The Panchatantra Way of Conflict Resolution: The story of the cobra and the crow.

G. S. Sankeerth, 2007A3PS155P

Foreword
Panchtantra, originally written in Sanskrit, is the set of stories with some moral in it. They are universally accepted as the storehouse of wisdom and are known as heritage of India. It is a common misconception to consider it a collection of short stories. It is not just that but a beautiful piece of art with little stories interlaced into one another. The other important feature of it is that it has different levels of story telling in it. Indian kids grew up listening to them in parts and parcel. Some narrated them as stories, and others as anecdotes. Although, the style and sources varied, the goal of edification always remained the same. In the Indian tradition, the Panchatantra is a ntistra. Nti can be roughly translated as "the wise conduct of life" and a stra is a technical or scientific treatise; thus it is considered a treatise on political science and human conduct. Its literary sources are thus "the expert tradition of political science and the folk and literary traditions of storytelling". It draws from the Dharma and Artha stras, quoting them extensively. It is also explained that nti "represents an admirable attempt to answer the insistent question how to win the utmost possible joy from life in the world of men" and that nti is "the harmonious development of the powers of man, a life in which security, prosperity, resolute action, friendship, and good learning are so combined to produce joy". The Panchatantra is an inter-woven series of colourful fables, many of which involve animals exhibiting animal stereotypes. According to its own narrative, it illustrates, for the benefit of three ignorant princes, the central Hindu principles of nti. While nti is hard to translate, it roughly means prudent worldly conduct, or "the wise conduct of life". There is hardly any other secular work in the World which has penetrated so deeply in many cultures encompassing practically every continent of the World. During the last 1500 years there are at least 200 translations of Panchatantra in about 60 languages of the World. Aesop fables, Arabian Nights, Sindbad and more than 30 to 50% of Western nursery rhymes and Ballads have their origin in Panchatantra and Jataka stories.

Apart from a short introduction in which the author, Vishnu Sarma, is introduced as narrating the rest of the work to the princes it consists of five parts. Each part contains a main story, called the frame story, which in turn contains several stories "emboxed" in it, as one character narrates a story to another. Often these stories contain further emboxed stories. The stories thus operate like a succession of Russian dolls, one narrative opening within another, sometimes three or four deep. Besides the stories, the characters also quote various epigrammatic verses to make their point. The five books are called: Mitra-bheda: The Separation of Friends (The Lion and the Bull) Mitra-lbha or Mitra-samprpti: The Gaining of Friends (The Dove, Crow, Mouse, Tortoise and Deer) Kkolkyam: Of Crows and Owls (War and Peace) Labdhapraam: Loss Of Gains (The Monkey and the Crocodile) Aparkitakraka: Ill-Considered Action / Rash deeds (The Brahman and the Mongoose). Mitra-bheda, The Separation of Friends In the first book, a friendship arises between the lion Pigalaka, the king of the forest, and Sajvaka, a bull. Karataka ('Horribly Howling') and Damanaka ('Victor') are two jackals that are retainers to the lion king. Damanaka, against Karataka's advice, breaks the friendship between the lion and the bull, out of jealousy. It contains around thirty stories, mostly told by the two jackals, and is the longest of the five books, making up roughly 45% of the work's length. Mitra-samprpti, The Gaining of Friends It tells of the story of the crow who upon seeing the favour the rat performed to free the dove (or pigeon) and her companions, decides to befriend the rat despite the rat's initial objections. The storyline evolves as this friendship grows to include the turtle and the fawn. They collaborate to save the fawn when he is trapped, and later they work together to save the turtle, who herself, falls in the trap. This makes up about 22% of the total length. Kkolkyam, Of Crows and Owls It deals with a war between crows and owls. One of the crows pretends to be an outcast from his own group to gain entry into the rival owl group, and by doing so gains access to their secrets and learns of their vulnerabilities. He later summons his group of crows to set fire on

all entrances to the cave where the owls live and suffocate them to death. This is about 26% of the total length. Labdhapraam, Loss Of Gains It deals with the artificially-constructed symbiotic relationship between the monkey and the crocodile. The crocodile risks the relationship by conspiring to acquire the heart of the monkey to heal his wife; the monkey finds out about this and avoids this grim fate. Aparkitakraka, Hasty Action A Brahman leaves his child with a mongoose friend of his, and upon returning and finding blood on the mongoose's mouth, he kills it. He later finds out that the mongoose actually defended his child from a snake.

