Maxim on learning
Learning to a man is a name superior to beauty;
learning is better than hidden treasure.
Learning is a companion on a journey to a strange country,
learning is strength inexhaustible.
Learning is the source of renown
and the fountain of victory in the senate.
Learning is a superior sight,
learning is a livelihood;
a man without learning is as a beast of the field.
—Hitopadesa
Translator: Charles Wilkins[1]
Hitopadesha (Sanskrit: हितोपदेशः, IAST: Hitopadeśa, "Beneficial Advice") is an Indian text in the Sanskrit language consisting of fables with both animal and human characters. It incorporates maxims, worldly wisdom and advice on political affairs in simple, elegant language,[2]: ix–xiv and the work has been widely translated.
Little is known about its origin. The surviving text is believed to be from the 12th-century, but was probably composed by Narayana between 800 and 950 CE.[3] The oldest manuscript found in Nepal has been dated to the 14th century, and its content and style has been traced to the ancient Sanskrit treatises called the Panchatantra from much earlier.[2]: ix–xiv [4]
- ^ Charles Wilkins (1886), Hitopadesa: Fables and Proverbs, London: George Routledge & Sons, page 27
- ^ a b S. Narayana (2006). Hitopadesa. Translated by Haksar, A.N.D. Penguin Books. ISBN 978-0-140-45522-9.
- ^ Kaushik Roy (2012). Hinduism and the Ethics of Warfare in South Asia: From Antiquity to the Present. Cambridge University Press. p. 151. ISBN 978-1-139-57684-0.
- ^ Panchatantra: INDIAN LITERATURE, Encyclopaedia Britannica