[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Literature, language and dating](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature) › [A History of Sanskrit Literature](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.macdonell-1900) › c19.30 # A History of Sanskrit Literature c19.30 A History of Sanskrit Literature c19.30 - **Language:** English ### [c19.30](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.macdonell-1900.c19.30) Though Europe was thus undoubtedly indebted to India for its mediæval literature of fairy tales and fables, the Indian claim to priority of origin in ancient times is somewhat dubious. A certain number of apologues found in the collections of Æsop and Babrius are distinctly related to Indian fables. The Indian claim is supported by the argument that the relation of the jackal to the lion is a natural one in the Indian fable, while the connection of the fox and the lion in Greece has no basis in fact. On the other side it has been urged that animals and birds which are peculiar to India play but a minor part in Indian fables, while there exists a Greek representation of the Æsopian fable of the fox and the raven, dating from the sixth century b.c. Weber and Benfey both conclude that the Indians borrowed a few fables from the Greeks, admitting at the same time that the Indians had independent fables of their own before. Rudimentary fables are found even in the \*Chhāndogya Upanishad\*, and the transmigration theory would have favoured the development of this form of tale; indeed Buddha himself in the old \*Jātaka\* stories appears in the form of various animals. - [Previous: c19.29](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.macdonell-1900.c19.29) - [Next: c19.31](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.macdonell-1900.c19.31) - [Up: c19](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.macdonell-1900.c19) ## Linked texts (2) - [Jātaka](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.theravada.sp.khuddaka.jataka) — Pāli - [Chāndogyopaniṣad](https://indike.org/pramana/in.veda.upanisad.mukhya.chandogya) — Sanskrit --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.macdonell-1900.c19.30](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.macdonell-1900.c19.30) · Pramāṇa