The Panchatantra (Five Treatises) is an ancient Indian collection of stories that most Indians grew up with. These are interrelated animal fables in Sanskrit verse and prose (now translated into almost every major language), arranged within a frame story.
The Panchatantra was written at least 2200 years ago – with a possible oral history beyond that – by Vishnu Sharma which could very well be a pen name. The book is full of fascinating tales filled with anthropomorphised animals that are giving some profound life lessons at every step. What a delight for a curious child’s mind! What makes it even more exciting is the fact that as you unfold one story, there arrives a new one within it and you find a succession of stories that are woven perfectly.
However, there is another side to Panchatantra stories that many people are not aware of. Which is their immense reach through translations, narrations, retellings and distortions over centuries. In almost every part of the world, these stories have been read or heard with its own regional flavour.
The earliest known translation of Panchatantra into a non-Indian language is in Middle Persian (Pahlavi, 550 CE) by Burzoe. This became the basis for a Syriac translation as Kalilag and Damnag and a translation into Arabic in 750 CE by Persian scholar Abdullah Ibn al-Muqaffa as Kalīlah wa Dimnah. A New Persian version by Rudaki, from the 3rd century Hijri, became known as Kalīleh o Demneh. Rendered in prose by Abu’l-Ma’ali Nasrallah 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 Tantrai.
It’s another indication how stories connect us and they have been doing so when we did not have other means. So, it might just be a good time to pick up this ancient collection of stories and give it a read, if you haven’t already.
Kalampedia 