INTRODUCTION

The Pancatantra is an ancient Indian collection of interrelated animal fables in

Sanskrit verse and prose, arranged within a frame story. The surviving work is dated
to roughly 200 BCE, based on older oral tradition. Although the author of the
compilation of short fable stories remains unknown, the text was compiled by Vishnu
Sharma.
The term ‘Pancatantra’ can be translated to Five Treatises. These collections are
namely- The Separation of Friends, The Gaining of Friends, The Story of Crows and
Owls, The Monkey and The Crocodile and The Brahmaani and The Mongoose.
The Jatakas are amongst the earliest Buddhist literature, dating their average
contents to around the 4th century BCE. The Jataka tales are a voluminous body of
literature native to India concerning the previous births of Gautama Buddha in both
human and animal form. The future Buddha may appear as a king, an outcast, a
god, an elephant- but, in whatever form, he exhibits some virtue that the tale thereby
inculcates.
Jataka tales were composed during the 4th century BC and Pancatantra were written
in 200 BC. Jataka tales were originally written in Pali language while Pancatantra
stories were written in Sanskrit language.
Jataka tales are about the previous lives of Gautama Buddha where Buddha is
presented in both animal and human forms. Pancatantra stories are usually moral
stories or fables consisting of animals.
The purpose behind the composition of Pancatantra was to implant moral values and
governing skills in the young sons of the king. The Jataka Tales were written for the
mankind to gain knowledge. These stories connected to the past incarnations of the
Buddha were meant to teach values like self-sacrifice, honesty and morality.
Jataka tales have 550 Buddhist stories while Pancatantra has five tantra which
includes many animal tales with morals.
The Panchatantra has been translated into numerous languages around the world
with their own distinct versions of the text. Given the work's allegorical nature and
political intent, it was subject to diverse interpretations in the course of its cultural
and linguistic transmission. Consequently, the various extant versions of the
Panchatantra in existence today not only contain hermeneutical challenges for
literary critics but also provide interesting case studies for cross-cultural and cross-
linguistic textual syncretism.
The standard Pali collection of the Jataka tales, with canonical text embedded, has
been translated by E. B. Cowell and others, originally published in six volumes by
Cambridge University Press, 1895-1907; reprinted in three volumes, Pali Text
Society, Bristol. There are also numerous translations of selections and individual
stories from various languages.
PANCATANTRA STORIES
The Monkey and the Crocodile

There was a Jamun (Black-berry) tree on the bank of a river, which was full of
sweeet Jamun fruits throughout the year. This tree was home to a monkey called
Raktamukha. He used to pass his days happily by playing and jumping, and used to
eat the sweet Jamun fruits.
One day, a crocodile named Karalamukha came out of the river to take some rest
under the Jamun tree. When Raktamukha saw him from the tree, he said, "O
Crocodile, this tree is my home and you have come under this tree to take rest. This
makes you my guest. Please accept some Jamun fruits."

Raktamukha plucked lots of fruits and threw them in the crocodile's mouth.
Karalamukha loved the sweet fruits, and became friendly with Raktamukha.
Karalamukha left in the evening after thanking the generosity of the monkey.

Karalamukha started coming to the Jamun tree every day, and they became good
friends. They would talk for a long time and enjoy eating the sweet Jamun fruits
together.

One day, Karalamukha said to Raktamukha that he wanted to take some of the
Jamun fruits for her wife to let her know of the sweetness of these fruits. So, the
monkey happily plucked more fruits for the crocodile to take home.

Karalamukha took those fruits and offered his wife to eat them, and narrated the
story of his friendship with the monkey who lives on the Jamun tree. The crocodile's
wife was overjoyed on eating those sweet fruits.

She said, "O Dear, these fruits are as sweet as nectar. If the monkey eats these
fruits every day, I wonder, he would be even tastier. Please bring the monkey's heart
for me."

Karalamukha was astonished on hearing this. He said, "O Dear, I cannot kill or
deceive the monkey for his heart. He is my friend. It is unfair to think of such a thing"

But his wife pleaded for the monkey's heart. When she could not convince the
crocodile of doing it for her, she stopped eating, and insisted that we would rather die
if the crocodile refused to do as she wished.

