What's In A Name

In case of horse or book or sword,
Of woman, man or lute or word,
The use or uselessness depends
On qualities the user lends.

How in the world did the name Panchatantra mutate into Kalila and Dimna?

I'm glad you asked.

One of the most well-known fables in these books is told from the perspective of two jackals. In Sanskrit, their names are Karataka--meaning "horribly howling," and Damanaka--meaning "victorious." The extensive role they play in the first book, Mitra Bedha (The Loss of Friends), probably made the pair so popular and closely associated with the stories that their names--subject to varying degrees of phonetic corruption--became the collection's namesake.

Dimna speaks to his master, the lion.