The Book of Good Counsels - From the Sanskrit of the "Hitopadesa" - Kostenloses Hörbuch
1/7Dedication and Preface
Zusammenfassung
The Book of Good Counsels is Sir Edwin Arnold's English rendering of the Hitopadesha, a collection of Sanskrit fables compiled in India many centuries ago and traditionally credited to a writer named Narayana. Arnold, a Victorian poet and journalist later known for The Light of Asia, published his version in 1861, translating the prose stories into English prose and many of the inset maxims into verse.
The book uses a frame story. A king, troubled that his sons are idle and ignorant, entrusts them to a wise teacher, who promises to make them wise in a short time by telling them stories. The tales are arranged in four parts, which deal in turn with winning friends, losing friends through rivalry and deceit, waging war, and making peace. Animals take most of the roles: crows, deer, mice, jackals, lions, tortoises and birds argue, scheme and help one another, and stories often nest inside other stories. Along the way the characters quote short sayings about prudence, loyalty, statecraft and the uses of wealth.
The Hitopadesha is closely related to the older Panchatantra and belongs to a fable tradition that travelled far beyond India. Its blend of humour, cunning and plain advice makes it easy to dip into. It will appeal to listeners interested in Indian literature, fables and folk wisdom, or the history of storytelling.
Über
The term ‘Hitopadesha’ is a combination of two Sanskrit terms, ‘Hita’ (welfare/ benefit) and ‘Upadesha’ (counsel). As the term suggests, The Hitopadesha is a collection of tales that gives good counsel.
Hitopadesa was presumably written by Narayan Pandit and is an independent treatment of the Vishnu Sarman's Panchatantra (3rd century BC) which it resembles in form. In Hitopadesha, Vishnu Sarman is depicted as a Sage who undertakes to give good counsel to the sons of Sudarsana, the king of Pataliputra, through stories within stories involving talking animals. The dating of Hitopadesha is problematic as no other work by Narayan Pandit is known. The earliest manuscript of Hitopadesha dates from 1373; it could be of East Indian origin during the Pala Empire (8th-12th centuries).
This book is a condensed but faithful transcript of Hitopadesha in sense and manner rendered in English by Sir Edwin Arnold. Sir Edwin says in the Preface that the Hitopadesa may be styled 'The father of all Fables'; for "from its numerous translations come Esop and Piplay and in latter days, 'Reineke Fuchs'." Summary by Jothi
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