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Panchatantra Book 1 - 015 - How a Blue Jackal Became a King

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Recap

A louse named Manda-visarpini lived in the king’s bed and fed on his blood only when he was fast asleep. One day, a bedbug named Agnimukha arrived and persuaded her to let him stay. Though he promised to wait, he could not control his impatience and bit the king while he was still awake. The servants searched the bed, found the slow-moving louse instead, and killed her. Damanaka used this story to warn Pingalaka against trusting someone whose nature was unknown and began telling the story of Kakuddruma who suffered because he refused to acknowledge people from his community.

The Blue Jackal

In a forest lived a jackal named Chandaraka. Like most jackals, Chandaraka was always hungry and always in the lookout for food. Food sources in the forest were rare to find. Either he killed a small animal or relied on the kill of a big cat. One day, extremely hungry, he decided to step out of the forest. On the edge of the forest was a village and the jackal wondered if he should try his luck there. He went ahead and stood at the edge of forest. From there he could see the human settlements. Wanting to take a chance and stepped inside the village. As soon as he did, he was spotted. A stray dog who was standing there spotted the jackal. He began barking. Hearing that other dogs came running there. Now it was a matter of life and death. Chandaraka ran and the dogs ran behind him. Sometimes they got close enough to nip at his tail, and he would try and run faster to avoid them. Running like this, the jackal saw an empty door and ran in. The dogs followed. The door led to the courtyard of a washerman who had left a big drum full of indigo dye there. The jackal looked for a place to hide. Not seeing anything, he took his chance and jumped into the drum. The dye was strong and irritating. Unable to stay in the drum, he tried to come out. After a few attempts, he was successful. His coat was blue in colour and seeing the blue jackal, the dogs got confused and left the place. Chandaraka too went off to the forest. Spotting a pond, he saw his reflection; he saw he was blue. The dye had permanently coloured him.

A strange animal

The animals in the forest had never seen a blue jackal before. For them blue meant the colour of Shiva’s throat when he had drunk the poison. This was scary and instead of trying to think they began running away. Lions, tigers, wolves, leopards – all were scared of this strange creature. They were sceptical about trusting a creature of unknown origins. Chandaraka decided to use this to his advantage. He asked the animals to stop running and said, ‘My friends, do not be afraid. Brahma created me today with his own hands. He gave me the name Kakuddruma and said I was to come to this forest. He said the animals did not have a ruler and I was to become the king. This is the reason why I have suddenly come here.’

The animals were naïve and believed him. They accepted him as their king and asked him what he wanted. The jackal began assigning positions to the animals. He appointed a lion as his prime minister, a tiger in charge of internal affairs, a leopard in charge of providing refreshments and a wolf was made the doorkeeper. He told the animals that jackals were not to be trusted and that no jackal was to be allowed anywhere near him. The lions and the other animals would hunt and come back with the kill. Kakuddruma would divide the kill among all equally and by doing this, our jackal was happy. He did not have to go hungry.

One day, in the distance, he heard some jackal howling. Hearing this made him emotional. After all they were his kin. He stood up and began howling, forgetting where he was. Hearing that, the other animals realized they had been tricked by a crafty jackal. The jackal, realizing this, tried to run but the other animals caught him and killed him.

Ending the story, Damanaka said, ‘One should not neglect their own kind. If they do, they will have to suffer.’

Pingalaka heard this and then said, ‘Look, I have heard all that you have said. I have understood all that you have been trying to communicate. Tell me one thing -what proof do you have that Sanjeevaka has ill intentions towards me?’

Manipulating Pingalaka

Damanaka said, ‘I have proof. This morning when I met Sanjeevaka he said he will attack you tomorrow. Here is how you can understand this. When he comes tomorrow, if you see his eyes are blood-shot, his lips are twitching and he looks at you aggressively, you will have to take necessary action.’

Pingalaka was confused. Damanaka was confident; he had sown the seeds of doubt in the lion’s mind. The next step was to tackle Sanjeevaka. He went where the bull was. Seeing him, Damanaka bowed to him and sat down. Sanjeevaka looked at the jackal. He had a very distressed look on his face. Sanjeevaka went close to him and said, ‘Welcome Damanaka. It is always nice to see you. It has been many days since you last visited me. How are you? If there is something you need from me, please let me know. I shall try my best to help you. It is great to have friends visit.’

