In this paper, an argument is presented establishing the usage of storytelling & stories as a pedagogical tool in premodern India, with a focus on Panchatantra
Tarini Chandrashekhar is a trained engineer, with an MTech (IIIT-B in 2018), with a 2 year experience as a data-scientist at an enterprise-AI startup. 2020 onwards, she turned into a full-time freelance writer-humorist-lyricist-storyteller and educator. She is a trained Bharatanatyam dancer (with a Visharad), with a B1 in German (from Goethe Institute, Bangalore) and takes writing, storytelling, poetry, public speaking, debate, critical/creative thinking workshops for K-12 under the umbrella of AlakhNiranjan - Learning Through Stories, an oral storytelling initiative to revive the medium of Kathavachan. She has worked as a freelance Bharatanatyam educator at Neev Academy, Bangalore and Public Speaking Educator at Soft skills start-up - OpenHouse, Bangalore. She is playing the role of lyricist-researcher for AmolVani2.0 (with composer-singer-performer Kartik Raman) aimed at bringing back songs of festivals along with their Vedic history. She writes in English and Hindi, hosts events, conceptualises/directs corporate brand stories and campaigns. She is an independent researcher of Indian Knowledge Systems, focusing on Vaad Vidya, Tark Shastra, and Natyashastra, for the current scope of her workshops. Born a Tamilian in Kanpur, with ancestors from Banaras, Tanjore and Kerala - a product of a rich, composite culture, she is passionate about conversation/debate and storytelling as a method of learning, and wants to expand her work in bringing Indic Traditions of Storytelling and Conversational rigour to the present and future generations. Her work involves her experience with tech, art and humour and her brand is a mix of research, humour and storytelling across mediums.
