Essay on panchatantra

Being Indians, we have definitely come across some or the other story from the Panchatantra. Panchatantra is a huge collection of fables originally written in the Sanskrit language. Each of the Panchatantra stories for kids has an associated moral. These morals are taught to kids through the plot and characters of the stories.

There is a version of Panchatantra in nearly every major language of India, and in addition there are 200 versions of the text in more than 50 languages around the world. One version reached Europe in the 11th century. To quote Edgerton (1924):

According to Gillian Adams, Panchatantra may be a product of the Vedic period, but its age cannot be ascertained with confidence because "the original Sanskrit version has been lost". For lists of stories in the Panchatantra, see List of Panchatantra Stories. Love and self-control? Path and final goal? Fame or peace of soul?

The Panchatantra (IAST: Pañcatantra, Sanskrit: पञ्चतन्त्र, "Five Treatises") is an ancient Indian collection of interrelated animal fables in Sanskrit verse and prose, arranged within a frame story. The surviving work is dated to roughly 200 BCE, based on older oral tradition.