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The Panchatantra is an ancient indian collection of interrelated animal fables in sanskrit verse and prose , some 87 stories all, arranged with in a frame story format.
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PANCHATANTRA STORIES NAVEEN BABU pjnaveenbabu777@gmail.com©
Author • The prelude section of the Panchatantra identifies anoctogenarian Brahmin named Vishnusharma As its authoR. • He is stated to be teaching the principles of good government to three princes of Amarasakti. • It is unclear, states Patrick Olivelle, a professor of Sanskrit and Indian religions, if Vishnusharma was a real person or himself a literary invention. • Some South Indian recensions of the text, as well as Southeast Asian versions of Panchatantra attribute the text to Vasubhaga, states Olivelle. • Both of which may be pen names. • most scholars agree that Vishnusharma is a fictitious name. • scholars state that regardless of who the author was, it is likely "the author was a Hindu, and not a Buddhist, nor Jain", but it is unlikely that the author was a devotee of Hindu god Vishnu because the text neither expresses any sentiments against other Hindu deities such as Shiva, Indra and others, nor does it avoid invoking them with reverence.
Panchatantra • The Panchatantra (पञ्चतन्त्र, “Five Treatises”) is an ancient Indian collection of interrelated animal fables in Sanskrit verse and prose (some 87 stories in all), arranged within a frame story format. • Various locations where the text was composed have been proposed but this has been controversial. Some of the proposed locations include Kashmir, Southwestern or South India. The text’s original language was Sanskrit. Though the text is now known as Panchatantra, the title found in old manuscript versions varies regionally, and includes names such as Tantrakhyayika, Panchakhyanaka, Panchakhyana and Tantropakhyana. The suffix akhyayika and akhyanaka mean “little story” or “little story book” in Sanskrit. The text was translated into Pahlavi in 550 CE, which forms the latest limit of the text’s existence. The earliest limit is uncertain. It quotes identical verses from ArthasastRa. The exact period of the composition of PANCHATANTRA is uncertain, and estimates vary from 1200 BCE to 300 CE. Which is broadly accepted to have been completed by the early centuries of the common era
Panchatantra • According to Olivelle, “the current scholarly consensus places the Panchatantra around 300 CE, although we should remind ourselves that this is only an educated guess”.The text quotes from older genre of Indian literature, and legends with anthropomorphic animals are found in more ancient texts dated to the early centuries of the 1st millennium BCE such as the chapter 4.1 of the Chandogya Upanishad. According to Gillian Adams, Panchatantra may be a product of the Vedic period, but its age cannot be ascertained with confidence because “the original Sanskrit version has been lost”. The surviving work is dated to roughly 200 BCE – 300 CE, based on older oral tradition. The Panchatantra is a series of inter-woven fables, many of which deploy metaphors of anthropomorphized animals with human virtues and vices. Its narrative illustrates, for the benefit of three ignorant princes, the central Hindu principles of nīti. While nīti is hard to translate, it roughly means prudent worldly conduct, or “the wise conduct of life”. Apart from a short introduction, it consists of five parts. Each part contains a main story, called the frame story, which in turn contains several embedded stories, as one character narrates a story to another. Often these stories contain further embedded stories. One narrative opening within another, sometimes three or four deep. Besides the stories, the characters also quote various epigrammatic verses to make their point.
Origins and function • According to the legend, Amarashakti, King of Mahilaropya in southern India, had three young sons named Bahushakti, Ugrashakti and Anantashakti; all of whom were very lazy and silly. The king despaired of his three princes’ inability to learn.The King had grown old and would always be worried thinking about who would be his successor and rule his kingdom after his death. While thinking about his sons, he would be constantly reminded of the following saying : • “Among unborn, dead and foolish sons, the dead and unborn children are better, because the grief caused due to them is comparatively less. The foolish child always tortures the mind.” • After much thought, the King decided to hand over the three princes to Vishnu Sharma for ‘;awakening their intelligence’. Vishnu Sharma was already 80 years old but was known to be a scholar in all the shastras and the theory of politics and diplomacy.he promised the King that in 6 months, he would make his sons wise and mature and make them so capable that they could even win the King of Gods, Indra. • Vishnu Sharma knew that he could never instruct these three students through conventional methods. He had to employ a less orthodox way, and that was to tell a succession of animal fables.
