The Pañcatantra (Sanskrit: “Five Treatises”) is a collection of Indian animal fables and folktales and other morally instructive tales. Meant as a textbook of niti (“guiding principles”) for kings and statesmen, the aphorisms of the Pañcatantra tend to exalt cleverness and wisdom cleverness instead of altruism. Its five books take up (1) the disunion of friends, (2) gaining of friends, (3) war and peace, (4) loss of possession, and (5) consequence of rash action.
The surviving work is dated to about 300 BCE, but the collected works are hundreds of years older. Similar to other folktales, the fables in the Pañcatantra were collected, standardized, and aggregated into didactic literature. The text’s author is unknown, but its authorship has been attributed to an ancient Brahmin called Viṣṇuśarman, who, according to the Pañcatantra, used the animal fables to educate three unintelligent princes.
The Pañcatantra has had wide circulation throughout the world. It influenced many popular Middle-Eastern and Western story collections such as the Arabian Nights and Jean de La Fontaine’s Fables. The Pañcatantra became popular during the Renaissance under the title Fables of Bidpai.
The Pañcatantra and the Hitopadeśa are comparable to the Buddhist jātakas, animal fables and stories of the previous lives of the Buddha with related moral teachings.
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All fortune belongs to him who has a contented mind.
—The Panchatantra
Topics: Gratitude, Blessings, Appreciation
What’s duly his, a man receives;
This law not even God can break;
My heart is not surprised, nor grieves;
For what is mine, no strangers take.
—The Panchatantra
The learned have prescribed penance for the murderer of a pious man, a drunkard, a thief or for one who has violated a solemn vow. But there is no pardon for the ungrateful.
—The Panchatantra
Time drinketh up the essence of every great and noble action which ought to be performed but is delayed in the execution.
—The Panchatantra
Topics: Delay
Whoever is friendly in adversity, is indeed a true friend. In prosperity, even a wicked person wants to be a friend.
—The Panchatantra
Even if a wealthy person gets old, he does not lose the youthfulness. For a poor man, his youth is as good as his oldage, because he is constrained by lack of money.
—The Panchatantra
Guilty consciences always make people cowards.
—The Panchatantra
Topics: Conscience
There is no gathering the rose without being pricked by the thorns.
—The Panchatantra
Topics: Risk
If a man be self-controlled, truthful, wise, and resolute, is there aught that can stay out of reach of such a man?
—The Panchatantra
Topics: Success, Character
Knowledge is the true organ of sight, not the eyes.
—The Panchatantra
Topics: Knowledge
Even if one lives for a second it must be filled with knowledge, valour, magnanimity and other good qualities. Only such a life is considered worth living. Even a crow lives a long life just by living on food offered by others. It is up to us whether we want to live like a crow or make our life worth remembering.
—The Panchatantra
Wondering Whom to Read Next?
Subhashita Manjari Sanskrit Anthology of Proverbs
The Hitopadesha Indian Collection of Fables
The Jataka Tales Genre of Buddhist Literature
Bhartrihari Hindu Philosopher, Grammarian
Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi Persian Muslim Mystic
The Bhagavad Gita Hindu Scripture
The Mahabharata Hindu Religious Text
The Upanishads Sacred Books of Hinduism