Religion

The Panchatantra

2023-09-24
Rohan Balthasar

“Knowledge is the true organ of sight, not the eyes” 

The Panchatantra of ancient India is a collection of fables, originally written in Sanskrit. It has five distinct sections, each of which is focused on a specific principle, and is believed to have been written by Vishnu Sharma around 300 bc. The claim is that this book based on the principles of Dharma is not based on Hinduism. Vishnu Sharma  was Hindu but nothing in this book indicates reverence to Vishnu. At the same time the Panchatantra is a part of Sanskrit literature whose influence on Hinduism and Buddhism cannot be denied. It is a product of the Hindu faith though is not a sacred book. Using a Google translator   “Vishnu Sharma” means  “The Joy of Vishnu” . The influence of the Panchatantra on world literature is quite profound.

The Panchatantra is a unique contribution of Ancient India to the world, particularly to the world literature, that has equally delighted the young and the old, educated and uneducated, rich and poor, high and low – for over two thousand years. It has triumphed over the greatest obstacles of language, custom and religion, and made an unparallel progress from its native land to all the civilized parts of the globe – as it continues to delight everyone to this very day.
 
Panchatantra has served as a source, directly or indirectly, for many works of modern literature, which can be traced to Geoffrey Chaucer, John Gower, Giovanni Boccaccio and even William Shakespeare’s works.
 

It is “certainly the most frequently translated literary product of India”, and these stories are among the most widely known in the world.  It goes by many names in many cultures. There is a version of Panchatantra in nearly every major language of India, and in addition there are 200 versions of the text in more than 50 languages around the world. One version reached Europe in the 11th century.  To quote Edgerton (1924)  

…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.

The story goes that a king named Sudarshan had three sons who were layabouts. The king, was intelligent and powerful, yet his sons  had no inclination or ability to learn anything. In fact, they were quite unimaginative, slow, and rather stupid. In desperation, the king turned to his counselors for advice. One of the ministers, Sumati, told the king that the things the princes needed to learn namely politics, diplomacy, and the science were difficult and would take a lifetime of hard study and dedication.

Sumati gave the suggestion that rather than having the princes learn scriptures and texts, it would be better to directly teach them the essential attributes conveyed by those scriptures and texts. Sumati said the most likely man to take on that task was Vishnu Sharma, an aged scholar.

The king wasted no time in inviting Vishnu to court and offered him a hundred land grants if he could turn the princes into learned scholars. Vishnu refused the gift, saying he did not sell knowledge and that he would take on the task and within six months make the princes wise as their father. Now, the method Vishnu devised was to gather and adapt ancient stories that had been told in India. He then created an interesting, entertaining work of five parts which he called the Five Principles and that became the Panchatantra which are composed in five volumes. There are fables within fables sometimes three or four stories deep. They are as follows

“Mitra-bheda: The Separation of Friends (The Lion and the Bull)”

“Mitra-labha or Mitra-samprapti: The Gaining of Friends (The Dove, Crow, Mouse, Tortoise, and Deer)”

“Kakolukiyam: Of Crows and Owls (War and Peace)”

“Labdhapranasam: Loss Of Gains (The Monkey and the Crocodile)”

“Apariksitakarakam: Ill-Considered Action/Rash Deeds (The Brahman and the Mongoose).

The Panchatantra is a treatise drawn from the older Arthrashastra written by the Hindu minister of the Mauryan court Kautilya and is seen as Hindu literature. Its influence on world literature is the influence of that faith as much as any icon or sacred literature

In 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

What say you?

808n5n.jpg
 
The Panchatantra

“Knowledge is the true organ of sight, not the eyes” 

 
The Panchatantra of ancient India is a collection of fables, originally written in Sanskrit. It has five distinct sections, each of which is focused on a specific principle, and is believed to have been written by Vishnu Sharma around 300 bc. The claim is that this book based on the principles of Dharma is not based on Hinduism. Vishnu Sharma  was Hindu but nothing in this book indicates reverence to Vishnu. At the same time the Panchatantra is a part of Sanskrit literature whose influence on Hinduism and Buddhism cannot be denied. It is a product of the Hindu faith though is not a sacred book. Using a Google translator   “Vishnu Sharma” means  “The Joy of Vishnu” . The influence of the Panchatantra on world literature is quite profound
 
The Panchatantra is a unique contribution of Ancient India to the world, particularly to the world literature, that has equally delighted the young and the old, educated and uneducated, rich and poor, high and low – for over two thousand years. It has triumphed over the greatest obstacles of language, custom and religion, and made an unparallel progress from its native land to all the civilized parts of the globe – as it continues to delight everyone to this very day.
 
Panchatantra has served as a source, directly or indirectly, for many works of modern literature, which can be traced to Geoffrey Chaucer, John Gower, Giovanni Boccaccio and even William Shakespeare’s works.
 

It is “certainly the most frequently translated literary product of India”, and these stories are among the most widely known in the world.  It goes by many names in many cultures. There is a version of Panchatantra in nearly every major language of India, and in addition there are 200 versions of the text in more than 50 languages around the world. One version reached Europe in the 11th century.  To quote Edgerton (1924)

…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.

 
The story goes that a king had three sons who were layabouts. The king, named Sudarshan, was intelligent and powerful, yet his sons  had no inclination or ability to learn anything. In fact, they were quite unimaginative, slow, and rather stupid. In desperation, the king turned to his counselors for advice. One of the ministers, Sumati, told the king that the things the princes needed to learn—namely politics, diplomacy, and the sciences—were difficult and would take a lifetime of hard study and dedication.

Sumati gave the suggestion that rather than having the princes learn scriptures and texts, it would be better to directly teach them the essential attributes conveyed by those scriptures and texts. Sumati said the most likely man to take on that task was Vishnu Sharma, an aged scholar.

The king wasted no time in inviting Vishnu to court and offered him a hundred land grants if he could turn the princes into learned scholars. Vishnu refused the gift, saying he did not sell knowledge and that he would take on the task and within six months make the princes wise as their father. Now, the method Vishnu devised was to gather and adapt ancient stories that had been told in India. He then created an interesting, entertaining work of five parts which he called the Five Principles and that became the Panchatantra which are composed in five volumes. There are fables within fables sometimes three or four stories deep. They are as follows

“Mitra-bheda: The Separation of Friends (The Lion and the Bull)”

“Mitra-labha or Mitra-samprapti: The Gaining of Friends (The Dove, Crow, Mouse, Tortoise, and Deer)”

“Kakolukiyam: Of Crows and Owls (War and Peace)”

“Labdhapranasam: Loss Of Gains (The Monkey and the Crocodile)”

“Apariksitakarakam: Ill-Considered Action/Rash Deeds (The Brahman and the Mongoose).

The Panchatantra is a treatise drawn from the older Arthrashastra written by the Hindu minister of the Mauryan court Kautilya and is seen as Hindu literature. Its influence on world literature is the influence of that faith and as much as any icon or sacred literature

In the Indian tradition, The Panchatantra is a nītiśāstra. Nīti can be roughly translated as “the wise conduct of life”[29] 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

What say you?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panchatantra

https://www.talesofpanchatantra.com/

https://sites.pitt.edu/~dash/panchatantra.html

https://www.behance.net/gallery/14775641/The-Panchatantra-The-Tree-of-Life

https://www.peepultree.world/livehistoryindia/story/living-culture/panchatantra-the-worlds-timeless-classic

Approved ~ Primus Pilus

Rohan Balthasar

Article URL : https://breakingnewsandreligion.online/category/religion/