Origins and function • After 6 months, when the three boys returned, the King could not believe his eyes. In 6 months, they had become wise and knowledgeable. Instead of just giving knowledge to the Princes, Vishnu Sharma had also taught them how and when to use that knowledge. All this he did by telling the boys various stories about animals and birds. And composed them into an entertaining five-part work to communicate the essence of diplomacy, relationships, politics and administration to the princes. These five discourses, became the Panchatantra, meaning the five (pancha) treatises (tantra),that had been told for thousands of years in India Vishnu Sharma says,“A man who has studied this Neeti Shaastra or listened to its principles will never be defeated not even by Indra the lord of the Heaven.” • The Indian tradition, The Panchatantra is a nītiśāstra. Nīti can be roughly translated as “the wise conduct of life” and a śāstra is a technical or scientific treatise; thus it is considered a treatise on political science and human conduct. Its literary sources are “the expert tradition of political science and the folk and literary traditions of storytelling”. It draws from the Dharma and Artha śāstras, quoting them extensively.
Origins and function • It is also explained that nīti “represents an admirable attempt to answer the insistent question how to win the utmost possible joy from life in the world of men” and that nīti is “the harmonious development of the powers of man, a life in which security, prosperity, resolute action, friendship, and good learning are so combined to produce joy”. The Panchatantra shares many stories in common with the Buddhist Jataka tales, purportedly told by the historical Buddha before his death around 400 BCE. As the scholar Patrick Olivelle writes, “It is clear that the Buddhists did not invent the stories. It is quite uncertain whether the author of [the Panchatantra] borrowed his stories from the Jātakas or the Mahābhārata, or whether he was tapping into a common treasury of tales, both oral and literary, of ancient India “Many scholars believe the tales were based on earlier oral folk traditions, which were finally written down, although there is no conclusive evidence..
Book 1: Mitra-bheda (Dissonance Among Friends) • The first treatise features a jackal named Damanaka, as the unemployed minister in a kingdom ruled by a lion. He, along with his moralizing sidekick named Karataka, conspire to break up alliances and friendships of the lion king. • A series of fables describe the conspiracies and causes that lead to close and inseparable friends breaking up. • The Book 1 contains over thirty fables, • with the version Arthur Ryder translated containing 34: The Loss of Friends, The Wedge-Pulling Monkey, The Jackal and the War-Drum, Merchant Strong-Tooth, Godly and June, The Jackal at the Ram-Fight, The Weaver’s Wife, How the Crow-Hen Killed the Black Snake, The Heron that Liked Crab-Meat, Numskull and the Rabbit, The Weaver Who Loved a Princess, The Ungrateful Man, Leap and Creep, The Blue Jackal, Passion and the Owl, Ugly’s Trust Abused, The Lion and the Carpenter, The Plover Who Fought the Ocean, Shell-Neck Slim and Grim, Forethought Readywit and Fatalist, The Duel Between Elephant and Sparrow, The Shrewd Old Gander, The Lion and the Ram, Smart the Jackal, The Monk Who Left His Body Behind, The Girl Who Married a Snake, Poor Blossom, The Unteachable Monkey, Right-Mind and Wrong-Mind, A Remedy Worse than the Disease, The Mice That Ate Iron, The Results of Education, The Sensible Enemy, The Foolish Friend. • It is the longest of the five books, making up roughly 45% of the work’s length.
