Panchatantra Tales The Panchatantra is a legendary collection of short stories from India. Originally composed in the 2nd century B.C, Panchatantra is believed to be written by Vishnu Sharma along with many other scholars. The purpose behind the composition was to implant moral values and governing skills in the young sons of the king. Panchatantra stories are one of the most widely translated books in the history and are known for their wisdom on practical life. The stories themselves are delightfully narrated, with animals and birds often being the central characters. Thus they provide valuable life lessons in a light-hearted manner.

The Panchatantra stories have always been read and acknowledged by society. They are known for their moral value. Vishnu Sharma is the creator of these moral stories. He had written them around the 3rd century CE. Panchatantra stories were originally written in Sanskrit. Later they were translated into several languages and widely distributed. The beauty of these Panchatantra stories is that it still has significance in society. The central characters for these stories are animals and birds. You will learn many important life lessons and moral values from these stories.

Let us go through a 15 Best Panchatantra Stories in English.

The Foolish Sage

Once, there was an eminent sage named Dev Sharma in a village temple. Everyone in the village respected him. He received all kinds of garments, gifts, food items, and money from his devotees. By selling those, he deposited a lot of money.

The sage never believed anyone and was always concerned about the safety of his money. He kept his money in a pouch and always kept it with him.

For many days, a thug was after the pouch. The thug always followed the sage, but he never parted from the pouch.

Eventually, the thug disguised as a student and went to the sage. He supplicated the sage to make him his disciple. The sage agreed and the thug started staying in the temple too. The thug used to do all the chores of the temple and he also sweet-talked, soon he became a confidant.

One day, Sage Dev was invited to a ritual in a nearby village, the sage accepted the invitation and went on the day with his disciple.

Seeing a river on the way, the sage expressed his desire to bathe. He put the pouch of money within a blanket and put it on the banks of the river. He asked the thug to guard it and went to bathe himself. The thug was dying for this moment. As the sage went to dive into the river, he took the pouch and fled.

Moral: Don’t trust any stranger so easily.

The Foolish Pandit

Long ago, there was a pandit named Someshwar. He was Goddess Durga’s devotee. One day his guru asked him to go, meditate and pray to Maa Durga.

Someshwar went into a jungle. He spent years meditating and praying. The weather changed, conditions worsened, but Someshwar did not waver.

Goddess Durga appeared in front of him suddenly. Someshwar was pleasantly surprised.

She smiled and said “I am pleased by your devotion. You may ask for anything you want.”

He said “Maa! If you want to give me something then give me Sanjeevni booti.”

Goddess gave Someshwar the booti and told him that a few drops from the juice of Sanjeevni booti can bring any dead being back to life, and disappeared.

Someshwar started fantasizing. He planned that he would start helping the village and gain followers. He imagined people would even make him the sarpanch.

Amid these happy thoughts, he got anxious whether these are the real booti or not. He came across a dead lion. He immediately started crushing some of the leaves. When the drops fell on the body; the lion came back to life. They were old and died out of hunger as they did not have enough energy to hunt. The booti not only brought them back to life but also gave them strength and energy.

Someshwar got happy but suddenly he heard the lion’s roar and realized his mistake. He started running but he was no match for the lion. The lion caught up with him and enjoyed their prey.

Moral: Think about the repercussions of your actions.

The Rats Who Ate the Iron Balance Story

There was a boy named Dilip. In search of money, he thought of going to a foreign land. He had a heavy iron scale with him. He went abroad by placing it as a mortgage to a shopkeeper named Mahajan.

After coming back from abroad, he sought his iron scale back from Mahajan. “Rats ate your scale in the storage room,” Mahajan said. Dilip understood that he does not intend to give up that scale. But there was no remedy at the moment. After thinking, he said, “The mice are to blame for eating it, it is not your fault.”

A little later, he said to Mahajan “Friend! I’m going to bathe in the river. You can send your son Dhandev with me.” Mahajan was always impressed with Dilip’s chivalry, he immediately sent his son with him.

Dilip took Mahajan’s son and locked him in a cave. When he came to Mahajan’s house, Mahajan asked, “My boy also went with you, where is he?”

Dilip said, “He has been taken by an eagle.”

Mahajan jeered “How can this be? Can the eagle pick up such a huge person?”

Dilip responded, “Just as rats can eat heavy iron scales.”

Mahajan understood and ran inside. He came back with the iron scale and apologized for being greedy. They went to the cave and brought Dhandev back.

Moral: You cannot get away with bad doings.

Four Brahmins Story

Four brahmins used to live in a village. Three of them were trained in unique magical arts, whereas the fourth one was not. Due to this, the other three used to belittle and bully him.

One morning, three brahmins decide to go to the city to earn some money. When the fourth one asks to tag along, they decline rudely saying he does not know anything and it would be a waste. He offers to do their chores which persuades them to allow.

On the way, they come across a skeleton and start discussing which animal it belongs to.

To find out who is right, one of them uses his knowledge to reassemble the bones, then the second one uses his powers to give it muscles and skin. It reveals that it belonged to a lion.

The third one also wanted to showcase his powers so he says he will bring it back to life. As he starts chanting the mantras the fourth brahmin tries to intervene saying it is not a good idea, but without even listening to him the third brahmins scoff at him for interrupting and others support it.

The fourth brahmin realizes that they will not listen to him and climbs up a tree to hide.

As soon as the lion gets back to life, reflecting its nature it attacks the brahmins and eats them. The fourth brahmin waits for the right time and when he feels the area is safe, he runs back to the village.

Moral: Never consider anyone beneath you and listen to everyone with equal respect.

Turtle And Swan

A pair of swans became friends with a turtle. They used to tell him all kinds of stories from their travels. The turtle loved his voice and used to talk a lot.

Once, drought hit the area, and the lake turtle used to live in started drying. Animals were dying and swans were worried about the turtle. They were trying to come up with a plan.

One day they found another lake 50 km away. The turtle was dubious as to how he would walk that far. The swans came up with an idea. They held both the ends of the sticks with their beaks and instructed the turtle to grab the center with his mouth tightly.

Before flying they warned the turtle against speaking when in the air. They were passing a town and all the people got shocked at the unique view. Everyone was out on the roads or the roofs looking at them. The turtle looked at so many people gawking and couldn’t hold himself. He blurted “look at all these people”. He fell and had a bone-shattering death.

Moral: Take a look at the situation and the occasion and then open the mouth.

Read: Rabbit and Turtle story

The Jackal and The Dhol

Once after a long war, the winning king ca

Panchatantra Stories In English