Karalamukha was left with no other choice but to succumb to her wishes. Although
he was sad, he devised a plan to catch his friend and went to Raktamukha.

He said, "O Friend, my wife loves the fruits very much and I told my wife about our
friendship. Now, she is anxious to meet you. She is angry on me for not introducing
you with her earlier. So, she has invited you to our home for dinner. Please accept
our invitation."
The monkey accepted at once, but how could he go to the crocodile's home? I could
not swim. The crocodile said, "Sit on my back, and I shall carry you to my home"

And so Raktamukha sat on Karalamukha and they entered the water of the river.
Karalamukha took him to deeper water where he planned to kill him. At the same
time, Raktamukha got very scared with so much water all around him. he pleaded
his friend to move slowly.

At this moment, the crocodile knew that he had succeeded in his plan and had the
monkey totally under his control. He thought that it was not possible for the monkey
to escape from him so he revealed his plan, "O monkey, the truth is I am taking you
to make my wife happy. She wishes to eat your heart. She believes that the taste
should be even better than the Jamun fruits you have all the time."

Upon hearing this, Raktamukha was taken aback. But he did not panic. Instead, he
wittingly said, "O Friend, Why didn't you say that before? It would be my priviledge if
I could serve your wife with my heart. You are such a good friend, and you should
have told me earlier. I keep my heart in the burrow of the Jamun tree. Let us go back
and bring my heart at once."

The foolish crocodile believed him, and turned around. Karalamukha took
Raktamukha to the Banyan tree believing the monkey to bring his heart from the
tree. But as soon as Raktamukha jumped down from the crocodile's back, he
climbed up the tree and sat on a high branch. He had finally saved himself from the
crocodile's evil plan.

Karalamukha wanted to know, "What is causing this delay? We are getting late, and
my wife has been waiting."

Raktamukha answered, "O foolish friend, how can one take out his own heart and
keep it in the burrow of the tree? You deceived me to kill me, and in return I tricked
you in saving myself. Let this be a lesson to you for being so unfaithful. Go away,
and never return back."

The crocodile knew he had been tricked, and felt ashamed for his actions. He went
away.

The wise indeed say: Use intelligence to win in difficult situations.

The Crafty Crane and the Craftier Crab

A heron lived near a big lake, which was full of fishes and other water creatures.
The heron had grown so old, that he could not catch fishes from the lake anymore.

He became lean and weak with every passing day due to lack of food. Unable to
bear the hunger anymore, he hit upon a plan.

As planned, he sat at the edge of the lake for everybody to see, and began crying.

On seeing this, a crab took pity on him and went near, "Uncle, What is the matter?
Why are you crying instead to catching fishes?"

Continuing to pretend, the heron replied, "My child, I would not touch any fish
anymore. I have decided to renounce all worldly matters, and vowed to undertake a
fast unto death".

The crab asked, "If you have indeed renounced worldly matters, why is it that you
cry?"

The heron explained, "My child, I have been in this lake from my birth. I have grown
here. And it now that I have grown so old that I hear that this lake will dry up as there
will be no rains for the next twelve years".

The crab was surprised to hear this, "Uncle, please tell me if it is true. Please tell me
where you have heard such thing."

The heron replied, "I have heard the news from a wise astrologer that there will be
no rains for the next twelve years. You see, there is already not much water in the
lake. And very soon, due to lack of rains, the lake will dry up completely very soon."

The crab was taken aback by the news of what is to befall on them, and went to tell
this to the other water creatures. On hearing this piece of news, everybody started to
panic.

They believed the heron, as he was not trying to catch any fish at all. So, they met
the heron to seek advice, "Please guide us to save us from this disaster"

The heron said, "There is indeed a lake not far from here. It is full of water, and
beautifully covered with lotus flowers. There is so much water in the lake, that it
would not dry even if it did not rain for twenty-four years. I can take you there, if you
can ride on my back."