Presented here forth is a story from the first book, Mitra-bheda, The story of the cobra and the crow, in which a family of crows is disturbed by the menace of a cobra and how they seek the help of a cunning jackal to resolve their conflict.

The Story of the Cobra and the Crow

"Somewhere in the country, under a banyan. tree, there lived a pair of crows, husband and wife. Now, whenever the female hatched her eggs, a black cobra would come out of the hollow of the tree, climb up, and make a meal of them. "Nearby, under another banyan tree, there lived a jackal. The crows told him everything. 'Friend,' they said, 'the black cobra creeps out of the hollow of the tree and eats up our children. Tell us, what can we do to protect them? It's become dangerous for us to live here.' 'Don't give up hope,' said the jackal, 'it's a fact that an enemy can be destroyed by a

trick. An ordinary fellow, if he's cunning, escapes being overpowered by the strongest of men. After listening to this, the crow said, 'Friend, tell us how we can kill the wicked cobra.' 'Well,' said the jackal, 'go to a city that is the capital of a kingdom. Visit the house of some wealthy man, a minister or someone, and see if they have been careless enough to leave a gold chain or a necklace lying about. Pick it up, and making sure that the servants are watching you, fly off slowly with it and drop it in the hollow of the tree where the snake lives. When the servants run after you to get the necklace back, they'll see the snake and it's certain they'll kill him.'

"The crows decided to take the jackal's advice and flew off. As they were flying, the female noticed a lake, in which the women of the harem were swimming. They had left gold and pearl necklaces with their clothes on the bank of the lake. The female crow picked up a gold chain in her beak and started flying slowly to her nest. "When the eunuchs saw this, they picked up their sticks and started running after the, female crow. She let the gold chain fall near the hollow of the tree where the snake lived and seated herself on a tree nearby. When the king's servants arrived on the scene, they were confronted by a snake with swelling hood, before the hollow of the tree. They killed him with sticks, recovered the gold chain and returned home. And the crows lived happily ever after.

Detailed Interpretation

Indirect Confrontation:

The crows did not engage in direct confrontation of the conflict. By not interacting directly with the cobra, they let the conflict grow before they felt the need to resolve them. This story depicts a typical situation in the everyday life of a person though depicting it through animals. A crow can be related to the typical common man in India as its one of the most common bird to be seen anywhere in India. Its characteristics of making a lot of noise but unable to take action under any sort of oppression is a characteristic very commonly found in the majority of the Indian audiences, also portraying a reluctant style of approaching conflict. Such cases include but are not limited to that as related to by the relation between a landlord and a tenant or that due to a meddlesome neighbour in the society. There are various reasons as to why people do not directly engage in conflict even though they feel that their rights have been violated, and prefer to get matters settled through various indirect methods. This is one such scenario.

Styles of conflict:

The crows were reluctant in engaging in conflict and were emotionally involved with the problem at hand. As the crows were emotionally involved (the cobra eating up their children), they knew that their action may not be rationally sound if they tried to openly engage in the conflict and so were reluctant in engaging the cobra in a confrontation. The source of their

reluctance arises from their fear of already aggressive behaviour of the cobra and their fear of how the cobra would react to their approach. In terms of behaviour the crows were comparatively submissive and had a very indirect method while engaged in a conflict, never once did they openly communicate with the cobra what the problem was.

The styles which one could associate with the cobra include a reactive style. The cobra should have anticipated the conflict and been a bit more proactive in its style. Also, the cobra displayed a very dominating and threatening type of style when initiating the conflict in an indirect manner.

Avoidance through Hopelessness:

Avoidance through Hopelessness was demonstrated by the crows as they thought that approaching the cobra would not lead to any fruitful result. The depiction of the crows may also point out to the fact that Indian-simpleton often lacks the confidence or the idea to take action of his own. The crows may have believed that no solution could be reached if they approached the cobra and in fact may endanger their life in the process too.

