Animal Fables of India: Narayana's Hitopadesha or Friendly Counsel.
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Authors
Hutchins, Francis G.
Issue Date
1985
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Book, Whole
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Abstract
A lovely sideways book. The introduction is excellent. It advises readers not to swallow any fable whole. Ask rather with each: Who is telling it? And does the story help or mislead? The introduction gives excellent examples of stories that fool people and/or reveal the vice of their tellers. Mistrust the proverbs! (And, boy, are the proverbs plentiful here!) The goals of this work are to help people (originally princes) to listen with care and to speak with finesse. The good notes (265) point to one other vital theme of the Hitopadesha: that how something is said is as important as what is said. I am surprised by the single authorship of this work. I had thought it was a popular collection. Part of the goal is to provide a coherent and inspiriting ethic for rulers. Nice open pages here, with lots of illustrations. The work moves along faster, and with significantly less detail, than Wood's Kalila and Dimna (1982). The fables are listed on 269. Misprint on 94, line 8: forboding.
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Publisher
Amarta Press
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Identifier
1845 (Access ID)