He had already gained their confidence. So, they gathered around him and
requested to carry them one at a time to the other lake and save them.
The wicked heron had succeeded in his plan. Every day, he would carry one of them
on his back pretending to take them to the other lake.

After flying a little away from the lake, he would smash them against a rock and eat
them up. He would then return after some time to the lake and relate false messages
how they are happy in the other lake.

This happened for many days, when the crab said to the heron, "Uncle, you take
others to the lake but it is me who is your first friend. Please take me to the other
lake to save my life."

The heron was happy to hear this. He thought to himself, "Having a fish everyday
has become monotonous. It is good that I will get to eat a crab today, for a change."

Having thus decided, the heron started carrying the crab to the same rock. The crab
looked down from above and saw the heap of bones and skeletons. At once, the
crab understood what the heron was up to.
He remained calm, and said to the heron, "Uncle, the lake seems far and I am quite
heavy. You must be getting tired, let us stop for some rest".

The heron was confident that there was no way the crab can escape from him in the
sky. The heron replied, "There is no lake for real. This trip is for my own meal. As I
do every day, I will smash you against a rock and make a meal out of you."

When the heron confessed the truth, the crab got hold of the heron's neck with its
strong claws, and strangled him to death.

The crab laughed at himself that he had saved himself and the other water creatures
from the trick played by the heron. He dragged the heron back to the lake.
"When things go wrong, use your wit to overcome the situation".
PANCATANTRA STORIES ANALYSIS
Pancatantra (Niti-Shashtra) stories are usually moral stories or fables consisting of
animals. The Pancatantra tales were written in 200 BC for implanting moral values
and governing skills in the young sons of the king. These short fable tales were
originally written in Sanskrit language. Pancatantra has five tantra which includes
many animal tales with morals which further assist in easy inculcation of values.
The stories The Monkey and The Crocodile and The Crafty Crane and the Craftier
Crab are two of the short stories compiled in the Pancatantra Tales whose genesis
remains unknown but were compiled by Vishnu Sharma. Both the stories The stories
work on the themes of hunger, greed, trickery, deception, presence of mind and
intelligence. The stories consistently emphasise on the theme of intelligence and its
clever application at the required hour.

In The Monkey and The Crocodile, the crocodile deceived his friend Rakhtamukha,
the monkey and in the story The Crafty Crane and The Craftier Crab, the heron
fooled the creatures living in the lake. The purpose for this deception was similar i.e.
killing the creatures for food.

The main characters in both the stories- the Crab and the Monkey are shown to be
animals who make use of their intelligence to save their lives. They leave a good
moral which is to face any difficult situation with calmness, patience and intelligence.

The targets in the story realise that they have been fooled by the creatures for their
selfish motives. The predators took the advantage of their prey’s inabilities- the
monkey could not swim and the crab could not fly. The story also focusses on the
fact that one should not underestimate those who are weaker than us or our
enemies. Stories like these from the Pancatantra teach us that the evil has to lose.
The evil characters in the story, the Crocodile and the Heron, felt that they could use
their power of swimming and flying respectively but failed.

The animals in Pancatantra fables are personified, attributed humanly

characteristics, voices and feelings to them. This can be evidenced in the two stories
of The Monkey and The Crocodile and The Crafty Crane and the Craftier Crab.
The stories described above have been taken from different parts of the entire
collection. The Monkey and The Crocodile is a short story from Book 4: Loss of
Gains and The Crafty Crane and The Craftier Crab is from Book 1: The Separation
of Friends.
In the story of The Monkey and The Crocodile, initially Karalamukha, the Crocodile is
portrayed as a friendly creature who lived in the river. He used to enjoy the company
of Raktamukha, the Monkey who offered him jamuns every day. They ate, chatted
for long hours together. The Crocodile himself was not bad at heart as he refused to
deceive the Monkey who was his friend. He could be convinced for days by his wife
to kill the monkey for his delicious heart. He only agreed to this when his wife
blackmailed him. This proves that the Crocodile was good at heart but has to give in
to his wife’s demand.
On the other hand, the Heron had no one to force him to kill any other creature. He
was old and lazy and did not want to catch fish every day. Hence, he used his
intelligence to fool the creatures in the lake for its prey. In the end the Heron was
killed by the Crab but in the other story the Crocodile had to return empty handed
and lost a friend. The monkey made use of intelligence and trickery to save his life
whereas in the story of The Heron and The Crab trickery and power was used to kill
the Heron.
We can see how through the use of animals the message of values and morals are
spread across all generations, particularly the youngsters. The morals are mentioned
after the completion of the story which paraphrase the entire essence of the tale.
The moral of The Monkey and The Crocodile is “The wise indeed say: Use
intelligence to win in difficult situations”. This summarises how the Monkey dealt with
the situation where he was trapped but through his patience and calmness, he was
able to get through it.
The moral of The Crane and The Crab is "When things go wrong, use your wit to
overcome the situation". This moral focusses on dealing with practical life scenarios
where wit is required to deal with a circumstance. The Crab used this intelligence of
his to overcome the problem he was deceived into.
JATAKA STORIES
The Merchant of Seri

