An illustration from a Syrian edition dated 1354.

The rabbit fools the elephant king by showing him the reflection of the moon. The Panchatantra (IAST: Pacatantra, Sanskrit: , 'Five Principles') is an ancient Indian collection of animal fables in verse and prose, in a frame story format. The original Sanskrit work, which some scholars believe was composed in the 3rd century BCE, is attributed to Vishnu Sharma. However, it is based on older oral traditions, including "animal fables that are as old as we are able to imagine". It is "certainly the most frequently translated literary product of India", and these stories are among the most widely known in the world. There are recorded over two hundred different versions known to exist in more than fifty languages, and three-fourths of these languages are extraIndian. As early as the eleventh century this work reached Europe, and before 1600 it existed in Greek, Latin, Spanish, Italian, German, English, Old Slavonic, Czech, and perhaps other Slavonic languages. Its range has extended from Java to Iceland [In India,] it has been worked over and over again, expanded, abstracted, turned into verse, retold in prose, translated into medieval and modern vernaculars, and retranslated into Sanskrit. And most of the stories contained in it have "gone down" into the folklore of the story-loving Hindus, whence they reappear in the collections of oral tales gathered by modern students of folk-stories. Thus it goes by many names in many cultures. In India itself, it had at least 25 recensions, including the Sanskrit Tantrkhyyik (Sanskrit: ) and inspired the Hitopadesha. It was translated into Pahlavi in 570 CE by Borzya. 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 Kallah wa Dimnah (Arabic: .) A Persian version from the 12th century became known as Kalila and Dimna (Persian: .) Other names include Kalleh o Demneh or Anvr-e Soheyl (Persian: ' ,The Lights of Canopus') or The Fables of Bidpai (or Pilpai, in

various European languages) or The Morall Philosophie of Doni (English, 1570). The Panchatantra is an inter-woven series of colourful fables, many of which involve animals exhibiting animal stereotypes.[13] According to its own narrative, it illustrates, for the benefit of three ignorant princes, the central Hindu principles of nti.[14] While nti is hard to translate, it roughly means prudent worldly conduct, or "the wise conduct of life". Apart from a short introduction in which the author, Vishnu Sarma, is introduced as narrating the rest of the work to the princes it consists of five parts. Each part contains a main story, called the frame story, which in turn contains several stories "emboxed" in it, as one character narrates a story to another. Often these stories contain further emboxed stories.[16] The stories thus operate like a succession of Russian dolls, one narrative opening within another, sometimes three or four deep. Besides the stories, the characters also quote various epigrammatic verses to make their point.[17] The five books are called: Mitra-bheda: The Separation of Friends (The Lion and the Bull) Mitra-lbha or Mitra-samprpti: The Gaining of Friends (The Dove, Crow, Mouse, Tortoise and Deer) Kkolkyam: Of Crows and Owls (War and Peace) Labdhapraam: Loss Of Gains (The Monkey and the Crocodile) Aparkitakraka: Ill-Considered Action / Rash deeds (The Brahman and the Mongoose) Indian version Mitra-bheda, The Separation of Friends In the first book, a friendship arises between the lion Pigalaka, the king of the forest, and Savaka, a bull. Karataka ('Horribly Howling') j and Damanaka ('Victor') are two jackals that are retainers to the lion king. Damanaka, against Karataka's advice, breaks the friendship between the lion and the bull, out of jealousy. It contains around thirty stories, mostly told by the two jackals, and is the longest of the five books, making up roughly 45% of the work's length.[18] Mitra-samprpti, The Gaining of Friends It tells of the story of the crow who upon seeing the favour the rat performed to free the dove (or pigeon) and her companions, decides to befriend the rat despite the rat's initial objections. The storyline evolves as this friendship grows to include the turtle and the fawn.

They collaborate to save the fawn when he is trapped, and later they work together to save the turtle, who herself, falls in the trap. This makes up about 22% of the total length. A page from the Arabic version of Kalila wa dimna dated 1210 CE illustrating the King of the Crows conferring with his political advisors. From a Syrian painting. The owls are later burned to death. Kkolkyam, Of Crows and Owls It deals with a war between crows and owls. One of the crows pretends to be an outcast from his own group to gain entry into the rival owl group, and by doing so gains access to their secrets and learns of their vulnerabilities. He later summons his group of crows to set fire on all entrances to the cave where the owls live and suffocate them to death. This is about 26% of the total length.[18] Labdhapraam, Loss Of Gains It deals with the artificially-constructed symbiotic relationship between the monkey and the crocodile. The crocodile risks the relationship by conspiring to acquire the heart of the monkey to heal his wife; the monkey finds out about this and avoids this grim fate. Aparkitakraka, Hasty Action Main article: The Brahmin and the Mongoose A Brahman leaves his child with a mongoose friend of his, and upon returning and finding blood on the mongoose's mouth, he kills it. He later finds out that the mongoose actually defended his child from a snake. For more than two and a half millennia, the Panchatantra tales have regaled children and adults alike with a moral at the end of every story. Some believe that they are as old as the Rig Veda. There is also another story about these fables. According to it, these are stories Shiva told his consort Parvati. The present series is based on the Sanskrit original. A king, worried that his three sons are without the wisdom to live in a world of wile and guile, asks a learned man called Vishnu Sharman to teach them the ways of the world. Since his wards are dimwits, Vishnu Sharman decides to pass on wisdom to them in the form of stories. In these stories, he makes animals speak like human beings. Panchatantra is a collection of attractively told stories about the five ways that help the human being succeed in life. Pancha means five and tantra means ways or strategies or principles. Addressed to the king's children, the stories are primarily about statecraft and are popular throughout the world.

