Most scholars agree that the earliest collected Panchatantra – the original Sanskrit, now lost, has been reconstructed from other translations – was probably compiled by an octogenarian Brahmin named Vishnu Sharma in Kashmir, roughly between 350-400 CE. Another version, translated by Durgasimha into the Indian language Kannada in roughly 1025 CE, travelled across Asia. Since then, the Panchatantra has had more than 200 retellings in at least 50 non-Indian languages.

Borzuya, who was chief minister to the Persian king, came to India in 570 CE, in search of a legendary herb that held the elixir of life and was reputed to resurrect the dead. But it was a futile search – his treks through the Himalayas, his visits to sages, drew a blank. Chandra Rajan, translator of a modern version of the Panchatantra, explains that Borzuya finally met a philosopher who told him that the elixir was in fact a book. “The high mountains were the wise and learned men of lofty intellect; the trees and herbs their virtuous writings and the wisdom extracted from these writings the Elixir of Life that revived the dead intelligence.” The book had power; that was known right from the start.

World traveller

There were several elements that drew people to this story-cycle, which featured lions, monkeys, elephants, jackals, birds, snakes, crocodiles, rabbits, tigers, herons and crabs.

“Whoever learns the work by heart,

Or through the story-teller’s art

Becomes acquainted. His life by sad defeat – although

The king of heaven be his foe –

Is never tainted.”

It was in part the promise that the Panchatantra made – as a nitishastra, it aims to teach the “wise conduct” of life – but its influence went far beyond that. Some stories last; some beget other stories; a rare few revive ancient and half-forgotten storytelling forms, and make them new again.