sanatana
01 December 2012, 11:20 PM
Panchatantra is one of the most influential Sanskrit contributions to world literature. Panchatantra was written around 200 BCE by Pandit Vishnu Sarma, a Sanskrit scholar.Some believe it could be as old as 2000BCE.Panchatantra is a “niti” shastra. It teaches us the 'Art of intelligent living’. Pancha means five,tantra means doctrines.
Panchatantra consists of five books, which are called:
1. Mitra Bhedha (The Loss of Friends)
2. Mitra Laabha also called Mitra Samprapti (Gaining Friends)
3. Kakolukiyam (Crows and Owls)
4. Labdhapranasam (Loss Of Gains)
5. Aparikshitakaraka (Ill-Considered Action / Rash deeds)
The history behind Panchatantra goes like this.
In ancient India there lived a king called Amarshakti in Mahilaropya.He had three sons who were not intelligent.The king was going old and worried that his sons will not be able to rule his kingdom.He summoned his ministers and told them to find out a way to make his sons competent to rule.Many of them said it will take at least 12years for his sons to acquire necessary knowledge to rule the kingdom.King was not happy at this.Then one minister suggested that there is a 80 year old wise brahmin called Vishnu Sharma who is well versed in all branches of knowledge, he may be able to teach them to the required competency level.King called Vishnu Sarma and told him that his sons should be taught the required branches of learning short time so that they can rule the kingdom, and king offered him a gift of 100acres of land. Vishnu Sarma told the king in lion voice" O King! I am not going to sell my good knowledge for your gift,more over I am 80 years old and no desire for material wealth,note down today's date, from now within 6 months I wil turn your sons to be intelligent and competent to rule kingdom. If I do not achieve this you can remove my name".King was happy and handed over his sons to Vishnu Sarma.
Vishnu Sarma did not teach the king's sons in traditional way, instead he devised a novel way of teaching the diplomacy, truths about life, political administration principles by telling short interesting stories. He called them Panchatantra.Within 6 months the king's sons became competent and the king was happy. Since that time Panchatantra became popular throughout the world. It was translated from Sanskrit to more than 50 different languages. Every story in Panchatantra highlights an important fact of life and 'Niti"(moral).
One American professor Arthur W. Ryder(1877-1938) University of California ,Berkeley who translated Vishnu Sarma's Panchatantra in to English in 1925
wrote in his Introduction to his book the following stanza about Vishnu Sarma.
One Vishnusharman, shrewdly gleaning
All worldly wisdom's inner meaning,
In these five books the charm compresses
Of all such books the world possesses.
You can watch Panchatantra cartoon stories on youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBzJAiqe4IM (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBzJAiqe4IM)
You can read the stories at this website:
http://panchatantra.org/index.html (http://panchatantra.org/index.html)
Panchatantra consists of five books, which are called:
1. Mitra Bhedha (The Loss of Friends)
2. Mitra Laabha also called Mitra Samprapti (Gaining Friends)
3. Kakolukiyam (Crows and Owls)
4. Labdhapranasam (Loss Of Gains)
5. Aparikshitakaraka (Ill-Considered Action / Rash deeds)
The history behind Panchatantra goes like this.
In ancient India there lived a king called Amarshakti in Mahilaropya.He had three sons who were not intelligent.The king was going old and worried that his sons will not be able to rule his kingdom.He summoned his ministers and told them to find out a way to make his sons competent to rule.Many of them said it will take at least 12years for his sons to acquire necessary knowledge to rule the kingdom.King was not happy at this.Then one minister suggested that there is a 80 year old wise brahmin called Vishnu Sharma who is well versed in all branches of knowledge, he may be able to teach them to the required competency level.King called Vishnu Sarma and told him that his sons should be taught the required branches of learning short time so that they can rule the kingdom, and king offered him a gift of 100acres of land. Vishnu Sarma told the king in lion voice" O King! I am not going to sell my good knowledge for your gift,more over I am 80 years old and no desire for material wealth,note down today's date, from now within 6 months I wil turn your sons to be intelligent and competent to rule kingdom. If I do not achieve this you can remove my name".King was happy and handed over his sons to Vishnu Sarma.
Vishnu Sarma did not teach the king's sons in traditional way, instead he devised a novel way of teaching the diplomacy, truths about life, political administration principles by telling short interesting stories. He called them Panchatantra.Within 6 months the king's sons became competent and the king was happy. Since that time Panchatantra became popular throughout the world. It was translated from Sanskrit to more than 50 different languages. Every story in Panchatantra highlights an important fact of life and 'Niti"(moral).
One American professor Arthur W. Ryder(1877-1938) University of California ,Berkeley who translated Vishnu Sarma's Panchatantra in to English in 1925
wrote in his Introduction to his book the following stanza about Vishnu Sarma.
One Vishnusharman, shrewdly gleaning
All worldly wisdom's inner meaning,
In these five books the charm compresses
Of all such books the world possesses.
You can watch Panchatantra cartoon stories on youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBzJAiqe4IM (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBzJAiqe4IM)
You can read the stories at this website:
http://panchatantra.org/index.html (http://panchatantra.org/index.html)