Panchatantra

The Panchatantra (IAST: Pañcatantra, Sanskrit: पञ्चतन्त्र, پنچ تنتر 'Five Principles') is an ancient Indian inter-related collection of animal fables in verse and prose, in a frame story format. The original Sanskrit work, which some scholars believe was composed in the 3rd century BCE, is attributed to Vishnu Sharma. It is based on older oral traditions, including "animal fables that are as old as we are able to imagine", including the Buddhist Jataka Tales. It is "certainly the most frequently translated literary product of India", and these stories are among the most widely known in the world. The stories are excellent and rarely some of them are familiar too. To quote Edgerton (1924):