Nitin Pai, co-founder and director of the Takshashila Institution – a leading, Bengaluru-based think tank, held the audience spell-bound by narrating life’s truths through animal stories.
Pai was discussing his latest book, “The Nitopadesha: Moral Tales for Good Citizens” with Dr Pushkar, director of the International Centre Goa (ICG) at the ICG on Saturday, as a part of “Kitaab: Books in Discussion” programme.
The Nitopadesha consists of around 30 animal stories which are translated from the Tocharian script and seem to date back to the second century according to Bibek Debroy, who has written the ‘Foreword’.
The book discussion centred around three stories – ‘The Mongoose who was wise and just’, ‘How the cat and the hen set their house on fire’ and ‘The Crane and her employees’. These stories covered a wide variety of themes that are timeless – how power corrupts if left unchecked; the importance of criticism for freedom, happiness and prosperity; how equality among all promotes prosperity and how the notions of superiority among some, leads to conflict; and how bad laws destroy the moral moorings of society.
Earlier, acknowledging the large presence of women students in the audience, Pai noted that many of the lead characters in the stories were women and how that was important for India.
