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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.
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
Manuscripts of the text have for many centuries and translated into other languages contained illustrations to accompany the fables.
The crows and the owls. Syrian painter, c. 1300–1325
The jackals Kalila and Dimna look on as the snake and the elephant fight. Arabic, 1340
"Barzueh heals the sick". 1346–1347
Hare fools Elephant by showing the moon's reflection. Arabic, 1354
The turtle and the monkey. Persian, Timurid school, c. 1410–1420
A page from a Persian manuscript, dated 1429
The lion eats the bull, as the two jackals look on. Painted in Herat, 1430
The jackals Kalila and Dimna in their den. Herat school, 1431
Fanzah refuses to return to the King. Probably made for Pir Budaq, Baghdad?, c. 1460
"Kalila and Dimna Discussing Dimna's Plans to Become a Confidante of the Lion". 18th century
Armenian translation of The story of seven sages, 1740
Legacy
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]
^Kinoshita, Sharon (2008). "Translation, empire, and the worlding of medieval literature: the travels of Kalila wa Dimna". Postcolonial Studies. 11 (4): 371–385. doi:10.1080/13688790802456051.
^"Kalila and Dimna". Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA. Archived from the original on 12 January 2024. Retrieved 2 September 2023.
^Ვახტანგ VI. Საქართველოს ილუსტრირებული ისტორია. პალიტრა L. 2015. Archived from the original on 24 October 2021. Retrieved 3 May 2019.
^Stillman, Yedida K. (2003). Arab dress: a short history; from the dawn of Islam to modern times (Rev. 2. ed.). Brill. p. Plate 30. ISBN978-90-04-11373-2.
aka: Tantrakhyayika — Panchakhyana — Kalila wa Dimna — Calila e Dimna - The Lights of Canopus — The Fables of Bidpai/Pilpay — The Moral Philosophy of Doni — Tantri Kamandaka — Nandaka-prakarana
![Kalila wa Dimna BNF Arabe 3465, folio 34r. Frontispiece.[8]](File:Kalila_wa_Dimna_BNF_Arabe_3465,_folio_34r.jpg)
![Kalila wa Dimna BNF Arabe 3465, folio 20v. King wearing the aqabā' turkī with uninscribed tiraz armbands.[9]](File:Kalila_wa_Dimna_BNF_131v_(king_detail).jpg)
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