The State in Ancient India: A Study in the Structure and Practical Working of Political Institutions in North India in Ancient Times c16.s1.104

c16.s1.104

From the 4th century A.D, commences a long line of story-books, presumably under the impulse given by the Buddhist Jātakas and Avadānas. But the theory that the Indian tales were first composed in some form of Prākrit and later turned into Sanskrit has now been shown to be entirely untenable. The main purpose of the stories is to impart ethical instruction through the words and actions of human beings, animals and birds. The Tantrākhyāyika, preserved in Kashmīr and perhaps composed there, is, in any case, earlier than the sixth century A.D. and may be older. It was turned into a yet more popular version in the Pañcatantra, attributed to Viṣṇuśarman. It was probably an earlier version of the present Pañcatantra which was translated into Pahlavi about the middle of the 6th century A.D. and thence into old Syriac in 570 and into Arabic in 750, the last rendering in its turn being translated into Old Spanish in 1251, which, finally was the source of Latin and, later, other European versions. In India the Pañcatantra has influenced all subsequent literature of the didactic tale.¹ We learn from the prologue in which king Amṛtaśakti of Mahilāropya arranges the education of his three sons, that princes were generally made over to Brāhmaṇa Paṇḍitas who taught them grammar, literature, Niti and other subjects. From the tales one can gather a good deal of the current political wisdom. Some kings nursed their kingdoms, others were too exacting in their demands on the subjects. Experience showed that the prosperity of monarchs was bound up with that of the people. Incidentally, we have an interesting remark that a fort was more useful than a thousand elephants and a hundred thousand horses. No other passages need be quoted. In spite of their intrinsic charm, as political maxims, they are not valuable for the study of practical institutions.¹