Literary merits of Panchtantra

Panchtantra is a literary work per excellence. It has the framework that encompasses fable narrative to prove its premise. It is an art of narrative fiction which leaves its mark even on the literary styles of contemporary writers as on Gautam Bhattia’s Panchtantra: A Twenty First Century Parable. The traces of story telling in the similar style are also found in Mahabharata, Ramayana. From the time of Rigveda, storytelling has emerged as a feasible form of knowledge diffusion. Panchtantra is a literary composition because it promotes Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha which is the merit of a literary composition. It is another truth that women are kept out of this circle of knowledge.

Literary works according to Indian poetics are known to produce an aesthetic whole. The vitalization of prose with verse as used in Jataka Kathas and Panhctantra also stamps its literary qualities by delighting readers with wonderful fusion of prose and verse in literary style.

Symbolism is an important element of a literary work. The Panchtantra, a collection of fables makes symbolic use of animals as characters in the language suitable to literary and instructive goals. A fable has been a favorable genre of literature. Walter De La Mare observes in Animal Stories that even Plato prefers raconteur to Homer and says that Plato excluded Homer from his Republic and gave Aesop a place of honor, hoping that the young would absorb fables along with their mother's milk ... since one cannot at too early an age acquire a love for wisdom and virtue.

Full report here Pakistan Christian Post 

Venomous tongue of Rai

Women empowerment, though it is in its infancy, is worrying some males to extreme. They are so scared that they are not able to judge before opposing the rights of women to be considered as human. Those males do not like to see the female autonomy. To prove their point, they quote from the scriptures of India in which Indra goes unpunished after raping Ahilya. This lesson from scriptures shows that woman should worship husband like a God no matter how immoral he is. Tulsi Das makes his hero Ram discard Sita to teach women to follow male dictates without a voice of revolt.

In modern times women are trying to come out of their shells, making a concrete space for themselves by articulating their own desires and dreams. These wishes and dreams were lying buried in the cave of women’s heart for ages. Males of this conformist society do not like women to disregard their domestic duty to make their career. Women when require cooperation of males in carrying out these household responsibilities, try to take another root to avoid it. Males can not sacrifice their careers for family and women do not have right to make career at the expense of family

This difference in choice now does not work at the scale it worked before. But fanatics are still living in the age of Manusmriti and Panchtantra. They still try to apply rules and lessons of scriptures for feminine gender. So does Vibhuti Narain Rai in his interview that shows his ethical death when he makes degraded comments about women writers. His comments humiliate every female writer. He hurts every sensitive ear and revered name in the field of writing from Sarojini Naidu to Imtiaz Dharker.

Full letter here South Asia Mail 

For old times' sake!

The ‘old wine in a new bottle’ adage has found new takers. And interestingly, they are kids. There is a revival of interest among children in books, films and special DVDs from the old times.

A tour of the different bookstores in the city reveals that there has been huge demand for stuff from the olden days in the children’s section. For example, The Famous Five, The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew have been consistent bestsellers. And a few more have joined the list now. Amar Chitra Katha’s mythological series like the Ramayana and Mahabharata surprisingly are doing astounding business along with the ever-increasing interest in historical heroes.

Shivaraman Balakrishnan, deputy manager marketing of Crosswords, says, “The children’s section is very important for our stores as it constitutes 23% of our total sales. The classics like Mahabharata and Panchatantra along with all-time favourites like Enid Blyton creations are doing amazingly well.”

Full report here DNA