Famous Panchatantra Stories in English
Childhood’s Most Favourite Stories: Panchatantra Stories
All of us have read or at least seen magazines of Panchatantra stories for kids with colourful covers. Panchatantra is a beautiful collection of short encouraging stories and moral fables from India, mostly in the form of animal stories. These teach children about important values such as kindness, generosity, teamwork, and respect for elders.
The Famous Five Characters of Panchatantra
Panchatantra serves as a great source of inspiration for parents to teach their children the basics related to social behaviour. The adults would use illustrations to help illustrate what was being taught in these short stories. These panchatantra stories in English PDF with pictures help us understand some real values in life. The moral of the story is taught by guiding the listener through the experience or by telling what happened and explaining why it's important. Kids can get an idea after reading the panchatantra moral stories.
History of Panchtantra
The Panchatantra stories for kids have a lot of significance. The word Panchatantra came from two words - Pancha (Five) and Tantra (Methods). Together they mean the five methods to conquer the world.
Vishnusharma with the Three Princes
It is believed that Panchatantra, the collection of short life stories, was written in the second century. The original text was in the form of sutras (prose) which is considered a dialogue between the king and his ministers to teach his son about the ways of a ruler. The king would be Brihadratha, who ruled the Magadha empire around 320 BCE. The verses as we have them now were added later.
The Main Characters
From the Panchatantra stories in English PDF with pictures, we can know that animals are the main characters because they exist in an indivisible togetherness and have a beneficent influence on the human body.
The main characters of the fable are:
Mahadev the Elephant,
Garuda the Eagle, who ate up the bird
Kamadhvaja who was the husband of the queen
Kaika (the wolf)
A snake named Dukaasikha
A horse named Rambha
An archer named Nilaakhya
A hunter named Gaupas
Demonstration of the Story of Bird and Crab
Animals, as characters in Panchatantra stories in English PDF, teach moral values is an interesting concept; something which we cannot be ignorant of. Do animals have their virtues? Yes, they do, and many more than what humans think about them.
Panchatantra Short Stories for Kids
Four Friends and a Hunter
In a forest, there were four friends- a deer, a turtle, a rat and a crow, they lived happily. One day, a hunter trapped the deer in his net. The deer’s friends were worried. So, they made a plan.
Crow, Rat and Turtle Making a Plan
The deer acted like it was dead by lying motionlessly and with eyes wide open. The crow started poking the deer and the turtle distracted the hunter by crossing the path. The hunter assumed that the deer was dead and wanted to take the turtle with him. But the crow took away the turtle with him. Now, the rat bites off the net and frees the Deer. They once again lived happily.
The moral of the story is that we can achieve great results and solve any problem when we work as a team.
Goats and Jackal
A jackal was wandering in a village and saw two goats fighting and people cheering for them. The goats started bleeding a little. The jackal was drawn to the smell of the blood and wanted to taste the goat’s flesh. So, it went near the goat to hunt them. But the goats were stronger than him, so they killed the jackal.
Jackal wants to Taste the Goats
The moral of the story is to think wisely before making any decisions.
Importance of Panchtantra Tales
Panchatantra comprises Indian short inspirational stories for kids that have been translated into many languages in many countries but have found their way into nearly every culture around the globe.
Every Panchatantra moral story in English PDF will have a moral lesson. It is also one of the first literary works to be translated into many languages, making it the oldest collection of short stories in English (after translation ) of its kind in ancient India. The events described do not happen in the typical sense, but rather in a way that makes it very entertaining for kids. It becomes after translation a collection of short stories in English that can be as funny as it is educational.
Summary
Panchatantra is a popular book and a collection of short inspirational stories for kids. Written in the brilliant Sanskrit language and then later translated into many languages such as Chinese and English and so many others, it seems relevant to teach children the skills for life. It is very simple and easy to understand. Depicting the animals as characters of this great work, the relevance of their opinion, the nurture of kindness and compassion towards them are taught in the simplest possible manner.
FAQs on Famous Panchatantra Stories in English
1. When was the Panchatantra written?
The stories in Panchatantra depict various situations that people may encounter. It is said to be written in the second century. It originated in the kingdom of King Brihadratha. It was written by a wise man of the time Vishnu Sharma. The original Panchatantra was a Sanskrit text written in India during Gupta Era, which subsequently travelled across Asia to Central Asia.
2. How many stories are there in Panchatantra?
Panchtantra is an ancient Indian story collection. All the short inspiring stories in Panchatantra contain the wisdom of ages written during the Gupta era. Almost 85 stories and poems are there in Panchatantra. Panchatantra is a collection of short encouraging stories and constitutes five volumes named Mitra Bheda(Losing Friends), Mitra Labha (Gaining Friends), Labdhpranasanam (Loss of Gains), Aparikshiakarakam (acting without thinking) and Kakolukiyam (Crows and Owls).
3. What is the significance of animals being the main characters of Panchatantra stories?
There are many reasons for animals being the main characters in Panchatantra. This is because children can easily grasp moral lessons when animals are used in stories instead of humans and humans can accept the errors they make if the stories are presented in an entertaining way using animals as main characters. Moreover, the author wanted children to pay attention to animals as well as human beings.
