Tales from the Panchatantra

The Panchatantra is one of the best known classics of ancient India. Composed in Sanskrit over 1600 years ago, its satirical stories of human foibles in animal grab soon went round the world, being rendered into middle persian around the 6th, into Arabic around the 8th, and into European languages by the 15th century AD. These entirely secular tales of wit, virtue, and wickedness, have retained their freshness and timeless appeal through numerous translations over the ages. This book is a new translation from the original Sanskrit of Panchatantra stories specially selected for the tastes of today. The translator Haksar, an Indian diplomat and amateur of Sanskrit was India’s High Commissioner to Kenya, and later Ambassador to Portugal and Yugoslavia.