2023-03-04 05:47:04 by suhasm
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altered the stories more than the Pañcatantra. This conclusion
would not be in any way vitiated if it were proved that the recorded
versions of the Jatakas are actually older than the Pañcatantra ;
a thing which has, however, not yet been proved.
The same consideration holds when it comes to the comparison
of Indian and Greek fables; relative dates can have little value.
The subject of Greek and Indian fables is a large and complicated
one, which I cannot discuss at length here. I will only venture to
state my opinion that the great mass of fables in India and in
Greece are quite independent of each other. In very few instances
can a plausible case be made out for borrowing in either direction.
As regards the stories of the original Pañeatantra, I think that
just two are found also among Greek and Roman fables. These
are the Ass in Panther's (or Lion's) skin (Book III, Story 1), and
the Ass without Heart and Ears (Book IV, Story ). The earliest
Greco-Roman occurrences of both are of the second or third century
A.D.; that is, of about the same date as the Pañcatantra, perhaps.
At any rate a comparison of the dates would tell us nothing. But
a comparison of the details of these two stories, as told in India
and in Greece, seems to me to indicate with considerable probability
that both of them originated in India, and somehow wandered to
Greece. I may add that I know of several other stories, outside
of the Pañcatantra cycle, which seem to have been borrowed by
the Greeks from the Hindus; and that no plausible case of borrow-
ing in the reverse direction is known to me. I should not, however,
wish to deny the possibility that there may be such cases. There
was, no doubt, more intercommunication between East and West
in antiquity than many of us once supposed. And when a Ilindu
and a Greek met, it is quite to be expected that the exchange of
intellectual as well as commercial wares would have been mutual.
Moreover let me repeat-it seems to me hardly to be doubted
that the great mass of fables among both peoples arose quite in-
dependently; just as fables have originated independently in
altered the stories more than the Pañcatantra. This conclusion
would not be in any way vitiated if it were proved that the recorded
versions of the Jatakas are actually older than the Pañcatantra ;
a thing which has, however, not yet been proved.
The same consideration holds when it comes to the comparison
of Indian and Greek fables; relative dates can have little value.
The subject of Greek and Indian fables is a large and complicated
one, which I cannot discuss at length here. I will only venture to
state my opinion that the great mass of fables in India and in
Greece are quite independent of each other. In very few instances
can a plausible case be made out for borrowing in either direction.
As regards the stories of the original Pañeatantra, I think that
just two are found also among Greek and Roman fables. These
are the Ass in Panther's (or Lion's) skin (Book III, Story 1), and
the Ass without Heart and Ears (Book IV, Story ). The earliest
Greco-Roman occurrences of both are of the second or third century
A.D.; that is, of about the same date as the Pañcatantra, perhaps.
At any rate a comparison of the dates would tell us nothing. But
a comparison of the details of these two stories, as told in India
and in Greece, seems to me to indicate with considerable probability
that both of them originated in India, and somehow wandered to
Greece. I may add that I know of several other stories, outside
of the Pañcatantra cycle, which seem to have been borrowed by
the Greeks from the Hindus; and that no plausible case of borrow-
ing in the reverse direction is known to me. I should not, however,
wish to deny the possibility that there may be such cases. There
was, no doubt, more intercommunication between East and West
in antiquity than many of us once supposed. And when a Ilindu
and a Greek met, it is quite to be expected that the exchange of
intellectual as well as commercial wares would have been mutual.
Moreover let me repeat-it seems to me hardly to be doubted
that the great mass of fables among both peoples arose quite in-
dependently; just as fables have originated independently in