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.

Another Story

In what can wisdom not prevail?
In what can resolution fail?
What cannot flattery subdue?
What cannot enterprise put through?

So how exactly did the Panchatantra migrate to the Middle East and morph into Kalila and Dimna?

Once Upon A Time, there was a great king named Khosrau (the namesake of one of our actors!) who reigned over the territory known as the Sassanid Empire. The Sassanid Empire was a large territory that encompassed what is now Iran, Iraq, Armenia, and parts of Afghanistan, Turkey, India, Syria, and Pakistan. (Dark green area on map to right)

One day, around 570 CE, Khosrau’s trusted vizier named Borzuy, a statesman and physician of the Sassanid Empire, came to the king to ask permission to undertake a journey to Hindustan (now called India). Borzuy had read of a mountain herb—mritasanjeevani—in Hindustan that, when sprinkled over a corpse, restored life to that which is dead. Khosrau granted permission, equipped his vizier for the journey, and sent with him a note to the Hindustani Raj requesting him to furnish any help Borzuy may need.

Borzuy was received in Hindustan with great honor and was given all the assistance the kingdom could offer. However, when he climbed the mountain and procured the herb, he found that it possessed no necromantic properties. Ashamed at the prospect of returning home in defeat, Borzuy consulted the physicians of the Raj’s kingdom. The physicians could offer the vizier little help, but they all agreed that Borzuy should consult a great sage they knew of who surpassed all of them in years, speech, and wisdom.

When Borzuy found the sage and related his story, he was surprised to hear that the sage had undertaken the same quest long ago. He also had been disappointed by mritasanjeevani’s ability to raise the dead until he realized the real significance of the journey he had undertaken. The sage advised Borzuy to think of the herb as one who seeks knowledge, the mountain as that same knowledge that is so difficult to obtain, and the dead as one without knowledge since without learning, one is lifeless. He then urged Borzuy to consult the Raj’s treasury, where he will find a book called the Panchatantra. When people become weary of their ignorance, the Panchatantra is their mritasanjeevani, and knowledge is the mountain they must climb.

Borzuy was overjoyed by this discovery, and hurried back to the Raj to request permission to borrow the Panchatantra. As dear as the book was to the king, he could not permit Borzuy to remove it from the kingdom, but he granted the noble vizier as much time with it as he desired. Borzuy translated the stories into Pahlavi—an ancient Persian language—and renamed the book Kalile va Demne.

Let's start at the very beginning...

One Vishnusharman, shrewdly gleaning
All worldly wisdom's inner meaning,
In these five books the charm compresses
Of all such books the world possesses.

Inside Story weaves itself around animal fables from the ancient Middle Eastern stories of Kalila and Dimna, also called The Fables of Bidpai, but let's take it back even further.

A very good place to start is 22 centuries ago in ancient India--probably in what is now Kashmir, a tiny province that has been a source of heated debate between India and Pakistan for over half a century now. Around 200 B.C.E., Panchatantra emerged, a collection of stories and short poetic verses that each carried a message of right-living (You'll find some of these verses scattered throughout this blog, translated into English from Sanskrit by Arthur W. Ryder). The fables were constructed in a curious frame-within-a-frame fashion, and surrounding them was another tale explaining the origins of the Panchatantra.

The story goes that Once Upon A Time there was great king who had three sons who were decidedly averse to education. The King, very concerned about leaving his kingdom to such unfit stewards, summoned his most trusted counselors to consider the issue. One of his counselors introduced the King to Vishnusharman—a Brahman with a reputation for skill in many sciences. Vishnusharman told the King that within six months, he would educate the boys in the art of intelligent living. The sage also refused to take any form of compensation for the King, declaring instead that if he failed in his task, Vishnusharman would give up his own name and the King could moon him. That’s right--the King could show Vishnusharman his bare bottom. The King, of course, accepted this offer, Vishnusharman took the boys to his home and had them memorize five books (The words Pancha and Tantra translate to “five principles”) that he composed. The books were called:

• Mitra Bhedha (The Loss of Friends)
• Mitra Laabha (Gaining Friends)
• Kakolookiyam (Crows and Owls)
  
• Labdhaprnasha (Loss of Gains)
• Aprikshitakaraka (Ill-Considered Action)
  

In six months, the Princes returned home ready to serve the kingdom and Vishnusharman retained his good name and was spared the sight of the King’s privates. It should be noted that Vishnusharman claims not to have created these stories, but merely assembled them for the education of the princes. They have been passed down since time immemorial to educate and inspire every generation of princes and princesses.

Eventually, the Panchatantra traveled West to the Sassanid Empire--what is now Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan--to be reincarnated as the Fables of Bidpai, but that's another story...