160 Analytical Account of the Pancha Tantra. 



him, and retired ; and Vishnu SarmA, taking the princes with him, repaired 

 to his own house ; where, for their instruction, he composed these five 

 chapters : Mitra bheda, dissension of friends ; Mitra prdpti, acquisition of 

 friends; ^a^<^M-?yff, inveterate enmity ; Ldbdha prasamana, loss of advan- 

 tage ; Aparikshita cdritwa, inconsiderateness. Reading these, the princes 

 were, in six months, highly accomplished ; and the five Tantras became 

 famous througliout the world. Whosoever reads this work, acquires the 

 whole Niti Sdstra, and will never be overthrown by Indra himself." 



The commencement of the Pancha Tantra, which is thus given, differs 

 materially, in some respects, from the HMpadesa, of which the Mitraldbha, 

 or acquisition of friends, constitutes the first, and the Mitra bheda, or dis- 

 sension of friends, the second book. The arrangement of the Pancha Tantra 

 is, no doubt, the original, as the same is observed in the Kalila Damana of 

 Abdallah Mokaffah, exclusive of the avowedly additional prolegomena. 

 It may here also be observed, that in the large collection of stories, made by 

 Scma-deva in the eleventh century, and usually known as the Vrihat Kat'M, 

 we have a chapter appropriated to the same stories, that occur in this section 

 of the Pancha Tantra, following nearly the same order. I shall, therefore, 

 refer occasionally to this series, also in my remarks ; and shall here state, 

 that it begins in the same manner as the Pancha Tantra, and its Arabic 

 translation, with the journey of the merchant, and his abandonment of his 

 ox, Sanjrvaka, in the forests, on the borders of the Yamuna. 



Many varieties of minor importance occur in this part of the story, not 

 only as related in the Hitopadesa, but as told in different copies of the 

 Pancha Tantra. They are, however, of no consequence. It is only worth 

 while to observe, that the different copies of tiie latter agree in naming 

 Mihildrdpya,* as not only the residence of Amara Sacti, but as the city 

 whence the merchant departs. One manuscript has a laboured description 

 the splendour and strength of the town. Now, in general, inboth the Pancha 

 Tan/ra and the Hitopadesa, the places named are real ;t and there seems every 

 reason, therefore, to conclude, that Mihildropya was a city, in the south of 



* In some copies the name is written Mahildropya H. T. C. 



t So Agnolo Firenzuolo, the Florentine translator, has laid the scenes of the several narrative* 

 in various real localities, transferred to Italy. 



