The Pancatantra ( Paperback)  | Released: 07 Jan 2005

The Pancatantra is one of the earliest books of fables and its influence can be seen in The Arabian Nights, The Decameron, The Canterbury Tales and most notably in The Fables of La Fontaine Tradition ascribes this fabulous work to Visnu Sarma whose existence has not been conclusively established. Faced with the challenge of educating three unlettered princes, to awaken their intelligence, Visnu Sarma evolved a unique pedagogyfor his aim was to teach the princes how to think, not what to thinkand it was thus that these entertaining and edifying stories came to be composed. The Pancatantra started travelling from the land of its origin before AD 570, as a version in Pehelvi. Since then more than 200 versions have been executed in more than fifty languages. This translation by Chandra Rajan is based on the Purnabhadra recension (AD 1199). While remaining faithful to the original, she breathes new life into the stories, skilfully combining prose and verse to give us an eminently readable translation.