2023-03-04 05:47:12 by suhasm
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7
It was also translated into French, under the title "Book of Lights
or the Conduct of Kings" (Livre des lumieres ou la conduite des
roys). This was first issued in 1644, and was often reprinted;
later it was commonly referred to as the "Fables of Pilpay". The
French fabulist Lafontaine drew a considerable number of his
fables from "le sage Pilpay", as he calls the reputed author. About
80 years later, in 1724, appeared another French work called Contes
et fables indiennes de Bidpai et de Lokman, by one Galland. This
was a French translation of the Turkish Humayun Nameh, which
is itself a translation of the Persian Anwari Suhaili, so that it is a
cousin of the "Fables of Pilpay". Both of these works became
extremely popular, both in the French originals, and in trans-
lations which were made into other languages (English, German,
Swedish, Dutch, Polish, Hungarian, and Greek). The English
version of "Pilpay" was first published at least as early as 1699,
and was very frequently republished throughout the 18th century.
1
Through these two French works the names "Pilpay" and
"Bidpai" became household words in the literature of European
fables and stories. They are both variants, or corruptions, of the
name given in the Persian Anwari Suhaili to the "philosopher"
who is there represented as telling the stories to his royal patron ;
some have conjectured that the name was originally meant to
represent a Sanskrit form vidya pati. When at last Western scholars
became acquainted with the Hitopadeśa and other Indian forms
or offshoots of the Pañcatantra, they at once recognized that
they had found Indian forms of the "Bidpai" which they already
know so well. In Europe this name is even yet sometimes applied
to this cycle of stories.
It was also translated into French, under the title "Book of Lights
or the Conduct of Kings" (Livre des lumieres ou la conduite des
roys). This was first issued in 1644, and was often reprinted;
later it was commonly referred to as the "Fables of Pilpay". The
French fabulist Lafontaine drew a considerable number of his
fables from "le sage Pilpay", as he calls the reputed author. About
80 years later, in 1724, appeared another French work called Contes
et fables indiennes de Bidpai et de Lokman, by one Galland. This
was a French translation of the Turkish Humayun Nameh, which
is itself a translation of the Persian Anwari Suhaili, so that it is a
cousin of the "Fables of Pilpay". Both of these works became
extremely popular, both in the French originals, and in trans-
lations which were made into other languages (English, German,
Swedish, Dutch, Polish, Hungarian, and Greek). The English
version of "Pilpay" was first published at least as early as 1699,
and was very frequently republished throughout the 18th century.
1
Through these two French works the names "Pilpay" and
"Bidpai" became household words in the literature of European
fables and stories. They are both variants, or corruptions, of the
name given in the Persian Anwari Suhaili to the "philosopher"
who is there represented as telling the stories to his royal patron ;
some have conjectured that the name was originally meant to
represent a Sanskrit form vidya pati. When at last Western scholars
became acquainted with the Hitopadeśa and other Indian forms
or offshoots of the Pañcatantra, they at once recognized that
they had found Indian forms of the "Bidpai" which they already
know so well. In Europe this name is even yet sometimes applied
to this cycle of stories.