[INDOLOGY] Identifying a verse

[Klaus Karttunen]

Still more precisely, Anvār-i Suhailī is Persian version (once removed) of Ibn al-Muqaffa’’s Arabic Kalila wa Dimna, which is based on Burzōe’s lost Middle Persian translation of the Pañcatantra. The story in question is the last in the fifth chapter of the KwD (no. 37 in Chauvin’s numbering). In Pañcatantra it is 1, 11 of Edgerton, 1, 17 of the Tantrākhyāyika, and 1, 28 of Pūrṇabhadra. With John of Capua it entered European literature, thus e.g. La Fontaine 9, 1 “Le dépositaire infidèle” is a new version of the same. In Anvār-i S. it is the last (28th) story of the first book in Wollaston’s translation.

Best,
Klaus

Klaus Karttunen
South Asian and Indoeuropean Studies
Asian and African Studies, Department of World Cultures
PL 59 (Unioninkatu 38 B)
00014 University of Helsinki, FINLAND
Tel +358-(0)2941 4482418
Fax +358-(0)2941 22094
Klaus.Karttunen at helsinki.fi






> On 06 Nov 2017, at 13:38, Dermot Killingley via INDOLOGY <indology at list.indology.info> wrote:
> 
> The Persian version mentioned by Tyler is more precisely a version of the one in 
> Purnabhadra's Pancatantra, Book I.
> 
> Dermot Killingley
> 
> On 5 Nov 2017 at 20:40, Tyler Williams via INDOLOGY wrote:
> 
> (In the Persian version, a merchant leaves an amount of iron with a neighbor, who sells it, 
> telling the merchant that it has been eaten by mice. The merchant kidnaps the man's son, 
> and tells him that a hawk carried the boy off. The punchline is the same: in a town where 
> mice can eat iron, certainly a hawk can pick up a boy.) 
> 
> Best,
> TWW
> 
> 
> On Sun, Nov 5, 2017 at 8:38 PM, Tyler Williams <tylerwwilliams at gmail.com> wrote:
>    Dear Greg, 
> 
>    This story does indeed appear in the Kathasaritasagara, and in the Persian Anvar-i 
>    Suhaili. Sorry that I don't have the exact reference.
> 
>    Best,
>    Tyler
> 
> 
> 
>    On Sun, Nov 5, 2017 at 7:50 PM, Greg Bailey via INDOLOGY 
>    <indology at list.indology.info> wrote:
>    Dear Lost,
> 
>    A friend who is not on the list asked me for some information about this 
>    brief story which he believes may be expressed in a few ´slokas. It strikes 
>    me that it may come from somewhere in the Kath?sarits?gara. Any 
>    suggestions would be much appreciated.
> 
> 
>    I am writing to get some reference to a Sanskrit stanza (Shloka) which 
>    relates to an ancient Indian story. To put this in context the story 
>    goes as follows:
> 
>    An itinerant trader leaves a bowl made of gold for safe-keeping with a 
>    friend, to look after it while he is away. On his return, the trader 
>    finds that the friend had substituted the bowl to one of brass. The 
>    trader realizes that he had been cheated but says nothing. Years later 
>    the friend asks the trader to teach his son the art of trading. The 
>    trader takes the son to his home. A few years later, the friend comes 
>    to pick his son, but finds to his horror the son tied to a tree like a 
>    monkey and trained to act like one. Aghast, the friend asks what 
>    happened. And the trader replies, "Just like gold can turn to brass, so 
>    can a boy turn to a monkey".
> 
>    There is, I believe, a Sanskrit shloka which tells this story in verse. 
>    I am looking for a reference to the Sanskrit text.
> 
>    Cheers,
> 
>    Greg Bailey
> 
> 
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> 
> 
> -- 
> Dermot Killingley
> 9, Rectory Drive,
> Gosforth,
> Newcastle upon Tyne NE3 1XT
> Phone (0191) 285 8053
> 
> 
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