Hitopadesha
Topic: Gupta Empire and the Classical Age · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
The Hitopadesha ("Good Advice") is a collection of animal fables, which are short stories with a moral, written in Sanskrit. Its author is Narayana. It was written to teach young princes good conduct and niti, the wise handling of politics and people. Many of its stories are taken from the older Panchatantra, but they are rearranged and new verses are added. It was probably written in Bengal. Its date is uncertain, but it is clearly later than the Gupta age.
Example
In the Hitopadesha, a scholar teaches three foolish princes through stories. In one well-known story, a group of pigeons are caught in a hunter's net. They fly away together, still inside the net, and a friendly mouse frees them. The lesson is that unity and friendship bring safety.
Don't confuse with
- Panchatantra: the older collection of fables, linked with Vishnusharma. The Hitopadesha is a later reworking that is based on it.
Related concepts
- Aryabhata
- Aryabhatiya
- Hindu-Arabic numerals
- Bakhshali manuscript
- Surya Siddhanta
- Varahamihira
- Bhaskara I
- Virahanka
- Kalidasa
- Abhijnanashakuntalam