BOOK 2. Mitra-lābha /Samprāpti (Achievement of friend(s) (Advantages of friendship) • The second treatise is quite different in structure than the remaining books. • states Olivelle, as it does not truly embed fables. It is a collection of adventures of four characters: a crow (scavenger, not a predator, airborne habits), a mouse (tiny, underground habits), a turtle (slow, water habits) and a deer (a grazing animal viewed by other animals as prey, land habits). • The overall focus of the book is the reverse of the first book. • Its theme is to emphasize the importance of friendships, team work, and alliances. • It teaches, “weak animals with very different skills, working together can accomplish what they cannot when they work alone”, according to Olivelle.[38] United through their cooperation and in their mutual support. • the fables describe how they are able to outwit all external threats and prosper. • The second book contains ten fables: The Winning of Friends, The Bharunda Birds, Gold's Gloom, Mother Shandilee's Bargain, Self-defeating Forethought, Mister Duly, Soft, the Weaver, Hang-Ball and Greedy, The Mice That Set Elephant Free, Spot's Captivity. • Book 2 makes up about 22% of the total length.
Book 3: Kākolūkīyam (The story of Crows and Owls) • The third treatise discusses war and peace. • presenting through animal characters a moral about the battle of wits being a strategic means to neutralize a vastly superior opponent’s army. • The thesis in this treatise is that a battle of wits is a more potent force than a battle of swords. • The choice of animals embeds a metaphor of a war between good versus evil, and light versus darkness. • Crows are good, weaker and smaller in number and are creatures of the day (light), while owls are presented as evil, numerous and stronger creatures of the night (darkness). • The crow king listens to the witty and wise counsel of Ciramjivin, while the owl king ignores the counsel of Raktaksa. The good crows win. The fables in the third book, as well as others, do not strictly limit to matters of war and peace. Some present fables that demonstrate how different characters have different needs and motives, which is subjectively rational from each character’s viewpoint, and that addressing these needs can empower peaceful relationships even if they start off in a different way.
Book 3: Kākolūkīyam (The story of Crows and Owls) • For example, in the fable The Old Man the Young Wife, the text relates a story wherein an old man marries a young woman from a penniless family. The young woman detests his appearance so much that she refuses to even look at him let alone consummate their marriage.One night, while she sleeps in the same bed with her back facing the old man, a thief enters their house. She is scared, turns over, and for security embraces the man. This thrills every limb of the old man. He feels grateful to the thief for making his young wife hold him at last. The aged man rises and profusely thanks the thief, requesting the intruder to take whatever he desires. The third book contains eighteen fables in Ryder translation: Crows and Owls, How the Birds Picked a King, How the Rabbit Fooled the Elephant, The Cat’s Judgment, The Brahmin’s Goat, The Snake and the Ants, The Snake Who Paid Cash, The Unsocial Swans, The Self-sacrificing Dove, The Old Man with the Young Wife, The Brahmin, the Thief and the Ghost, The Snake in the Prince’s Belly, The Gullible Carpenter, Mouse-Maid Made Mouse, The Bird with Golden Dung, The Cave That Talked, The Frog That Rode Snakeback, The Butter-blinded Brahmin.
Book 4: Labdhapraṇāśam (Loss of what (desired) was attained) • The book four of the Panchatantra is a simpler compilation of ancient moral-filled fables. • states Olivelle, teach messages such as “a bird in hand is worth two in the bush”. • They caution the reader to avoid succumbing to peer pressure and cunning intent wrapped in soothing words. • The book is different from the first three, in that the earlier books give positive examples of ethical behavior offering examples and actions “to do”. In contrast, book four presents negative examples with consequences, offering examples and actions “to avoid, to watch out for”. The fourth book contains thirteen fables in Ryder translation: • Loss of Gains, The Monkey and the Crocodile, Handsome and Theodore, Flop-Ear and Dusty, The Potter Militant, The Jackal Who Killed No Elephants, The Ungrateful Wife, King Joy and Secretary Splendor, The Ass in the Tiger-Skin, The Farmer’s Wife, The Pert Hen-Sparrow, How Supersmart Ate the Elephant, The Dog Who Went Abroad. Book 4, along with Book 5, is very short. Together the last two books constitute about 7% of the total text.