Warning to Sanjeevaka

Damanaka sighed and said, ‘Sanjeevaka, you know I serve the king. How can I be fine? Servants are dependent on others for their well-being. Life itself is hard, and on top of that there is poverty. Mahabharata says there who are as good as dead, they are: the poor, the sick, the fools, those exiled, and servants.’

Sanjeevaka was confused. He asked, ‘What are you trying to say?’

Damanaka said, ‘I am the lion’s minister and I should not break his trust. Yet, I feel obligated towards you. I brought you here and gave you my word, I feel I should warn you. If something happens to you, the blame will fall on me, as I got you in this situation. Keep it to yourself. Pingalaka has turned against you. He told me he is planning to kill you tomorrow and all in the court will feast on your meat. I tried my best. Pingalaka said an herbivore and a carnivore are natural enemies, and killing a rival in battle carries no blame. I came running to you to tell you this. I did not want to betray you. I have done what I could and now I leave it up to you. Act the way you want to.’

Hearing this, Sanjeevaka felt his legs go weak. He fell on the grass. Regaining his composure, he said, ‘People do not always choose wisely. A person who thinks he is safe because he is a ruler's favourite is being foolish, because a ruler's favour can change at any time. Friendships and alliances usually work best between people who are similar in strength, position, or ability. Anger that has a reason can usually be settled by removing the cause, but hatred without any reason is harder to deal with. When a newcomer gets the ruler's favour, older courtiers may become jealous and try to bring him down. If the ruler cannot recognise that, such jealous people can easily overshadow someone who is capable.’

Damanaka tried to give reassurance to the bull. He said, ‘If the ruler had been influenced by some bad advisers, you can calm him down by speaking politely and wisely.’

Sanjeevaka did not agree with this. He said, ‘No. You do not understand. It is impossible to survive among scheming courtiers. They will conspire and bring about one's downfall just as the crow and his companions did to the camel. When many such get together and use trickery, they can do just about anything, just as the crow, jackal, and leopard did to the camel.’

Damanaka wanted to know about this and Sanjeevaka began telling him the story.

Deconstructing the tale

That story in the next Panchatantra post. For now, let me go through what is there in this tale.

Core Niti Principles

The central Niti principle from this tale is Bheda or division.

A weak party can defeat stronger parties.

  • Damanaka has no army, no strength, no wealth — only information asymmetry and narrative control. This is Machiavellian Manipulation where Damanaka uses psychological tactics. He sows seeds of suspicion in both Pingalaka and Sanjeevaka.
  • He uses selective storytelling rather than direct argument. He is the unverified single source of truth, controlling the flow of information between the two parties who are not communicating directly.
  • Kakuddruma’s downfall shows that cutting ties with one's natural network (kin) leaves a leader defenceless when exposed.

The Blue Jackal

There is one main character in this tale, leaving aside Damanaka, Pingalaka and Sanjeevaka.

Chandaraka / Kakuddruma (The Blue Jackal)

Identity Detail
What he represents An impostor who rises through manufactured credibility (an accident being used as opportunity). In today's world: a leader who fabricates credentials, a "self-made guru," or a manager who overstates authority/connections to gain a position, and who must actively suppress their real identity/community to keep the illusion alive.
Name meaning (Chandaraka) Commonly derived from Chanda. Chanda means ferocious.
Name meaning (Kakuddruma) Kakud means peak and Druma means tree, thus the word literally means "the lofty tree" — a grand self-given name, chosen to sound like something big, unlike an ordinary jackal's name.

Takeaways

There are many things that can be learnt from this tale.

Verify Information: Never act on information provided by an intermediary without cross-examination.

Beware of Imposters: Visual signs and high-sounding titles do not guarantee competence or authority.

The Blue Jackal story appears in Hitopadesha in the book Vigraha (War).

Have you ever sacrificed your foundational network or identity to fit into a group, only to find yourself isolated when real support was needed? Think.

In the next Panchatantra post, the story of an unlucky camel.

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