43/43 * Note: The oldest Indian collection extant is the Pancha-tantra, (the five collections,) analyzed by Mr.Wilson in the Transactions of the Royal Asiat.Soc.It was translated into Persian by Barsuyah, the physician of Nushirvan, under the name of the Fables of Bidpai, (Vidyapriya, the Friend of Knowledge, or, as the Oriental writers understand it, the Friend of Medicine.) It was translated into Arabic by Abdolla Ibn Mokaffa, under the name of Kalila and Dimnah. From the Arabic it passed into the European languages. Compare Wilson, in Trans.As.Soc.i. 52. |