Panchatantra is one of the oldest collections of stories for
children in the world and is also believed to be the first anthology of animal
stories. The story of the origin of Panchatantra is as interesting as the
stories in the five books originally written in Sanskrit.
Legend has it that thousands of years ago, there lived a
king in India .
He had three foolish sons. The king was worried about their future.
One day he asked his ministers to suggest a way to make his
sons wise and fit for the world. One minister asked the king to take the
help of an old teacher named Vishnu Sharma.
Eighty-year-old Vishnu Sharma was invited to the palace and
king explained about the nature of his sons to the old teacher. Vishnu Sharma immediately
agreed to make the princes wise and intelligent.
He took permission from the king to take the three sons for
six months with him.
The three princes lived in the ashram of Vishnu Sharma for
next six months.
Daily, the old teacher told them stories with a maxim. The
stories were interesting as the characters in it were mostly animals. The
princes enjoyed the funny situations and the maxims in the end made them sit
and think.
After six months, Vishnu Sharma and the princes arrived at the
palace. The joy of king knew no bounds; his sons had become intelligent,
practical and wise.
King wanted to know what miracle Vishnu Sharma had done. The
old teacher replied, “I merely told them some stories.”
These stories were then collected for the welfare
of the world in five books and came to be known as Panchatantra.