesha's mouse (Ganesha's vahana), while
  • Kartikeya's peacock (Kartikeya's vahana) wants to eat that snake, and
  • Parvati's lion (Parvati's vahana) wants to attack the peacock.

It implies that if conflict cannot be eliminated even from the household of Shiva who represents the destruction of desire, then conflict is there in every part of our existence and cannot be eliminated from life.

Concluding Thoughts

Before I end this, a question: Is there a priority in your own life or work that has begun to consume so much of your attention that people who depend on you have started to go unheard, much like Damanaka and Karataka waiting in Pingalaka's court?

Think about it. Just think about and notice it, before it becomes too late.

In the next post, I shall start sharing the tale of the ascetic and swindler, the jackal who died and the woman who had her nose cut.

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