PAÑCATANTRA. The Pañcatantra is a collection of animal stories, in Sanskrit, compiled by an unknown author some time prior to the sixth (possibly as early as the fourth) century CE. Many of the stories were doubtless drawn from the great mass of Indian oral tradition, and part at least are of Buddhist origin, as may be seen from their close affinities to the Jātakas, or stories of the prior births of the Buddha. The Pañcatantra belongs in part to a class of works known as nītiśāstra ("science of right conduct") and partly also to the closely allied arthaśāstra ("science of polity"), which involves the practical and shrewd knowledge needed by an Indian king to rule his kingdom and conduct its internal and extermal affairs efficiently. Because of their practical and worldly purpose, the Pañcatantra...