The Hitopadesa
The Hitopadesa

Author: Narayana

Publisher: Penguin UK

Published: 2006-08-31

Total Pages: 353

ISBN-13: 0141907983

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Composed between 800 and 950 AD, Narayana's Hitopadesa is one of the best-known of all works in Sanskrit literature. A fascinating collection of fables, maxims and sayings in verse, it combines a wide variety of writings from earlier authors in one volume - a 'garden of pleasing stories' created to provide guidance, wisdom and political advice to the reader. With elegance and great humour, Narayana weaves a framework for the classic tales, here narrated by animals who quote from and reflect on stories from the Pancatantra and other traditional sources. At once an anthology of folk wisdom and an original and satirical work in its own right, the Hitopadesa has been deeply admired and widely read for more than a thousand years for its humorous and profound reflections on human lives, loves, follies and philosophies.

The Hitopadeśa of Nārāyaṇa
The Hitopadeśa of Nārāyaṇa

Author: Moreshvar Ramchandra Kāle

Publisher: Motilal Banarsidass Publ.

Published: 1967

Total Pages: 296

ISBN-13: 9788120806023

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This work aims at teaching the principles of polity guided by morality, presenting them in the agreeable form of stories written mainly in prose interspersed with verse. It belongs to that class of compositions which imparts instructions through fables inspired by the wisdom of its place and time. The work is divided into four books: The book I describes how to win friends. The book II deals with the circumstances leading to the loss of friends. The book III relates war and the book IV to conciliation.

Hitopadesa
Hitopadesa

Author: Narayana (tr. Haskar

Publisher: Penguin Books India

Published: 2005-09-07

Total Pages: 268

ISBN-13: 9780144000791

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The Ever-Popular Book Of Good Counsels From Ancient India. One Of The Best-Known Sanskrit Classics, Narayana&Rsquo;S Hitopadesa Is A Fascinating Collection Of Animal And Human Fables Augmented With Polished Verse Epigrams And Gnomic Stanzas, Many Of Which Have Become Proverbial. This Satirical, Often Irreverent And Sometimes Ribald Text Has Been Popular For Centuries As A Compendium Of Worldly Advice On Matters Ranging From Statesmanship And Detailed Battle Plans To Personal Conduct And Marital Fidelity. It Has Also Served Generations Of Students As A Model Of Grammatical And Metaphorical Excellence. In This &Lsquo;Garden Of Pleasing Stories&Rsquo;, As Narayan Himself Describes It, Birds, Beasts, Men And Women Scheme, Suffer, Lust, Err, Grieve And Rejoice, Acting As Perceptive Social Critics And Astute Commentators On The Absurd Nature Of Human Folly. Combining His Own Literary Genius With Skilful Selections And Modifications Of Material From The Panchatantra And A Host Of Other Traditional Sources, Narayan Has Created A Refreshingly Original Masterpiece. This Excellent New Translation Faithfully Renders The Wit And Wisdom Of The Original. &Nbsp;

The Pancatantra
The Pancatantra

Author: Sarma, Visnu

Publisher: Penguin UK

Published: 2006-08-31

Total Pages: 505

ISBN-13: 0140455663

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First recorded 1500 years ago, but taking its origins from a far earlier oral tradition, the Pancatantra is ascribed by legend to the celebrated, half-mythical teacher Visnu Sarma. Asked by a great king to awaken the dulled intelligence of his three idle sons, the aging Sarma is said to have composed the great work as a series of entertaining and edifying fables narrated by a wide range of humans and animals, and together intended to provide the young princes with vital guidance for life. Since first leaving India before AD 570, the Pancatantra has been widely translated and has influenced a cast number of works in India, the Arab world and Europe, including the Arabian Nights, the Canterbury Tales and the Fables of La Fontaine. Enduring and profound, it is among the earliest and most popular of all books of fables.

Simhasana Dvatrimsika
Simhasana Dvatrimsika

Author: A N D Haskar

Publisher: Penguin UK

Published: 2007-01-07

Total Pages: 207

ISBN-13: 9352141008

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Classic tales of courage and compassion The fabled monarch Vikramaditya is considered a model of kingly virtues, and his reign a golden age. These famous stories narrated by the thirty-two statuettes of nymphs supporting the magic throne of Vikramaditya extol his courage, compassion and extraordinary magnanimity. They are set in a framework recounting the myths of his birth, accession, adventures and death in battle, after which the throne remained concealed till its discovery in a later age. A fascinating mix of marvellous happenings, proverbial wisdom and sage precepts, these popular tales are designed to entertain as well as instruct. Many have passed into folk literature. The original author of the Simhasana Dvatrimsika is unknown. The present text is dated to the thirteenth century AD. It exists in four main recensions, from which extracts have been compiled together for the first time, in this lively and faithful translation of this celebrated classic by a renowned Sanskritist

Hitopadeśa
Hitopadeśa

Author: Shripati Awasthi

Publisher:

Published: 2005

Total Pages: 368

ISBN-13:

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Didactic tales and fables in verse.

Pañcatantra
Pañcatantra

Author: Patrick Olivelle

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2009-08-27

Total Pages: 257

ISBN-13: 0199555753

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The Pañcatantra is the most famous collection of fables in India and was one of the earliest Indian books to be translated into Western languages. It teaches the principles of good government and public policy through the medium of animal stories, providing a window onto ancient Indian society. This new translation vividly reveals the story-telling powers of the original author, while detailed notes illuminate aspects of ancient Indian society and religion to the non-specialist reader.

The Five and Twenty Tales of the Genie
The Five and Twenty Tales of the Genie

Author: Sivadasa

Publisher: Penguin UK

Published: 2006-08-31

Total Pages: 335

ISBN-13: 0141907924

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Half mythical, heroic and sagacious, the emperor Vikramaditya is widely regarded as India's greatest monarch. This collection of stories tells of the ruler's fabled encounter with a vetala, a genie who inhabits the body of a corpse. The emperor begs the spirit for his help against a mighty necromancer and is told in return twenty-four tales, each of which presents a situation he might face as a king and culminates in a riddle that he must solve. With each answer, Vikramaditya displays his deep wisdom, proving himself to be the ideal monarch and winning, in the twenty-fifth tale, the guidance he needs from the vetala to destroy his powerful enemy. Written down in medieval times but inspired by an oral tradition stretching back centuries, these wise and witty tales rank amongst the great masterpieces of Sanskrit literature.