Once upon a time, there lived a merchant of Seri, who sold brass and tin ware. He
used to go from place to place, in order to sell his products. He was usually
accompanied by another merchant, who also sold brass and tin ware. The second
merchant was greedy. He wanted everything for free and if he bought something, he
paid as little as possible.

One day, when they went to a town, they divided the streets between them so that
none of them interferes in each other’s marketing. Both of them moved through the
streets they had chosen and called, “Tin ware for sale. Brass for sale”. People came
out of their homes and traded with them.

There lived a poor old woman and her granddaughter in a house. Once the family had
been affluent, but now a golden plate was the only expensive item left with them. The
grandmother didn’t know that it was a golden plate. However, she had kept this plate
because in the old days, her husband used to eat from it. It was placed on a shelf
among the other pots and pans not in the regular use.

The greedy merchant passed this house, calling, “Buy tin ware. Buy brass utensils”.
The grand-daughter heard the cries and said to her grandmother, “Grandmother,
please buy something for me”. The old woman replied, “Child, we are too poor to buy
anything. Even, I don’t have anything to trade”. The girl said, “We have one old plate.
Let’s see what the merchant will offer for the old plate. We don’t use it often and
perhaps; he will take it and give us something that we want”.

The old woman called the merchant at the door-step of her house. She showed him
the plate and said, “Sir, will you take this plate and give something in return to this little
girl”. The greedy man took the plate and scratched its backside with a needle. He
found that it was a golden plate. He hoped that he would fetch it without paying
anything. He said, “Does it worth? Not even a half penny”. He went away throwing the
plate on the ground.

The other merchant was passing through the houses. It was decided that either of
them could go through any street, which the other had left. The merchant passed
through the same house and called, “Buy tin ware. Buy brass utensils”. The little girl
heard the cries and asked her grandmother to see what the merchant would give for
the plate.

The old woman said, “My child, the merchant who came earlier, went away throwing
the plate on the ground. I have nothing else to offer in trade”. The girl replied,
“Grandma, that merchant was bad-tempered. This merchant looks nice. Ask him,
might be he’ll give some small tin ware”. The old woman accepted the idea and asked
the girl to call the merchant. The girl showed the plate to the merchant.

As soon as the merchant took the plate in his hands, he came to know that it was of
gold. He said, “This plate can’t be afforded with what all I have here. This is a golden
plate. I am not rich enough to buy it”. The grandmother replied, “But, a merchant who
came here a few moments ago threw it on the ground saying that it was not worth
even a half penny and went away”.

The merchant said, “It was worth nothing to him. If you value it, take the dishes you
want to take”. The little girl took some dishes of her choice but the merchant was not
satisfied with the offer. So, he gave all the money and his wares to the old woman. He
required eight pennies for the transport, so he asked the old woman for it.

The old woman readily gave him the amount. The merchant took the pennies and left
the place. He quickly went towards the river and paid eight pennies to the boatman, to
take him across the river. Soon, the greedy merchant went back to the house of the
old woman. When he reached the desired house, he called up the girl and said, “Bring
that plate and I will give you something for it".

