The Duel of the Giants

King Jewel-plume the Peacock had won a battle and captured his enemy’s fort. His wise minister, the Vulture Far-sight, advised him to make peace and go home before the rainy season. “War is uncertain, my lord,” he said. “It can ruin the winner as well as the loser. Think of the giants Sunda and Upasunda.” And he told this story.

Long ago there were two Daityas, or giants, called Sunda and Upasunda. They prayed and fasted and did hard penance to honour the great god who wears the moon as a jewel on his forehead, hoping to win his favour and become lords of the Three Worlds.

At last the god was pleased with their devotion. “I will grant you a wish,” he said. “Choose what it shall be.”

They had meant to ask for power over everything. But Saraswati, the goddess who rules people’s hearts and thoughts, put a forbidden wish into their minds instead.

“If you are pleased with us,” they said, “give us your own beloved Parvati, the Queen of Heaven!”

The god was terribly angry. But he had given his word, and the wish had to be granted, so the divine Parvati was handed over to them.

Then the two giants, blinded by wrongdoing and dazzled by Parvati’s glorious beauty, began to quarrel. “She is mine!” “No, she is mine!” At last they called for someone to settle the matter, and the god himself appeared before them, disguised as an old Brahman.

“Master,” they said, “tell us whose she is, for we both won her by our strength.”

The Brahman answered, “Brahmans are honoured for their learning, Kshattriyas for their courage, merchants for their hard-earned wealth and labourers for their humility. You are Kshattriyas, warriors. It is your place to fight. Settle the question with your swords.”

The giants agreed that this was wise advice. They drew their swords and fought, and because they were exactly as strong as each other, each struck the other down at the very same moment, and both of them fell.

“So you see, my lord,” said the Vulture, “peace is better than war.”

Where this story comes from

In the Hitopadesa this tale is told in the third part, “War,” by the Vulture, chief minister of King Jewel-plume the Peacock, who wants his king to make peace with the Swan King Silver-sides. Sir Edwin Arnold translated it from the Sanskrit for his Book of Good Counsels.

The god in the story is described only as the one who wears the moon on his forehead, and Arnold names his queen as Parvati. The giants’ end is told as briefly here as in the original, where they fall at the same moment by an exchange of blows.

Read the original: Sir Edwin Arnold, The Book of Good Counsels from the Hitopadesa (Project Gutenberg #13268, The Duel of the Giants)

Reading guidance: Ages 9–12 with adult guidance; includes a woman treated as a contested possession, caste-based advice and a duel in which both opponents die.

A closer reading

The giants begin with a shared ambition, but a wish they cannot both possess turns partners into rivals. The disguised judge makes their social identity into a reason to fight, and they accept that instruction without examining whose interests it serves.

Parvati is treated as a prize in the dispute and is given no speaking role here. Readers can question that framing without changing the tale: a person is not property to be awarded to the stronger claimant. Likewise, the caste-based list is a character’s historical rhetoric, not a rule about what any group should do. The minister uses the double death to warn that apparent victory can destroy both sides.

Try this with the story

Track the giants’ goal before the wish, after it and during the judgment. Then rewrite the judge’s answer around the principle that a person cannot be assigned as a prize. Compare how that would change the conflict.

Think about it

• What turns the giants from partners into opponents?
• Whose voice is missing from the ownership dispute?
• Why does the minister choose a story where neither fighter wins?

More stories like this

• The Story of the Faithful Rajpoot — another tale from the war of the birds in the Hitopadesa
• The Story of the Brahman and the Goat — another Hitopadesa tale from the same part of the book
• The Story of the Tortoise and the Geese — another Hitopadesa fable about not listening to wise advice