What is the origin of the book Kalila and Dimna?

The origin of the book Kalila and Dimna

It is a book consisting of a collection of symbolic tales that originated in India in the third century AD, and were collected and classified in Kashmir. The collection of tales has witnessed many changes over the centuries, especially because of their translation into many languages, such as: Persian, Arabic, Hebrew, and Syriac. , Ethiopian, Malay, Mongolian, Greek, and many European languages; Most translators added their own material.

History of the book Kalila and Dimna

In its content and the form of its story, the Kalila and Dimna collection is similar to other books presented from Indian sources, which are stories with abstract ideas. Kalila and Dimna includes a group of symbolic and moral tales about birds and animals, and generally tells about a doctor called Barzuwayh, who, at the request of the king Knight searched for plants whose juice would bring health to the sick and immortality to their lives, and eventually the doctor learned that such “plants” were symbols of books of wisdom that help humans achieve eternal life. When Barzowayh told the king about his discovery, the king ordered the collection of all these books from every citizen. And a traveler, and put it in his treasury. Among these collected books is the book Kalila and Dimna, and The Essence of Wisdom and Morals. The bulk of the book consists of the king’s inquiries, and some editions of the book, including Hebrew translations, were attached with pictures.

The Book of Kalila and Dimna is considered one of the oldest Arabic texts to be interpreted. Kalila and Dimna was first translated into Arabic, by Ibn al-Muqaffa, from the Pahlavi version, which is now lost. The illustration for the story of the Crane and the Crab is considered to be from The oldest Arabic version of Kalila and Dimna, dated 1220 AD, was created in Syria, and is now preserved in the French National Library in Paris. The story is based on the Indian frame tale. The Five Books (Panchatantra), a collection of Sanskrit proverbs. The work has been translated into many Of the languages, the main characters of the book are two jackals named Kalila and Dimna. They tell stories of conspiracies and intrigues in the lion kingdom, and each story ends with a moral lesson.

Translated by Ibn al-Muqaffa

The symbolic tales in the book Kalila and Dimna were translated into Arabic in the eighth century by the Persian Ibn al-Muqaffa. Ibn al-Muqaffa’s translation is considered an unsurpassed masterpiece of Arabic artistic prose, and is based on many translations into European and Eastern languages, dating from the tenth century to the The fourteenth is based on Ibn al-Muqaffa’s translated copy, and the influence of his translation also appears in important Western literary works, such as: La Fontaine’s Legends, and the book Kalila and Dimna is a kind of mirror for princes, in which questions of social life and princely wisdom were explained on the basis of taken stories. From the animal kingdom, the manuscript known in Egypt from about 1310 is probably the oldest Arabic-language manuscript known from the XNUMXth century.