The Panchatantra and the fables of Europe
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Many fables told in Europe, including some in La Fontaine, come from the Panchatantra, which travelled from India through Persian and Arabic translations.
India first (well documented)Culture, games, language & ideas
Indian claim
The Panchatantra, a Sanskrit book of animal fables for teaching princes, travelled the world and shaped European fable literature.
Evidence for the Indian claim
- Britannica calls the Panchatantra the best-known Asian collection of beast fables; it was known in Europe as 'The Fables of Bidpai'.
- The physician Burzoy took it from India to Persia around 570 CE and translated it into Middle Persian; Ibn al-Muqaffa made the Arabic version, Kalila wa Dimna, around 750 CE.
- From the Arabic it went into Greek, Hebrew, Latin and other languages; Britannica says at least one version reached the West as early as the 11th century.
- La Fontaine, in the preface to his second collection of fables (1678), names the Indian sage 'Pilpay' (Bidpai) as a source.
Commonly credited to
European fables are usually traced to Aesop and the Greek tradition, and La Fontaine's Fables are often seen as purely European.
Evidence for the other claim
- The original Sanskrit text does not survive intact, and its date is uncertain (scholars' estimates range from about 200 BCE to 300 CE).
- Many European fables do come from the separate Greek Aesop tradition, which is older than any Panchatantra text we have.
What historians and scientists say
The journey of the Panchatantra from India to Europe is one of the best-documented cases of a book travelling across cultures. It is a major source of fables in Europe, alongside the Greek Aesop tradition.