Narrative Analysis of Pañcatantra

Abstract

Pañcatantra is a widely spread and popular text in world literature. Pañcatantra is available in more than 200 versions in over 50 languages, more than 35 of which are non-Indian languages. Pañcatantra though known as a didactic fable its primary intention is to give the lessons of polity, diplomacy and worldly wisdom. This is well understood when the word tantra is decoded using tools of narrative analysis. ‘Box in box tale’ is a remarkable feature of Sanskrit literature. Pañcatantra skillfully uses this to convey the import but at the same time ‘box in box pattern’ is used in such a manner that stories are bound with each other as well as loose. Due to this, they have become popular in an independent manner as well in different languages. The employment of animal characters in the story is yet another remarkable feature of Pañcatantra which has helped to convey the message effectively. The frame story of Viṣṇuśarman is yet another narrative which is attached to Pañcatantra. It’s worth thinking about whether this story is real or fictitious like other stories of Pañcatantra. This paper is an attempt to analyze the narrative features of Pañcatantra to understand the secret of its popularity.