History Literature / Panchatantra

The ''Panchatantra'' (lit. "Five Treatises") are a compilation of UsefulNotes/{{India}}n fables dating back to [[OlderThanFeudalism 200 BCE or earlier]]. In form, they are roughly equivalent to Literature/AesopsFables, but they also bear some resemblance to the ''Literature/ArabianNights'' in how the stories are structured together. Like Aesop’s fables, these fables contain a lot of BeastFable type stories using contemporary Indian animals such as crows, deer, lions and jackals (as opposed to foxes). They do contain a lot of human characters too, as well as deities from Myth/HinduMythology. However, while Aesop’s fables were intended to instill good moral character in its readers, the Panchatantra was designed to teach young princes a more [[HardTruthAesop pragmatic morality]] as befitting future kings. Many stories are therefore much DarkerAndEdgier.

The ''Panchatantra'' (five books of knowledge) are a compilation of UsefulNotes/{{India}}n fables dating back to [[OlderThanFeudalism Vedic times]]. In form, they are roughly equivalent to Literature/AesopsFables, but they also bear some resemblance to the ''Literature/ArabianNights'' in how the stories are structured together. Like Aesop’s fables, these fables contain a lot of BeastFable type stories using contemporary Indian animals such as crows, deer, lions and jackals (as opposed to foxes). They do contain a lot of human characters too, as well as deities from Myth/HinduMythology. However, while Aesop’s fables were intended to instill good moral character in its readers, the Panchatantra was designed to teach young princes a more [[HardTruthAesop pragmatic morality]] as befitting future kings. Many stories are therefore much DarkerAndEdgier.

!! Tropes found here are

* BumblingSidekick: A king takes a nap and asks his pet monkey to fan him and protect him while he sleeps. A wasp flies into the bedchamber and attempts to sting the king. When the monkey tries shooing it off with the fan and fails, he grabs the king’s sword and swings it at the wasp - naturally it misses and scythes his master’s head off instead!
* ColdBloodedTorture / ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice: A barber who murders multiple Jain monks is deemed to suffer this fate by a king.
* DoubleReverseQuadrupleAgent: When the crows fled their hideout, they left behind an old crow who couldn’t keep up with them. He ingratiates himself with the owls, assisting them in their campaign against the crows, supposedly for {{Revenge}}. He is actually baiting the owls into a well laid trap.

* HellIsThatNoise: A lion is terrified out of his wits when he hears the moo of a bull. He’s never ever seen any bovine animal before.
* KillItWithFire: [[spoiler: The crows defeat the owls by trapping them in a cave and roasting them alive by setting fire to the cave’s mouth.]]

* SummonBiggerFish: All over the place. Some birds summon the Hindu god Vishnu to help them against an angry stormy sea. A group of rabbits summon the mysterious “Chandramma” to keep a mad elephant at bay. A jackal keeps a tiger away from the corpse of an elephant he just found, by stating that it was a lion who killed said elephant and that he’d be back soon.

** A pet mongoose killed a snake that was threatening his owner’s baby. He then ran up to his mistress with blood and viscera dripping from his mouth. Since she was unaware of the snake, she immediately assumed that the mongoose had killed her baby [[MamaBear and attacked it]].

* YouCantFightFate: Deconstructed. Vehement belief in this principle causes a fish to ignore warnings of impending danger - and he ends up snared in a fisherman’s net. But two other fish who don’t want to leave their lives up to fate, escape and survive.

* YouCantFightFate: Vehement belief in this principle causes a fish to ignore warnings of impending danger - and he ends up snared in a fisherman’s net.