The five strategies are: Discord among friends Gaining friends Of crows and owls Loss of gains Imprudence The stories have been translated into nearly every language in the world that has a script. The story form appeals to children while the wisdom in them attracts adults. The Panchatantra collection represents the earliest folk tale form in the world of literature. There are several versions of Panchatantra tales in circulation in the world but the one that is popular in India is the Sanskrit original of Vishnu Sharman. Very soon, Hamarashehar.Com will bring to netizens the oldest collection of tales in the world as told by an 80-year-old teacher to his royal wards. The translation seeks to be as close to the Sanskrit original as possible in spirit. The stories will appear in five sections, each representing a strategy for getting over problems in life. They are of interest not just for the ruling class but also for every person. They are all about survival in a complicated world and the several ways to get over problems. The stories based as they are on human nature have an eternal relevance. The series begins with a parent story that unfolds story after story; each strung to the other by a narrator. Now, it is your turn to enjoy these stories as immortal and fragrant as the soil of India. "One Vishnusharman, shrewdly gleaning All worldly wisdom's inner meaning, In these five books the charm compresses Of all such books the world possesses." - Opening Verse, Panchatantra Vishnu Sarma is credited to be the author of Panchatantra. He was a Sanskrit scholar living somewhere in India. He composed the Panchatantra to teach political science to his royal young disciples.

According to the legend in story itself, Amarashakti, King of Mahilaropya in southern India, had three dull-headed young sons. After much deliberation, the King decided to hand over the three princes to Vishnu Sharma for 'awakening their intelligence'. Vishnu Sarma was already 80 years old but was known to be a savant in all the shastras and the theory of politics and diplomacy. The king called Vishnu Sharma and declared that if he is able to make his sons into able administrators, he would gift him a hundred villages and gold without bound. Vishnu Sharma politely refused the gifts but said that he would train the princes within six months, or change his name. Vishnu Sharma soon realized that it was more difficult than he had thought to teach his new dull-headed students through conventional means, and there was a need of a creative way of teaching. Therefore he composed many captivating & charming animal stories, each with a lesson, and tied them in 5 parts, called "tantras." The five parts (tantras) are titled in Sanskrit as Mitrabhed, Mitrasamprapti, Sandhi, Vigraham and Apareekshitkarakam. They are five principles or strategic themes one needs to keep in view for intelligent living. The English equivalents are: Part-1: The Loss of Friends Part-2: The Winning of Friends Part-3: Crows & Owls (Peace & War) Part-4: Loss of Gains Part-5: Ill-Considered Action After listening and understanding these stories, the three princes became highly knowledgeable in politics and able administrators. The first line of Panchatantra says that the stories compress the worldly wisdom contained in all books in the world. We do not know with certainty when Vishnu Sharma lived. In any case he lived more than 1400 years ago because in c. 570 AD, his book was translated in Persian language of ancient Iran.

Indian legends deal with the popular short stories which concern people, places and events. Indian legends include stories from the Jataka tales, Hitopadesha and the Panchatantra. Indian legends are a large body of folklore, traditional stories and fables which are very popular among people. Noteworthy collections of Indian traditional stories include the Panchatantra, a collection of traditional narratives made by Vishnu Sharma in the second century BC. The Hitopadesha of Narayana is a collection of anthropomorphic fabliaux, animal fables, in Sanskrit, compiled in the ninth century. The Jataka tales also forms an important part of the Indian legends. The folktales are in fact a symbolic way of presenting the diverse means by which human beings deal with the world in which they live. These short stories concern people, either royalty or common folk or animals who speak and act like people. The Jataka tales were written in 300 B.C, for mankind to gain knowledge and ethics. The luminous fables of `Jataka` are intended to convey values of self-sacrifice, morality, honesty and other informative values to people. Jataka stories symbolise previous incarnations of Lord Buddha, at times like an animal, a bird and sometimes like a human being, the future Siddhartha Gautama. The setting of the stories is made in or near Benaras (Varanasi), which is a holy city in north central India. Each story in the Jataka tales comes with a moral, for example, the story of the golden swan instructs that greed brings nothing and people should be content with what they have. The Talkative tortoise is another interesting story from the Jataka tales which preaches against the pitfalls of talking too much. The tale of the Penny Wise monkey explains the importance to value things that one have. Other stories from the album of Jataka Tales are Cunning Wolf, Wind and Moon and Power of a Rumour. The Hitopadesha is a noteworthy compilation of short stories. It was composed by Narayana Pandit. In Indian literature Hitopadesha is regarded more or less analogous to the Panchatantra. The word `Hitopadesha` means `Hita` (welfare) and `Upadesha` (advice). As the term suggests, the Hitopadesha is a compilation of tales that advocate and advice for the welfare and benefit of everyone.

