The Panchatantra

The Panchatantra is a collection of Indian animal fables, known in Europe as the Fables of Bidpai. The original work was in Sanskrit, and could have been written anytime between 100 BC and 500 AD though some of the tales contained in it can be traced as far back as 1500 BC to the Rig-Veda. The original text is a mixture of prose and verse, with the stories contained in one of five frame stories. The introduction, which acts as an enclosing frame for the entire work, attributes the tales to a learned Brahmin called Vishnusharma, who used these stories to teach worldly wisdom to the three dull-witted sons of a king.