 A Living Portrait of India |
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| Hitopadesha and Panchatantra |
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Sanskrit
Panchatantra is a collection of fables with five (pancha) main tenets(tantra). It is in prose, with occasional verses, especially for maxims or morals. The prose is lucid but not artistic. It begins by saying that the King Amarshakti of Mahilaropya in South India had four mischievous sons badly in need of being disciplined. The king put them in charge of Pandit Vishnusharma, who taught them all about politics, administration and morals through a series of stories or fables. The stories are so constructed that one leads to another but the unity of theme is never lost. It is a novel educational experiment, and one that had worked well with the four naughty princes. Animals with all sorts of human traits, situations that remain relevant to date, and its overall vitality have kept the Panchatantra popular even today. Hitopadesha (Good Advice) is an independent version of Panchatantra for books of a more elegant style than the Panchatantra. This simple recast of the Panchatantra is most popular among the beginners in Sanskrit. |
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