Who deserves to travel with the scholars?
Four Brahmans have been friends since childhood. Three are highly learned but lack practical judgment; the fourth has good sense without their scholarship. When they decide to travel in search of royal favor and wealth, two object to sharing future earnings with someone who cannot contribute academic attainments. The third insists that their old companion should come along.
The disagreement establishes two measures of value before any danger appears: impressive knowledge that might win a patron, and the less easily advertised capacity to judge circumstances. For the moment, remembered friendship secures the fourth man’s inclusion. His practical contribution has not yet been demonstrated, while the others already expect their learning to produce success.
Source: Panchatantra, Book 5: Ill-considered Action · Panchatantra, Book 5, The Lion-Makers, pp. 442–444
A demonstration succeeds too completely
In a forest they find bones. The scholars decide that this is an opportunity to test their abilities. One can assemble the skeleton, another supply flesh and blood, and the third restore life. The first two carry out their parts.
Recognizing the completed body as a lion, the sensible companion warns that reviving it will endanger them all. The final scholar refuses to let the achievement of learning be frustrated. Unable to prevent the act, the fourth asks for time to climb a nearby tree. Only after he reaches safety does the scholar animate the body. The revived lion rises and kills the three men who reconstructed it.
Source: Panchatantra, Book 5: Ill-considered Action · Panchatantra, Book 5, The Lion-Makers, pp. 442–444
The survivor does not need to defeat the lion
When the animal has gone, the man in the tree climbs down and returns home. His survival requires neither superior magic nor a fight. He correctly identifies the likely consequence of the demonstration and removes himself from its reach.
The story is told to the treasure-seeker trapped beneath the turning wheel, making it an argument for prudence after confident striving has failed. Its target is not learning as useless: the scholars’ extraordinary techniques actually work. The failure lies in treating a successful operation as sufficient reason to perform it. The fourth friend adds the question their expertise does not answer—whether the desired result is safe or beneficial for those present. That distinction gives the catastrophe its particular irony.
Source: Panchatantra, Book 5: Ill-considered Action · Panchatantra, Book 5, The Lion-Makers, pp. 442–444
- Period / witness
- Pūrṇabhadra recension dated 1199 CE; Arthur W. Ryder translation, 1925. The tales have differing earlier histories.
- Recording context
- Original synopsis and commentary on Ryder’s translation of the Pūrṇabhadra recension, edited by Johannes Hertel. This selected literary witness does not represent all Indian traditions.
A recording location is not necessarily a story’s origin. Dates of texts, copies, and translations answer different questions.
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These references support the explanation above. Rights and edition notes are recorded individually.
Panchatantra, Book 5: Ill-considered Action ↗
Pūrṇabhadra recension (1199 CE); English translation by Arthur W. Ryder (1877–1938), based on Johannes Hertel’s Sanskrit edition · Pūrṇabhadra recension 1199 CE; Hertel edition 1908; Ryder translation 1925
Edition & rights note