The Panchatantra is an ancient Indian collection of interrelated animal fables in Sanskrit verse and prose, arranged within a frame story. The text's author is unknown, but it has been attributed to V
The first page of oldest surviving Panchatantra text in Sanskrit
An 18th-century Pancatantra manuscript page in Braj ("The Talkative Turtle")
A Panchatantra relief at the Mendut temple, Central Java, Indonesia
A Panchatantra manuscript page
The Brahmin and the Mongoose is a folktale from India, and "one of the world's most travelled tales". It describes the rash killing of a loyal animal, and thus warns against hasty action. The story un
Indian grey mongoose
The woman and the mongoose Panchatantra fable is engraved in many historic Hindu temples such as at the 8th-century Virupaksha temple at Pattadakal (the middle panel).
Gelert by Charles Burton Barber (1845–1894)