Ways to engage in conflict:

The crows engaged in the conflict by using the principle based approach. It only appeals as just and moral if all the crows want is the cobra to not eat their children. All the crows wanted was a safe life and they felt they had every right to it and that it was unfair on the part of the cobra to eat up their children every time. They felt that they had never initiated an argument and had never caused any harm to the cobra so whatever the cobra did, was not a moral act. One can argue that this shows an interest based approach but it is understood that if someone approaches the conflict by saying that it is immoral to eat up their children then it would be classified as a principle based approach.

The cobra misused its power, though it needed to satisfy its hunger, the cobra could have behaved with more tact and realised that if repeatedly someone pesters a weaker being, it is only a matter of time before the weaker being starts retaliating. The cobra should not have maintained such a close physical proximity with the crows while repeatedly eating up their children. The cobra is depicted as a person who is always in the lookout to harm his neighbours, as shown that the cobra eats up the eggs of the crows without any prior involvement from the side of the crows.

Traits of a mediator:

As a mediator, the jackal was trustworthy and the crows could confide in him which enabled complete information exchange without the crows hiding anything. The crows went to someone who they believed is better in reaching a solution. This trustworthy person is often a neighbour or a friend which is shown by the referral to nearby banyan trees, depicting someone from a common origin or society but who is considered to be clever and shrewd, thereby outlining the characteristics of a jackal. As a stereotype, a jackal is often portrayed as greedy and cunning (akin to the fox in European tradition), and sometimes gets punished but often gets away. Also, the jackal is believed to be a manipulative advisor and believes in ends and not the means. A jackal tries to reach the desired solution, through hook or by crook and does not worry about the after effects or the means through which he gets his needs met. The jackal also had strong communication skills as well as analytical skills.

The jackal gave the crows some hope and made sure that they do not feel hopeless in such a situation and as a mediator and a trustworthy friend encouraged them to engage in the conflict. The first advice which the jackal gives is to not lose hope. He knew that if the crows lost hope in the given situation then they would choose the cowards way out and may consider leaving the place. The jackal knew that theirs was a principle-based approach, that the crows felt that they had a right to their children and would want to get their needs met either by dealing with the cobra, or by leaving the place. The jackal knew that they had been living there for a long time and had been neighbours and that they deserved to not change their home and settle in the place they currently reside in. He instilled hope in them by telling them that even the largest of the problems have very simple solutions associated with them,

only if dealt with the right amount of cunningness. This simple statement gives the crows a lot of hope and convinces them that they are not in the wrong and that they have no reason to leave this place and then decide that they want the cobra to leave and thus ask the jackal for advice in order to get the cobra killed. This is the point where complete information is conveyed to the jackal as to what the crows really want and from this point onwards, the jackal gives them a plan to help them achieve what they want. Till this point, the jackal behaved as a mediator by helping the crows realise what they truly want and from this point onwards the jackal assumes the role of an expert and gives advice accordingly.

Traits of an expert:

As an expert, the jackal gave the crows detailed information about the plan of action and how to go about it. Being a part of animal kingdom and having a precise and accurate idea about human behaviour is truly commendable and indeed shows the expertise of the jackal in this regard. 'Well,' said the jackal, 'go to a city that is the capital of a kingdom. Visit the house of some wealthy man, a minister or someone, and see if they have been careless enough to leave a gold chain or a necklace lying about. Pick it up, and making sure that the servants are watching you, fly off slowly with it and drop it in the hollow of the tree where the snake lives. When the servants run after you to get the necklace back, they'll see the snake and it's certain they'll kill him.' This is a perfect example of the case of uniting two parties against a common enemy. Humans are by nature, afraid of snakes and considered them a threat to their existence especially in the olden days when the cure for snake-bite was mostly unavailable. The jackal knew about this conflict and decided to use this to their advantage. He wanted to make sure that human beings noticed their priced possessions are being stolen so that they would chase behind the crows, who would lead them to the place where the snake resides, resulting in the humans attacking and killing the snake, thus achieving the objective of the crows. As an expert, the jackal knew that physically the crows were incapable of defeating the cobra and that they needed external help to do so. Involving humans further added to the confidence of the crows as they also realised that physically, human beings are better equipped with a snake than they are and thus agreed to listen to the expert advice of the jackal. Also making a detailed plan and communicating it flawlessly with minute details shows that the jackal had strong communication as well as analytical skills.

