Hitopadesha - Translations

Translations

Hitopadesha has been translated into most of the major languages and has been circulated all around the world. The Emperor Akbar (1542–1605) commended the work of translating it to his own minister Abul Fazl. He accordingly put the book into a familiar style, and published it with explanations, under the title of the Criterion of Wisdom. He followed the Emperor's suggestion that the incantions which often interrupt the narrative be abridged.

After Sir William Jones, who had encountered it in 1786, announced his "discovery", it was translated into English by Charles Wilkins, who had made the earliest English translation of the Bhagavad Gita. Jones himself also made a translation shortly thereafter. An English translation by Sir Edwin Arnold, then Principal of Puna College, Pune, India, was published in London in 1861.

One of the most widely read Sanskrit books in India, Hitopadesha tales are short stories that have the priceless treasure of morality and knowledge. After Bhagavad Gita, Hitopadesha is considered to be the most sold religious text in India. The tales from Hitopadesha are written in a very logical and clear way and one does not have to make much effort to figure out what moral a particular story is implying. The stories feature animals and birds as main characters.