Conveying morals and information, Hitopadesha is one among the most extensively read Sanskrit language book in India. The tales from Hitopadesha comes with a moral for instance the story of the Elephant and the Jackal teaches that every despot has to meet his doom. The story of the Donkey and the Dog instructs one to mind his own business. The interesting story of Old Tiger and Traveller preaches against the dangers of greed and that greed never goes unpunished. The story of the Rabbits and the Elephants depicts the triumph of wit over might. Thus Hitopadesha can be deemed as a moral guide for the readers. The Panchatantra is a legendary anthology of Indian short stories. It was composed in the 2nd century B.C, and is believed to be written by Vishnu Sharma along with many other scholars. The idea behind the work was to instill moral values among the readers. The grand assortment has extraordinary tales that are liked and loved by people of every age group. The Panchatantra is the best guide to implant moral values in children since its each tale has a moral lesson in its end. The etymology of the word `Panchatantra` is an amalgamation of two words, `Pancha` (five) and `Tantra` (principle). So, the five principles or practices demonstrated by Panchatantra are `Mitra Bhedha` (Loss of Friends), `Mitra Laabha` (Gaining Friends), `Suhrudbheda` (Causing conflict between Friends), `Vigraha` (Separation) and `Sandhi` (Union). The stories of Panchatantra are quite interesting. The story of the Blue Jackal depicts that the one who abandons one`s own folk would perish. Monkey and the Crocodile, Hunter and Doves, Heron and the Crab and the Foolish Lion Clever Rabbits are some of the popular stories from the album of Panchatantra. Numerous written compilations of Indian folk tales have been in existence for more than a thousand years. Apart from the Jataka tales, Hitopadesha and Panchatantra there are also several stories which are very popular in India. Stories of Tenali Raman and Birbal are quite fascinating. Kathasaritsagara is another famous 11th century collection of Indian legends, fairy tales and folk tales. Panchatantra is an environment fashioned for children to discover the roots that bind them to their Indian heritage. With the passage of time, borders have shrunk: we all inhabit the global village. In the

midst of such rampant globalisation, a need to cherish our traditions and strive to maintain a sense of balance in life has arisen. The Panchatantra team thus strives to educate its young learners to think like global citizens whilst keeping in touch with their own culture. Panchatantra, encourages children to connect to the elements of nature. For this reason we have devised 5 house teamsAgni (Fire) Prithvi (Earth) Vayu (Wind) Jal (Water) Akash (Sky) Panchatantra Panchatantra is the oldest work available in its original form. On the basis of internal and external clues its time can be fixed as 300 BC. It has been largely influenced by the Arthashastra of Kautilya. Vishnusharma is the author of Panchatantra. It was written by him to instruct the three dull Princes of King amarkirti of Mahilaranya. As the name itself denotes Panchatantra is divided into five chapters Tantra. Tantra means the secrets. Five secrets of good administration, kingship and worldly wisdom have been expounded with the help of the animal fables. There is a quaint humour in these fables because the animals are made to discuss dharma, gods, myths, legends, politics, economics, ethics etc. These five tantras are Mitrabheda (separation of friends), Mitrasamprapti (union of friends), Kokolukiya (peace and war), Labdhapranasha (loss of what is gained). And aparikshitkarakam (doing things without pre-examination). Each division of Panchatantra has its main story but many others have been interwoven to prove the main one. The whole story of Panchatantra is in prose but the moral of the story has been given in the form of verses. The language of Panchatantra is very easy and simple. The sentences are very small and easy to understand. The figures of

speech used are Anuprasa, Upama, Rupaka, Utpreksha etc. The truth of life given here is true for all places and for all times. The Panchatantra is very popular not only in India but in other countries also as is evident from its 250 editions written in about fifty languages in and outside India. Hitopadesha The most important of all the editions of the Panchatantra is Hitopadesha. It is full of good advice imparted through stories. It has been written by Narayan Pandit in about 1400 AD. under the patronage of King Dhawalchandra of Bengal. The poet himself has accepted that Hitopdesha is based on Panchatantra. Panchatantra has five Tantras but Hitopdesha has only four Mitralabha (wining of friends), suhridbheda (loss of friends), vigraha (war) and sandhi (peace). Here the order of the first two chapters has been reversed and third chapter of Panchatantra has been divided into two and in these two chapters the contents of the Vth chapter have been inserted. Out of forty three stories in Hitopadesha twenty five have been drawn from Panchatantra. Hitopadesha is a manual of politics for Kings in internal and foreign policy. It has many portions which are an embodiment of deep rooted political knowledge. Here the influence of Kamandakas Nitisara is evident. The language of Hitopadesha is simple end easy flowing without any embellishment yet it is forceful and effective. Hitopadesha has been much more popular in India and Europe and has been translated in many Indian and foreign languages.