The crows knew that the jackal was an expert and followed his plan word-to word. As a friend, they respected him and his abilities. If they did not believe in the jackal, then the whole point of taking advice from such an expert would not have any consequence. This clearly shows that in a conflict, the parties have to believe in a mediator and place their trust and faith in him. As the crows were flying, the female noticed a lake, in which the women of the harem were swimming. They had left gold and pearl necklaces with their clothes on the bank of the lake. The female crow picked up a gold chain in her beak and started flying slowly to her nest. This shows that the crows trusted the judgement and advice of the jackal and dared not change the plan of action. They knew that the jackals intentions were to help them and knew that by trusting in the judgement of the jackal, they stood to gain and did not try to improvise on any of the instructions. If they had strayed away from the plan action, they knew they could not predict the outcome of the situation.

"When the eunuchs saw this, they picked up their sticks and started running after the female crow. She let the gold chain fall near the hollow of the tree where the snake lived and seated herself on a tree nearby. When the king's servants arrived on the scene, they were confronted by a snake with swelling hood, before the hollow of the tree. They killed him with sticks, recovered the gold chain and returned home. And the crows lived happily ever after. There is a reason why eunuchs get a special mention; in the olden days, no male was allowed near the bath area of the ladies and only the eunuchs were allowed to enter the area. As the eunuchs were physically stronger than the royal ladies, they were entrusted with the security of the belongings and that of the royal ladies themselves and in return were treated with respect in the royal household which made them loyal to the royal household. Thus, when the gold chain was taken away by the crow, they relentlessly pursued it out of genuine concern and with the sole aim of getting back the gold chain under any cost and when they encountered the cobra, who was annoyed because of the gold chain falling into his hole and disturbing him, they killed it without any hesitation and took back the gold chain. The death of the cobra may seem unfair as it had nothing to do with the stealing of the gold chain but it got what it deserved as eating the had caused a lot of grievance to the crows earlier and this was their way of taking revenge. The death of the cobra satisfied the crows and thus the menace of the cobra ended for them.

Communication Skills:

The jackal had strong communication skills, whereas the crows and the cobra had weak communication skills. In a conflict, of all the interpersonal skills, communication is the most important, both for the protagonists and for the mediators. At the heart of both conflict and conflict resolution is communication. Conflict frequently escalates because people act on the assumption that they have communicated accurately when they have not. People can work on improving communication even in very intense conflicts. Communication is one of the greatest sources of both difficulty and hope in dealing with serious conflict. When the crows report their grievance to the jackal, they also add that they feel that its difficult for them to continue living at their present residence. It could either suggest that they are inclined to leave the present place and shift to a safer place or that they want the cobra to leave. The jackal interpreted this as an ambiguous statement and by further probing, got it clarified that the crows wanted the snake dead though that may not have been the primary intention. This may be interpreted as the jackal encouraged them to reach the decision to kill the cobra. In a way, it is good as cobras are considered to harbour feelings of vengeance for a long time and letting the cobra live after teaching it a lesson is no less than inviting death upon oneself. Among others, one of the most important roles that a mediator plays is that of helping others reach a decision and help in productive interaction. This can be done only if someone is good at communicating with others. The jackal definitely helped the crows reach a decision. By narrating an excerpt, it encouraged the crows to think more about the problem at hand and reach a decision regarding the same. Initially, the crows had no idea as to how to go about solving the problematic issue. But once they had a conversation with the jackal, they reached the decision that they want the cobra killed.

References:
[1] Sharma, Vishnu, The Panchatantra, approximately B.C.1000. [2] http://www.market4us.com/panchatantra [3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panchatantra [4] http://panchatantra.org/ [5] Bernard, Mayer., Dynamics of Conflict Resolution: A practioners guide, 1st edition, 2000.