Folk tales depicts the earliest tradition and culture of the people. Folk literature comprising stories ballads, songs, proverbs and riddles is essentially an oral tradition. Folk tales of different regions in the world represent a way of thoughts, ideas, traditions, manners and customs and even the incidence of wit and wisdom of the people of the region.
King and Vishnusaraman(Hitopdesa)
Tbenfey’s publication of Panchtantra published in 1859 with the theory that India was the storehouse of the stories from which European folk tales had been derived, was a landmark. Scholars have found a common origin from Persian and Indian folk stories. Many stories have migrated to Europe. Aesop’s fables, stories of Katha Sarit Sagar , or Hitopdesha in Sanskrit, Jataka in Pali , Fairy tales of Grimm and Hans Anderson are now, not meant for any particular age or any particular region.
The collection of three most popular folk tales are:
Panchtantra Tales :
Animal stories of Panchtantra are generally imaginary in background. They are always intensely human, often emotional and ending with a moral. They not only amuse but are a source of enjoyment and education. They provide an insight into the tradition and culture of the region. The thrills that the people miss in their drab existence are sought to be tasted in the imaginary stories of ogres, men, animals, birds, and trees. The folk tales not only represent the realities of human life in that region but also what people would like things to be.
Nothing appeals to children more than the idea that animals and birds should talk, be it sense or nonsense. What appears first to be nonsense has more of sense in it than nonsense. They reflect common sense and folk wisdom, which everyone in any culture learns from childhood onwards.
Hitopadesa:
The Hitopadesa expounds in its popular form through fables. It is the version of Panchtantra from where it drew its material. The structure of the Hitopdesa is similar to the Panchtantra It’s study gives knowledge of niti. It is a collection of animal and human fables in prose intended to impart instruction on worldly wisdom. All stories conclude with a moral.
The basic narrative describes a king, worried that his son’s lack learning and becoming wayward. The King summoned an assembly of wise men and asked who among them can cause his sons to be ‘born again‘ by teaching them niti. A great pandit Vishnusarman took the challenge. The princes are entrusted to Visnusarman and he instructs them by narrating the four books of Hitopdesa, each with its own mixed stories within stories illustrated with epigrammatic verses.
Hitopadesa is one of the best known and most widely translated works of Sanskrit literature It is in four books each with its own mixed stories within stories illustrated with epigrammatic verses. It’s study gives knowledge of niti. The work is in Sanskrit and carries the connotations of worldly wisdom, prudence and propriety, as well as it leads to guide appropriate policy and conduct through politics and statesmanship which was relevant at that time.
The work is in Sanskrit and carries the connotations of worldly wisdom, prudence and propriety, as well as it leads to guide appropriate policy and conduct by extension, politics and statesmanship which was relevant at that time. It is a collection of animal and human fables in prose intended to impart instruction on worldly wisdom.
Today, the collection of stories of Panchatantra are a real boon for parents to help them guide their children towards values in human life. All stories of Panchatantra are accompanied by a moral.
Jatakas:
The Jataka is a massive collection of Buddhist folklore about previous incarnations of the Buddha, both in human and animal form, originally written in Pali, and dating to at least 380 BCE. The stories come from many sources and have a multitude of authors. Indian Sanskrt works such as Katha sarit sagara, Dasa Kuamaracarita, Pancatantra and Hitopadesa contain similar stories.
Besides literature, painting, sculpture and architecture in many parts of the world carry the message of jataka stories. The principal figure of these stories is Bodhisattva, who is shown in innumerable characters not necessarily human. He takes the form of a pigeon, a deer, a swan each of which representing an account of the previous life of Gautam Buddha. Bodhisattva is a being of a divine order.
Jataka stories are painted in Ajanta murals, painted between 200BC to 5-6 c. AD. Scholars have studied and identified about a dozen of Jataka stories on the walls of Ajanta. They are narrated beautifully in six caves.