India, Dec. 11 -- By Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik - Author, Speaker, Illustrator, Mythologist

Vidur-niti is a set of about 600 verses, split into eight chapters, found in the Udyoga Parva of the Hindu epic, Mahabharata. It is counsel of Vidur to King Dhritarashtra, whose sons, the Kauravas are in the midst of negotiations with their cousins the Pandavas to avert a war that will destroy the illustrious Kuru clan.

It is quite clear that the Pandavas will defeat the Kauravas and Dhritarashtra will see extreme suffering in the end. But Dhritarashtra is unable to bring himself to stop his son so asks for Vidur's counsel.

In common parlance, Vidur-niti is a phrase applied to wise spiritual counsel given to a tyrant by one who manages to maintain fr...