The grandmother replied from inside, “No. You considered the plate worthless, but
another merchant has paid a huge price for it and taken it away. It is a golden plate”.
Thus, the greedy merchant got angry and left the place. He cried, “Due to this other
merchant, I have lost a small fortune. That was a golden plate”. He ran down to the
riverside and saw the other merchant in the boat. He called loudly, “Hello, Boatman.
Stop your boat”.

The merchant in the boat asked the boatman not to stop. Accordingly, the boatman
didn’t stop. The merchant reached the city which was on the other side of the river. He
sold the golden plate and got enough money for his living. So, he lived happily
thereafter.

Moral: Honesty is the best policy.

The Sandy Road

Once upon a time, there lived a merchant in a small village. The merchant dealt in
different kinds of goods. He wanted to sell his goods in the town, in order to gain good
sum of profits. One day, he decided to go to the town to try his fortune. He arranged
for some men who could go along with him. During the journey, he had to pass through
a desert, so he also arranged for water, rice and firewood.

According to the plan, he packed his goods in several carts and set out for the journey
along with his mates. When they reached the desert, the sun was shining on the fine
sand, making it severely hot. In the day time, no one could dare to walk on it. One
could only think of travel through the desert during the night time, when the moon
made the sands cool. So, the merchant and his people waited for the night to start
their further journey.

With the arrival of night, they started their journey. One of them, had knowledge about
the stars, so he was guiding the way to other people by reading the position of stars.
They traveled for the whole night without taking any break. At daybreak, they stopped
and camped. They released the oxen from the carts and fed them. They made fire,
cooked the rice and ate the food to their fill. They spread a huge covering over all the
carts and the oxen. Subsequently, all the men laid down under it, to rest till the sunset.

When the sun set in the early evening, they again built fire and cooked rice. After the
meal, they folded the covering and tied the oxen to the carts. As soon as, the sand
became cool, they again started their journey across the desert. Night after night, they
travelled in such manner and rested during the day time. On the last morning, the one
who was guiding the group said, “In one more night, we will cross the desert”.
Everyone was happy to hear this, as all of them were tired.

After taking meal in the evening, the merchant said, “Now, you people can throw the
water and the firewood because tomorrow we will reach the town. Tie the oxen and
start”. The Guide took his position at first in the line of the carts, but instead of sitting
and guiding the drivers, he laid down in the cart on the cushions. Soon, he was in a
deep slumber because he had not slept for many nights and in the daytime, the sun
had been so strong that he had not slept properly.

The oxen went on, for the whole night. Near daybreak, the guide awoke and looked at
the last stars fading in the light. He said to the drivers, “Stop! We are in the same place
where we were yesterday. The oxen must have turned about while I slept”. They
released the oxen, but there was no water for them to drink, as they had thrown away
the water the previous night. They spread out the covering over the carts and the oxen
rested tired and thirsty. The men lay down too, saying, “Without wood and water, we
are lost”.

Everyone was tired and sat down. The merchant thought, “This is no time for me to
sleep. I have to find water. The oxen cannot start unless they get water to drink. The
people need water otherwise they cannot cook rice. If I give up, we will lose. There
must be water somewhere below”. He walked down and down, keeping a close watch
of the ground. Finally, he saw some grass and thought, “There must be water
somewhere below otherwise that grass would not be there”.

He ran back, shrieking to the people, “Get the spade and the hammer”. All of them
jumped up and ran with the merchant to the spot where he saw the grass. They started
digging and after much toil, they struck a rock. After this, they could dig no further. The
merchant jumped down into the hole they had dug and kept his ear to the rock. He
called to them, “I can hear water running under this rock. We must not give up”. Then,
the merchant came out of the hole and said to the serving boy, “My boy, if you give
up, we are lost. Please go down and try”.

The boy stood up raising the hammer high above his head and hit the rock with his full
strength. He didn’t give up, thinking the words of the merchant. Every time the hammer
came down, he thought that everyone must be saved. Ultimately, the rock broke, the
boy hardly got any time to come out of the hole and it was full of water. All the men
drank water, as if they could never get enough. They watered the oxen and took bath.

