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Arabic collection of fables From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Kalīla wa-Dimna or Kelileh o Demneh (Persian: کلیله و دمنه) is a collection of fables. The book consists of fifteen chapters containing many fables whose heroes are animals. A remarkable animal character is the lion, who plays the role of the king; he has a servant ox Shetrebah, while the two jackals of the title, Kalila and Dimna, appear both as narrators and as protagonists. Its likely origin is the Sanskrit Panchatantra. The book has been translated into many languages, with surviving illustrations in manuscripts from the 13th century onwards.
 | You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in Arabic. (April 2019) Click [show] for important translation instructions.
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The two jackals of the title, Kalila and Dimna. Arabic illustration, 1220 | |
| Author | Unknown (originally Sanskrit, translated by Ibn al-Muqaffa') |
|---|---|
| Original title | كليلة ودمنة |
| Translator | Ibn al-Muqaffa' |
| Language | Arabic, Middle Persian |
| Subject | Fables |
| Genre | Beast fable |
| Published | 8th century (Arabic translation) |
| Publication place | Abbasid Caliphate |
| Media type | Manuscript |
The book is based on the c. 200 BC Sanskrit text Panchatantra. It was translated into Middle Persian in the sixth century by Borzuya.[1][2][3] It was subsequently translated into Arabic in the eighth century by the Persian Ibn al-Muqaffa'.[4] King Vakhtang VI of Kartli made a translation from Persian to Georgian in the 18th century.[5] His work, later edited by his mentor Sulkhan-Saba Orbeliani, has been used as a reference while determining the possible original text, along with an earlier unfinished translation by King David I of Kakheti.[6]
The King Dabschelim is visited by the philosopher Bidpai who tells him a collection of stories of anthropomorphised animals with important morals for a King. The stories are in response to requests of parables from Dabschelim and they follow a Russian doll format, with stories interwoven and nested to some depth. There are fifteen main stories, acting as frame stories with many more stories within them. The two jackals, Kalila and Dimna, feature both as narrators of the stories and as protagonists within them. They work in the court of the king, Bankala the lion. Kalila is happy with his lot, whereas Dimna constantly struggles to gain fame. The stories are allegories set in a human social and political context, and in the manner of fables illustrate human life.
Manuscripts of the text have for many centuries and translated into other languages contained illustrations to accompany the fables.
This edition of Kalīla wa-Dimna is now in the Bibliothèque nationale de France (BNF Arabe 3465).[7] It dates to the first quarter of the 13th century (usually dated c.1220 CE).[7]
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French translation of Kalila wa Dimna, Raymond de Béziers, dated to 1313 CE. Now in the Bibliothèque Nationale de France (BNF Latin 8504).[10]
![Thumb](#/media/File:"Kalila_and_Dimna_Discussing_Dimna's_Plans_to_Become_a_Confidante_of_the_Lion",_Folio_from_a_Kalila_wa_Dimna_MET_DP300729.jpg)
Ibn al-Muqaffa's translation of the Middle Persian manuscript of Kalila and Dimna is considered a masterpiece of Arabic and world literature.[11][12] In 1480, Johannes Gutenberg published Anton von Pforr's German version, Buch der Beispiele der alten Weisen. La Fontaine, in the preface to his second collection of Fables, explicitly acknowledged his debt to "the Indian sage Pilpay".[13] The collection has been adapted in plays,[14][15][16] cartoons,[17] and commentary works.[18][19]
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