The day of the jackal’s undoing is near

Sans the Sacred

I am back to tell you another story from the Panchatantra. I won’t name names, but surely a discerning reader like you can christen the hero (or villain) of the story yourself. The story goes that there was once a jackal—call him what you will. Unlike so many other jackals in the Panchatantra, he was not too witty, wily, or creative. He was lucky enough to be born into a comfortable existence, and he went about life, never bothering too much about anything in general.

But fate does the strangest things. The jackal got into a tiff, one thing led to another, and before he knew it, he had fallen into a huge vat of indigo dye. Purely by chance, might I add? He turned royal blue from top to bottom.

Once he escaped the vat, all the animals who saw him were struck by fear — “Who is this strange creature, the likes of whom we have never seen before?” they thought. Then the jackal seized the opportunity that presented itself.

He announced to all the animals in the vicinity —”Do not fear me! I have been sent by Indra, the king of the gods. Indra knew that you don’t have a king, and he appointed me your king. I shall make this forest great again!”

All right, you got me, that last line isn’t in the text, but you get the gist, and you know who we are talking about.

Anyway, the animals believed he was divinely appointed to rule over them. Some of them were doubters, but one argued, “We’ve been ruled by generations of kings who have changed nothing. He’s an outsider. Trust me, he’ll shake things up!” Another added: “He has God’s blessing, or how else could it be that he is royal blue, rather than green or brown?”

The jackal appointed the worst possible people for every job: the lion was appointed his minister, the tiger the bed-keeper, the leopard his paan-walah, the elephants his doorkeepers, and finally, the monkeys the royal-parasol-holders.

In the Panchatantra story, the blue jackal did not give his own family important positions, but we can tweak the story a little if we like.

The jackal was enjoying his power and had no intention of giving it up. In fact, he found it rather easy to get the animals under his sway to get him his food, pamper him, and carry out every pompous command.

One day, while the blue jackal was seated in the royal assembly, he heard the howls of a group of jackals, and his inner self was overjoyed. He had goosebumps, tears of joy coursed down his cheeks, and unable to help himself, he finally gave voice to the long and loud howl that loomed from deep within him.

The lions and other animals, serving him obediently, realised in a trice that he was but an ordinary jackal. How many times do you think the blue jackal will howl before they chase him away?