The Panchatantra: Teaching Tales of Old India

Abstract

This version has two great features. First, it illustrates each story. The colored illustrations range from part-page -- like the crocodile on viii -- to full-page -- like Sharma telling stories to the three young men on 7. They help as one makes one way through a long work. Secondly, the original feature of this 348-page edition is that the frame story is told on colored pages, while the individual stories filling in along the way are told on white pages. A reader can let the subsidiary stories go in order to follow the frame story. This clever arrangement can keep a reader on track as we descend through fables within fables. Also, each of the five books has a list of its stories. Again, one has help to know where one is along the way. I would love to have a chance to teach this Panchatantra in a course!