Stories from the Hitopadesa: The War

byIndira Rajagopal

The third book of the Hitopadesa is called Vigraha, which means ‘quarrel and war’. In this book, the author Vishnu Sarma focussed on how greed, avarice and immorality corrupt humans. Hasty reactions to frivolous talk lead to evil plots, unjust wars and destruction. Today, we see the same phenomenon in our society.

The main story centres around two bird kingdoms—one on the island of Karpooradvipa ruled by King Hiranyagarbha, and the other on the island of Jamboodvipa ruled by King Chitravarna. The story begins with a crane named Dirghamukha, a native of Karpooradvipa, who visited Jamboodvipa. During the visi