After drinking and bathing, they split the extra wooden yokes and axles from their carts.
They made a fire out of it and cooked their rice. They had their meal and rested through
the day. They also placed a flag on the well, so that the passing travellers could see
and have water. After the sunset, they started their journey and reached the town in
the morning. They sold the goods making huge profits and happily returned back to
their village.

Moral: Will and Determination can achieve anything.

JATAKA STORIES ANALYSIS
The Jatakas are amongst the earliest Buddhist literature, dating their average
contents to around the 4th century BCE. The Jataka tales are a voluminous body of
literature native to India concerning the previous births of Gautama Buddha in both
human and animal form. The future Buddha may appear as a king, an outcast, a
god, an elephant- but, in whatever form, he exhibits some virtue that the tale thereby
inculcates.
In Theravada Buddhism, the Jatakas are a textual division of the Pali Canon,
included in the Khuddaka Nikaya of the Sutta Pitaka. The term Jataka may also refer
to a traditional commentary on this book.
Jataka tales were composed during the 4th century BC in Pali language. The Jataka
Tales were written for the mankind to gain knowledge. Jataka tales have 550
Buddhist stories connected to the past incarnations of the Buddha which were meant
to teach values like self-sacrifice, honesty and morality.
The Merchant of Seri and The Sandy Road are two stories from the Jataka
collection. These stories share certain characteristics in terms of their themes, the
characters and morals. Both the stories work on the themes of honesty, dedication,
good-faith, determination, will, business and profit.
In The Sandy Road, the merchant is portrayed as hard-working. He is shown to be
sincere towards his work as he plans to travel a long way by taking so much pain in
order to gain some profit. In The Merchant of Seri the first merchant is also
hardworking and sincere though the other one is greedy but he also works hard for
his earning.
The merchant is The Sandy Road is honest and determined. Once he and his
companions finish the water they had, and were in need of it, the merchant begins to
run here and there in search of it and finally finds a place from where they could get
water. He encourages the boy to hit the rock and thereby get water. He was
determined and hence, he succeeded in making a huge profit.
In the other story, The Merchant of Seri, also the merchant was earnest and truthful.
He too could have been lured to fool the lady and her granddaughter but his honesty
and sincerity got him the gold plate which ultimately fetch him huge profit. He did not
have any negative intentions and hence he succeeded.
Hence, the main characters in both the stories have stark resemblance. They are
committed to their work and that too with honesty and good faith. They did not use ill
means in order to make quick gains.
The other merchant who was dishonest wanted everything without any hard-work
and therefore, in the end he remained empty handed.
The moral of both the tales is to remain dedicated, determined, honest and sincere
towards everything in life. To succeed in life, one has to work diligently for the same.
This idea is successfully developed through these two stories. It shows both the
sides of profit making- through honesty and through ill means.
The moral of the story The Merchant of Seri is “Honesty is the best policy”. This moral
is inculcated through the character of the merchant who remains truthful and genuine
which assists him in gaining large profits. It passes the message that good intention
always leads to good consequences.

The moral of the story The Sandy Road is “Will and Determination can achieve
anything”. This is indeed a powerful moral. It showcases the ability to not give up even
under harsh circumstances and passes the message to the readers and audience to
fight opposing conditions with courage and strength.

