Spare the rod and Spoil the child

Spare the rod and Spoil the child - An Indian Perspective

Maha-Nirvana-Tantra :

चतुर्वर्षावधि सुताँल्लालयेत् पालयेत् पिता।
ततः षोडशपर्यन्तं गुणान् विद्यां च शिक्षयेत्॥

लालयेत् पञ्च वर्षाणि दश वर्षाणि ताडयेत् / प्राप्ते तु षोडशे वर्षे पुत्रं मित्रवदाचरेत्

"Indulge our children upto the age of five years, teach them to be disciplined between five to fifteen years, and beyond sixteen years we should treat them as a friend."

Many descriptions even in the internet about the above verse impresses the word 'Taadayet' to mean discipline by the stick. Something that seems to have come as 'parampara' from "Spare the Rod and Spoil the Child" hypothesis.

If we avoid & keep aside those kind of interpretations, and try to find the real meaning of the word 'Taadayet', we may like to understand as below.

The Dhyaana Shlokam of Bhagawad Gita has the mention of this word 'tata':
भीष्मद्रोणतटा जयद्रथजला गान्धारनीलोपला
शल्यग्राहवती कृपेण वहनी कर्णेन वेलाकुला।
अश्वत्थामविकर्णघोरमकरा दुर्योधनावर्तिनी
सोत्तीर्णा खलु पान्डवै रणनदी कैवर्तकः केशवः॥६॥

"Bhishma Drona tataa Jayadratha jala Gandhara Nilotpala
Salya Grahavati krpena vahant karnena velakula
Asvathama Vikarna ghora makara Duryodhanavartini
Sottirna khalu Pandavai Rana nadi Kaivartakah Kesavah.

The battle (river) whose banks were Bhishma and Drona, whose water was Jayadratha, whose blue-lily was the King Gandhara, whose crocodile was Salya, whose current was Kripa, whose billow was Karna, whose terrible alligators were Asvatthama & Vikarna, whose whirlpool was Duryodhana - even such was crossed over by the Pandavas, with Kesava as the ferry man".

It describes Bhishma and Drona of the Mahabharata epic, as the 'tata' or bank of the waters.

The word 'Tada' may have come from the word 'Tata' meaning bank/embankment or bund. (Perhaps that sounds more appropriate.) For a fish swimming in the river, the bunds create obstacles inorder to direct/re-direct, prompting it, sometimes to flow over and sometimes to adopt diversions. Therefore it educates the little one about the nuances of proper learning and living. The bunds are also obstacles purposefully created so that the young one overcomes it, finding ways genuine to its intellect. Therefore, the word 'Taadayet', may not have a negative significance at all as many pandits believe it to be; rather may have a purely positive meaning, enough to prove that the "rod is not at all required, but only the bund".

One could imagine a small tiger cub being caressed by its mother until a few days later, when it starts fighting with its fellows, helping itself experience and gain that knowledge about living. While the elder looks on and occasionally moves its paws to create obstacles when straying away. That is perhaps the real meaning of 'Taadayet' is my opinion.

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