Which one of the following statements about the famous text of Panchatantra is correct?
- (a)It is a philosophical text reflecting the debates of the time and refuting rival positions.
- (b)It is a text ushering in linguistics as a formal science.
- (c)It is a text discussing developments in various spheres of natural sciences.
- (d)It is a text showing through illustration what should and should not be done.
Correct — D, It is a text showing through illustration what should and should not be done. The Panchatantra is a Sanskrit collection of animal fables in five books, framed as a course of instruction: a king despairs of his three dull sons and hands them to a teacher who undertakes to make them worldly-wise, and the fables are the teaching. The subject is niti — practical conduct, statecraft, the handling of friends, enemies and money — and it is taught not by argument but by illustration, one story opening inside another so that a maxim is always demonstrated rather than asserted. That is exactly what option (d) describes. The book's travels confirm the character: it was turned into Pahlavi in the sixth century and from there into Arabic as Kalila wa Dimna, and through Persian, Syriac, Greek, Hebrew and Latin it became one of the most widely translated books of the pre-modern world — carried everywhere as a manual of worldly wisdom, not as philosophy or science.
- (a)It is a philosophical text reflecting the debates of the time and refuting rival positions. — That describes the shastra and bhashya literature — works such as the Nyaya and Mimamsa treatises, which state an opponent's position and refute it. The Panchatantra argues with nobody; it tells stories.
- (b)It is a text ushering in linguistics as a formal science. — That is Panini's Ashtadhyayi, the grammar that made the analysis of Sanskrit a formal system. The two are sometimes confused because both are early and both begin with 'Pa'.
- (c)It is a text discussing developments in various spheres of natural sciences. — Works of that kind exist — the Charaka and Sushruta Samhitas in medicine, the Aryabhatiya in astronomy — but the Panchatantra is not one of them. Its animals are vehicles for advice about human conduct, not observations of natural history.
The Panchatantra is a Sanskrit nitishastra in the form of interlinked animal fables, arranged in five books — the loss of friends, the winning of friends, war and peace, loss of gains, and hasty action. Tradition ascribes it to Vishnu Sharma, who is said to have composed it to make three princes fit to rule. It teaches by example, embedding a moral verse in a story and often a story inside a story.
The item can be answered by elimination if you can place the other three options with named texts: formal linguistics belongs to Panini, debate and refutation to the philosophical schools, natural science to the medical and astronomical Samhitas. What remains is instruction by illustration, which is the fable's whole method. A useful check is the title itself — pancha-tantra, five treatises or five systems — and the framing device of a teacher taking on unpromising pupils. The Hitopadesha is its close relative and draws on it, so the two are commonly offered together as distractors.
- The Panchatantra is arranged in five books of interlinked animal fables and is traditionally ascribed to Vishnu Sharma.
- Its subject is niti — practical conduct and statecraft — taught by illustration rather than by argument.
- It was translated into Pahlavi in the sixth century and thence into Arabic as Kalila wa Dimna, from which the European versions descend.
- The Hitopadesha is a later Sanskrit collection that borrows heavily from the Panchatantra and is often confused with it.
Three of the four descriptions belong to other Indian traditions; only the last fits a book of fables.
- Confusing the Panchatantra with the Hitopadesha, which borrows from it but is a later work.
- Treating animal fables as natural history — the animals stand in for human types.
- Assigning the formal study of language to any text other than Panini's grammar.
Either as a straight description-matching item like this one, or through the translation chain — Kalila wa Dimna is a favourite hook.
With reference to Indian history, consider the following texts: 1. Nettipakarana 2. Parishishtaparvan 3. Avadanashataka 4. Trishashtilakshana Mahapurana Which of the above are Jaina texts?
- (a) 1, 2 and 3
- (b) 2 and 4 only
- (c) 1, 3 and 4
- (d) 2, 3 and 4
Answer(b) 2 and 4 only
The same skill in a harder register — placing a classical Indian text in the right tradition from its title alone. UPSC asks which of four are Jaina works; CDS asks what kind of book the Panchatantra is. Both are won by knowing what each named text sets out to do.
The book, Kalila wa Dimna is an Arabic translation of the
- (a) Hitopadesha
- (b) Panchatantra
- (c) Suryasiddhanta
- (d) Kathasaritsagar
Answer(b) Panchatantra
The same book seen through its afterlife. Kalila wa Dimna is the Arabic Panchatantra, and the two jackal ministers of its title, Karataka and Damanaka, come straight from the Sanskrit first book — the strongest evidence that what travelled was a manual of conduct.
- practice — not a real PYQ
The Panchatantra is traditionally ascribed to which one of the following?
- (a)Vishnu Sharma
- (b)Kalidasa
- (c)Bhasa
- (d)Dandin
Answer(a) Vishnu Sharma — tradition makes him the teacher who composed the five books to instruct three princes in niti.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Which one of the following best describes the subject matter of a nitishastra such as the Panchatantra?
- (a)Ritual procedure for Vedic sacrifice
- (b)Practical conduct and statecraft
- (c)Rules of Sanskrit grammar
- (d)Theories of poetic sentiment
Answer(b) Practical conduct and statecraft — niti is the art of getting on in the world, taught through worked examples.