Monday

01


July , 2019
Lessons from the Panchatantra - Story of the Bharuda bird
16:00 pm

Kamal Nain Pandya


Storytelling is an ancient art in India. Panchatantra, dating back to the third century, has its origins in Mahilaropya (modern-day Tamil Nadu) and is a compendium of stories containing practical wisdom narrated by
Visnusarman to the three princes of the King Amara Sakti. 

One such story from Panchatantra is that of the strange Bharuda bird that had two necks but one stomach. One day, while the bird was wandering on the banks of a lake, it found a reddish gold fruit, which appeared delicious
at first sight. One of the two heads exclaimed, “Oh what a fruit! I am sure the heavens have
sent it for me. I am so lucky.” He started eating the fruit with immense pleasure and claimed that it was the most delicious fruit he had ever eaten.

Hearing this, the other head said, “O dear, let me also taste the fruit that you are praising so much.” The first head laughed and replied, “You know that we have only one stomach, whichever head eats, the fruit will go to the same stomach. So, it makes no difference whether I eat it or you eat it. Moreover, I am the one who found this fruit. So, I have the first right to eat it.” The other head felt hurt with the selfishness of the first head and resolved to teach the other a lesson someday.

One day, the other head found a tree bearing poisonous fruits. He took the poisonous fruit and told the first head, “You deceitful fellow. I will eat this poisonous fruit and avenge the insult, which you had inflicted on me.”

The first head yelled, “Please do not eat this poisonous fruit. If you eat it, both of us will die, because we have a common stomach.” The other head replied, “Shut up! As I have found this fruit, I have every right to consume it.” The first head started crying, but the other head did not bother and ate the poisonous fruit. As a consequence, the bird died. 

We come across such situations in our daily lives, particularly as individuals being a part of the larger
family, society, or an organisation. Individuals indulge in spreading poison, creating conflicts, and indulging in
petty office politics which not only adversely affects the institution and the professional environment but
also their own selves. The story has several lessons for us —

1. Every organisation as a body has a single ‘stomach’ and employees are its several heads (brains), each contributing to the overall success of the business. Even if one or a few or even many conspire as mani pulative individuals for furtherance of their personal or egotisticalagendas or to tarnish other individuals for hostile or self-seeking objectives, it becomes a sure recipe of disaster for the entire institution.

2. Many insecure individuals indulge in negative politics to remain competitive and often harm the harmonious environment which the management strives to achieve. Although healthy competition is a ‘positive’ element in the overall functioning of any organisation, it should be used for dealing with external competition and challenges.

3. The other lesson from the story is the importance of ‘sharing’, which many individuals ignore completely. Ultimately as a family, society, institution or organisation, every structure has the proverbial ‘common stomach’, which must be kept healthy with ‘positive’ contribution by the several members who are responsible for upkeep and health of the larger entity.

4. Finally, there are lessons for the leadership to have ‘unity of command’ and ‘unity of direction’ for avoiding conflicting leadership and vision.

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