Question on panchatantra

[Yaroslav Vassilkov]

Sergei F.Oldenburg in his "Buddiyskiya legendy" (Buddhist legends"; SPb., 1894)produced literary rendering of several
"judgement stories from Vikramodaya" (pp.136-140); a version of Solomonic judgement is treated on pp. 137-138. In the brief foreword to the whole chapter (pp.136-137)Oldenburg says that this work of unknown author is represented by a single MS in India Office Library (No 1957); there is also its Marathi version in 18 parts: Haridas. Vikramacaritra. Bombay, 1863 (Shaka 1785)(British Museum Library, Mar.327). He mentions also the English translation of Vikramacaritra: "Vickram Caritra, or Adventures of Vickramadetea, king of Oujein. Translated from the Prakrit poem of Hurridass into the English language by Ragoba Moroba. Bombay, 1855 (British Museum Library, Mar.327). See also: Aryan an. Early Ideas. A group of Hindoo stories collected and collated.London, 1881 (Chapter VII, The adventures of Vickramaditya, king of Oujein. Pp. 131-141)".
S.F.Oldenburg warnes the reader that Ragoba Moroba omitted in his translation everything that, in his opinion, "bordered on immorality or indecency", so this translation should be used with caution.
Hope this may help
Yaroslav Vassilkov  

-----Original Message-----
From: Peter Wyzlic <pwyzlic at UNI-BONN.DE>
To: INDOLOGY at liverpool.ac.uk
Date: Fri, 9 Mar 2007 12:12:16 +0100
Subject: Re: Question on panchatantra

> 
> On Thu, 8 Mar 2007 11:48:45 -0800
>   Dean Anderson <eastwestcultural at YAHOO.COM> wrote:
>   
> >      I am doing important folklore-related research and 
> >need to learn some details about a story in the 
> >Panchatantra.  I have only read a summary of it in 
> >another book and have not yet been able to find a full 
> >English translation.  According to the summary I read, 
> >two women are traveling together with their infants. 
> > While asleep in a forest, a wolf kills one of the 
> >babies, and the mother swaps the corpse for the other s 
> >child while the latter is still asleep.  A dispute 
> >ensues, and the women appear at the court of Gopicandra, 
> >where they present their case.  A wise parrot advises 
> >that the disputed child be cut in half.  The true mother 
> >objects. This reveals the authenticity of her claim, and 
> >she is awarded the child. 
> > 
> > The reference that was given for the story is 
> >  Vikramodaya, No. 14 in Hertel s Panchatantra (1914), 
> >154.   However, this reference appears to be  inaccurate; 
> >and I have not been able to find a version of this story 
> >in any of the English translations that I ve looked 
> >through.  
> 
> There seems to be a misunderstanding in some answers to 
> this inquiry. The reference to Hertel does not point to a 
> collection of stories named Pancatantra but to Hertel's 
> monograph on the Pancatantra tradition: _Das Pancatantra : 
> seine Geschichte und seine Verbreitung_. Leipzig, 1914. On 
> pages 153-157 he deals with a story found in the Old 
> Gujarati Pancakhyanavarttika (he provides the Old Gujarati 
> in Devanagari characters and a German translation). In its 
> main part the story contains a version of the Solomonic 
> judgement. But it does not contain the particulars as 
> mentioned above (the wolf etc.), and Hertel does not refer 
> to the Vikramodaya.
> 
> The source of this reference seems to me rather an article 
> by Theodor Zachariae: "Indische MДrchen aus den Lettres 
> Иdifiantes et curieuses", in: Zeitschrift des Vereins fЭr 
> Volkskunde. 16 (1906), pp. 129-149 (reprinted in Th. 
> Zachariae: _Kleine Schriften zur indischen Philologie ..._ 
> Bonn und Leipzig, 1920, pp. 145-170). On pages 150 seqq. 
> of the reprint version he deals with a version of the 
> Solomonic judgement found in the Vikramodaya (a rare work, 
> Zachariae knew only one ms. in the India Office Library). 
> Zachariae gives a paraphrase of the story on page 154 
> (reprint version), mainly based on Sergei F. Oldenburg: 
> _Buddiiskiia legendy_. St. Petersburg, 1894, pp. 136-140 
> who was probably the first Western scholar who was aware 
> of this work.
> 
> Hope it helps
> Peter Wyzlic
> 
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