A History of Sanskrit Literature c9.s3.20

c9.s3.20

In addition to the clear indications thus given of the existence of epic, lyric, and gnomic verse, we may deduce from other hints the existence of the material whence later developed the beastfable. We have allusions¹ to such proverbial tales as that of the goat and the razor (*ajāḳr̥pāṇīya*), of the crow and the palm fruit (*kākatālīya*), and to the hereditary enmity of the snake and the ichneumon, and of the crow and the owl, later famous as the theme of a book of the *Pañcatantra*.