There are certain differences among the tales as well. While The Sandy Road
focusses more on the determination, the Merchant Of Seri emphasises more on
honesty and values.
In The Sandy Road the merchant uses his intelligence to find the patch of grass and
assumes that there must be water under it. In The Merchant of Seri, the first
merchant though was not shown to be intelligent but was honest. He did not misuse
the negligence of the lady and her granddaughter for his profit. He was honest
enough to tell them that all his goods and money were also less for the plate that
they owned.
The characters of both the stories have their own characteristics which fetch them
profits in their trading activity.
PANCATANTRA AND JATAKA TALES: COMPARE AND CONTRAST
The Pancatantra is an ancient Indian collection of interrelated animal fables in
Sanskrit verse and prose, arranged within a frame story. The Pancatantra Tales was
a work that instructs niti, the art of running the kingdom and in general, to make a
success of life. The surviving work is dated to roughly 200 BCE, based on older oral
tradition. Although the author of the compilation of short fable stories remains
unknown, the text was compiled by Vishnu Sharma.
Pancatantra were written in 200 BC in the Sanskrit language. It belongs to the class
of fable literature in Sanskrit the term ‘Pancatantra’ can be translated to Five
Treatises. These collections are namely- The Separation of Friends, The Gaining of
Friends, The Story of Crows and Owls, The Monkey and The Crocodile and The
Brahmaani and The Mongoose. Stories like The Crane and The Crab is from Book 1:
The Separation of Friends and The Monkey and The Crocodile is from Book 4: Loss
of Gains.
Pancatantra stories are the oldest surviving fables from Ancient India. The purpose
behind the composition of Pancatantra was to implant moral values and governing
skills in the three young sons of the king. These stories have been very popular
since then and are especially loved by kids as bedtime stories.
The Pancatantra tales preach the important lessons of life to children by mostly
using animals as their central characters. These animals are personified and are
given human attributes like feelings, expressions and voices. In the Pancatantra
stories, The Monkey and The Crocodile and The Crane and The Crab, through
personification of animals, human characteristics like intention, livelihood,
mindfulness, intelligence, wit and presence of mind are portrayed.
Composed in Sanskrit about 1600 years ago, its lively stories, and its simple but
vivid prose punctuated by pithy verses, assured it a continuing place of prominence
in classical literature through the centuries. On account of its uncomplicated and
easy-to-understand diction it has been particularly popular. The belief that it is
suitable only for children is a misnomer. In fact, it has an enduring appeal for all
ages, and all times alike. Stories of The Monkey and The Crocodile, The Crane and
The Crab, Union is Strength, The Cat’s Judgement and The Elephants and the Mice
are still popularly read among households.
The Panchatantra has been translated into numerous languages around the world
with their own distinct versions of the text. Given the work's allegorical nature and
political intent, it was subject to diverse interpretations in the course of its cultural
and linguistic transmission. Consequently, the various extant versions of the
Panchatantra in existence today not only contain hermeneutical challenges for
literary critics but also provide interesting case studies for cross-cultural and cross-
linguistic textual syncretism.
The standard Pali collection of the Jataka tales, with canonical text embedded, has
been translated by E. B. Cowell and others, originally published in six volumes by
Cambridge University Press, 1895-1907; reprinted in three volumes, Pali Text
Society, Bristol. There are also numerous translations of selections and individual
stories from various languages.
The influence of Vishnu Sharma’s stories has been vast. By the 3rd and 4th
centuries The Pancatantra Tales had already been translated into Syriac and Arabic
from the original version in Sanskrit, in the 1st and 2nd centuries AD. Subsequently
there were versions in Paisachi, Pahlavi and Prakrit. The Pancatantra Tales has
been translated into 50 different languages with 200 different versions.
On the contrary, Jataka tales are a voluminous body of literature native to India
concerning the previous births of Gautama Buddha in both animal and human form.
The Jatakas are amongst the earliest Buddhist literature. It was composed by the
members of the Sangha of each Buddhist sub tradition. These stories also develop
values in the minds of children as well as adults and illustrate different teachings of
Buddha.
The overall purpose of the Pali Jatakas is to show how the Buddha lived many lives
with the goal of realizing enlightenment. The Buddha was born and reborn in the
forms of humans, animals, and superhuman beings, but always he made a great
effort to reach his goal.
It preaches the four noble truths and the eightfold path of Buddhism. In the story of
The Merchant of Seri from the Jataka tales we learn to follow the path of truth
through the first merchant. The other merchant was greedy and hence he suffered
as suffering (Dukkha) is caused by desire and craving (Samudaya) according to the
four noble truths. Had he eliminated his greed and followed the path of truth and
been honest in his trade he would not have lost the profits. The story teaches us to
live life with honesty and simplicity.
In The Sandy Road, we learnt about the determination which enables us to achieve
anything. The story throws light on the common life of people, their economic
conditions and social manners. The story taking its inspiration from the eight-fold
path of Buddhism explains how simplicity, effort, honesty, mindfulness and right view
can aid humans to reach higher levels.
Jataka tales work on the 5, 8, 10 pre-sets of Buddhism such as always tell the truth,
do not steal, do not attend to amusements, eat moderately and do not be greedy.
These pre-sets emphasise continually of a life of simplicity so that individuals are not
deviated from the right path. Merchants in both the tales who come across as good
persons follow some of the given pre-sets.
These Jataka stories work on the principles from the Buddhist philosophy and this
can be witnessed at various levels as the story progresses. These stories serve as a
guiding principle for the readers and audience. People even today learn various
morals from these short fable stories.
While understanding the nature of each Pancatantra and Jataka tales we come
across various similarities and differences.
The Pancatantra is classified in five books dealing with diverse animals while the
Jataka consists of approximately 550 stories.
The actual objective of both of them is to inculcate moral values and righteousness
among the younger generations so that they could become better people with good
nature. This is facilitated through the moral of the story provided at the end of each
story which basically paraphrases the entire content of the narration.
The moral of The Monkey and The Crocodile is “The wise indeed say: Use
intelligence to win in difficult situations”. This summarises how the Monkey dealt with
the situation where he was trapped but through his patience and calmness, he was
able to get through it.
The moral of The Crane and The Crab is "When things go wrong, use your wit to
overcome the situation". This moral focusses on dealing with practical life scenarios
where wit is required to deal with a circumstance. The Crab used this intelligence of
his to overcome the problem he was deceived into.