BOOK 5. Aparīkṣitakārakaṃ (To do without pre-examination) • Book five of the text is, like book four. • a simpler compilation of moral-filled fables. • These also present negative examples with consequences, offering examples and actions for the reader to ponder, avoid, and watch out for. • The lessons in this last book include “get facts, be patient, don’t act in haste then regret later”, “don’t build castles in the air”.The book five is also unusual in that almost all its characters are humans, unlike the first four where the characters are predominantly anthropomorphized animals. • According to Olivelle, it may be that the text’s ancient author sought to bring the reader out of the fantasy world of talking and pondering animals into the realities of the human world.. The fifth book contains twelve fables about hasty actions or jumpingc to conclusions without establishing facts and proper due diligence.
BOOK 5. Aparīkṣitakārakaṃ (To do without pre-examination) • In Ryder translation, they are: Ill-considered Action, The Loyal Mongoose, The Four Treasure-Seekers, The Lion-Makers, Hundred-Wit Thousand-Wit and Single-Wit, The Musical Donkey, Slow the Weaver, The Brahman’s Dream, The Unforgiving Monkey, The Credulous Fiend, The Three-Breasted Princess, The Fiend Who Washed His Feet. One of the fables in this book is the story of a woman and a mongoose. She leaves her child with a mongoose friend. When she returns, she sees blood on the mongoose’s mouth, and kills the friend, believing the animal killed her child. The woman discovers her child alive, and learns that the blood on the mongoose mouth came from it biting the snake while defending her child from the snake’s attack. She regrets having killed the friend because of her hasty action.
Metaphors and layered meanings The Sanskrit version of the Panchatantra text gives names to the animal characters, but these names are creative with double meanings. The names connote the character observable in nature but also map a human personality that a reader can readily identify. For example, the deer characters are presented as a metaphor for the charming, innocent, peaceful and tranquil personality who is a target for those who seek a prey to exploit, while the crocodile is presented to symbolize dangerous intent hidden beneath a welcoming ambiance (waters of a lotus flower-laden pond). Dozens of different types of wildlife found in India are thus named, and they constitute an array of symbolic characters in the Panchatantra. Thus, the names of the animals evoke layered meaning that resonates with the reader, and the same story can be read at different levels.
translationS • Panchatantra is “certainly the most frequently translated literary product of India”. • The Panchatantra has over 200 versions in more than 50 languages. • The earliest known translation into a non-Indian language is in MiddlePersian (Pahlavi, 550 CE) by Burzoe. • This became the basis for a Syriac translation as Kalilag and Damnagand a translation into Arabic in 750 CE by Persian scholar AbdullahIbnal-Muqaffa as KalīlahwaDimnah. • A NewPersian version by Rudaki, from the 3rd century Hijri, became known as Kalīleh o Demneh. • Rendered in prose by Abu'l-Ma'aliNasrallah Monshi in 1143 CE, this was the basis of Kashefi's 15th-century Anvār-i Suhaylī (The Lights of Canopus),which in turn was translated into Humayun-namah in Turkish. • The book is also known as The Fables of Bidpai (or Pilpai in various European languages, Vidyapati in Sanskrit) or The Morall Philosophie of Doni (English, 1570). • Most European versions of the text are derivative works of the 12th-century Hebrew version of Panchatantra by Rabbi Joel. • In Germany, its translation in 1480 by Anton von Pforr has been widely read. • Several versions of the text are also found in Indonesia, where it is titled as Tantri Kamandaka, Tantravakya or Candapingala and consists of 360 fables. • IN Laos, a version is called Nandaka-prakarana, while in Thailand it has been referred to as Nang Tantra.
