Kalīlah and Dimnah

by Ibn Al-Muqaffaʿ

Timeless fables of loyalty and betrayal

Like Aesop’s Fables , Kalīlah and Dimnah is a collection designed not only for moral instruction, but also for the entertainment of readers. The stories, which originated in the Sanskrit Panchatantra and Mahabharata , were adapted, augmented, and translated into Arabic by the scholar and state official Ibn al-Muqaffaʿ in the second/eighth century. The stories are engaging, entertaining, and often funny, from “The Man Who Found a Treasure But Could Not Keep It,” to “The Raven Who Tried To Learn To Walk Like a Partridge” and “How the Wolf, the Raven, and the Jackal Destroyed the Camel.”

Kalīlah and Dimnah is a “mirror for princes,” a book meant to inculcate virtues and discernment in rulers and warn against flattery and deception. Many of the animals who populate the book represent ministers counseling kings, friends advising friends, or wives admonishing husbands. Throughout, Kalīlah and Dimnah offers insight into the moral lessons Ibn al-Muqaffaʿ wished to impart to rulers―and readers.

An English-only edition.

Genres: Classics, Fiction

293 pages, Paperback

Published April 4, 2023

Reviews

[ouijacine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fabulous. This was my first introduction to Ibn Al-muqaffa and I enjoyed the use of Adab as a form of written prose. Described by Latham as ‘he who opens the door of the golden age of Abbasid prose writing’ really enriched this book for me!!

- focused on in particular the Lion and the Ox and the investigation of Dimnah

[Jared · Rating 5 out of 5]

“This book is a work of parables and stories composed by the people of India, who sought to incorporate into it the most eloquent speech they could find in a style they preferred. In order to make their intentions comprehensible, scholars of every nation and tongue have employed a variety of devices and means when presenting their arguments. One device was to put eloquent and elegant language into the mouths of animals and birds. This enabled them to accomplish a number of things: they found a way to speak indirectly and to communicate through implication. Because such a book combined entertainment with wisdom, the wise would study it for its wisdom, and the simple for its value as entertainment.”

[Carl Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kalila and Dimnah is a concise series of Hindu morality tales, set within a series of nested narrative frames, whose function is to train rulers in prudence when confronted with ambiguous circumstances requiring discernment. The classic Persian version is derived from a Sanskrit original, which itself draws heavily from the sprawling Pachatantra.