The moral of the story The Merchant of Seri is “Honesty is the best policy”. This moral
is inculcated through the character of the merchant who remains truthful and genuine
which assists him in gaining large profits. It passes the message that good intention
always leads to good consequences.
The moral of the story The Sandy Road is “Will and Determination can achieve
anything”. This is indeed a powerful moral. It showcases the ability to not give up
even under harsh circumstances and passes the message to the readers and
audience to fight opposing conditions with courage and strength.
Individual differences among each of the stories do persist but the actual idea and
motive propagated remains constant in all of them.
In the stories, for example, the nature of the character varies. The Jataka tales
consist of characters in the human forms unlike the characters in Pancatantra which
are given animal like form.
Both Pancatantra and Jataka stories initially were passed from generation to
generation through oral tradition before they were finally written down. Story writing
helped in the preservation of the documents thereby maintaining originality.
The Pancatantra was written in the Sanskrit language unlike the Jataka tales which
were written in the Pali language which served as the official language of Buddhism.
We although have a rough idea of the authors in case of Jataka tales but in case of
the Pancatantra the genesis remains undeciphered. The Pancatantra was compiled
by Vishnu Sharma, a Shaiva Brahamin, for the purpose of further teaching the same
to the young sons of King Amarashakti.
Pancatantra and Jataka stories narrate the conditions of the society of their time
periods. Jataka stories, for instance, talks about the trend of Buddhism and the
principles and values that the religion propagated.
Both of these tales were able to survive for such a long period of time due to oral
narration in local, vernacular languages which could be understood by the common
population of the time. The themes Pancatantra and Jataka dealt with were of very
regular, day-to-day concerns involving activities by the common people within the
society. This led to the spread of these short fable stories which is prevalent in the
contemporary world as well.

These charming and helpful stories number in the hundreds, with each life illustrating
different teachings: the Paramitas, the Four Noble Truths, the Bodhisattva Vows, the
Eightfold Path, the Four Abodes, the Six Realms —all engagingly taught in the form
of life stories. Each features the Buddha in diverse forms: he appears as an animal,
a king, a wandering ascetic, a monkey and much more.
Through the centuries these stories have been much more than fairy tales. They
were, and are, taken very seriously for their moral and spiritual teachings. Like all
great myths, these stories are as much about ourselves as they are about the
Buddha. The Jataka Tales are portrayed in dramas and dance. The Ajanta Cave
paintings of Maharashtra, India (ca. 6th century CE) portray Jataka Tales in narrative
order so that people walking through the caves would learn the stories.