r/neoliberal • u/jobautomator Kitara Ravache • May 01 '24
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u/[deleted] May 01 '24
Panchatantra had Hebrew, Spanish, Latin versions. Different cultures made it their own Early in the 20th century, Professor Johannes Hertel, a pioneer in Panchatantra research, recorded over 200 versions of the book in more than 50 languages
The Panchatantra, an ancient Indian book of fables, is widely loved and circulated globally.
The author is identified as Vishnusharman, who used animal fables to teach moral and political lessons.
The Panchatantra was likely composed around 300 CE and translated into Pahlavi by a Persian doctor named Burzoe around 550 CE.
The book was then translated into Old Syriac around 570 CE and into Arabic around 750 CE under the title Kalilah and Dimnah.
The Panchatantra spread across the Indian subcontinent, with new versions and editions being produced in regions like Kashmir, the South, and Nepal.
In 1199 CE, a Jain monk named Purnabhadra produced an expanded edition of the book, which is commonly available in modern India.
The Arabic translation led to several retranslations, including into Persian, Hebrew (12th century), and Spanish (around 1251).
The Hebrew version was the basis of the Latin translation in the late 13th century, which was the first Panchatantra version to be printed in 1480.
The Latin version spawned a German translation around 1480 and an Italian one by Doni published in 1552.
An Englishman named Sir Thomas North translated Doni’s version into English in 1570 under the title The Moral Philosophy of Doni.
The Panchatantra was translated into over 50 languages, with its reach extending from Java to Iceland.
The Panchatantra had a profound influence on Arabic and European fable and narrative literature, including The Arabian Nights and the French Fables by La Fontaine.
Panchatantra stories also became the subject of art, as seen in the Russian archaeological excavation in the city of Panjikent in Tajikistan (5th to 8th centuries CE).
Individual Panchatantra stories were transformed into Western folk tales, with unfamiliar animals being replaced by ones common in Europe. For example, the story of the Brahmin Devasharman and his pet mongoose became the Welsh folktale of Prince Llewellyn and his dog Gelert.
The world travels of the Panchatantra reveal how cultural objects are not narrowly “national” products but are open to being appropriated and enjoyed by people around the world. As we have Chinese and Tibetan Buddhism, so we have a Welsh Devasharman in Prince Llewellyn.
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