HistoriCity: A tale of how Panchatantra links the histories of Iran and Israel

Cyrus, known as king of kings or Shahenshah, is remembered particularly by Jewish and Christian scholars for his support for Jews.

Iran and Israel remain engaged in a bloody missile war threatening to spiral into bigger conflict. The two countries are sworn enemies with differences that seem impossible to overcome. However, in their history lies a shared Indian connection: the Panchatantra tales.

Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (left); Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. (AFP)

Roughly around the time that Buddha and Mahavira were formulating their respective ideologies in India, the first empire to emerge from the diverse land of Persia or Iran was the Achaemenid empire.

In 550 BCE, Achaemenid empire was founded by the Cyrus II also known as the Cyrus the Great who defeated the Median dynasty and ruled an empire that spanned from Egypt in the south to the Balkans in the north, and up to the Indus River Valley in the east.

Cyrus, known as king of kings or Shahenshah, is remembered particularly by Jewish and Christian scholars for his support for Jews, by freeing them from Babylonian captivity and allowed them to return to Judah. Cyrus’s Cylinder, a eulogy inscribed on baked clay is often presented as evidence of the antiquity of Jewish claims to Jerusalem.

However, a century later in the 5th century BCE, Zoroastrianism was adopted as the official religion of the Achaemenids. The 3rd century BCE marked the ending of Achaemenid who were overrun by Alexander’s juggernaut. Their place was taken up by the Parthians (247 BCE to 224 CE) who ruled for five hundred years until they were overthrown by the Sassanians. The Sassanians emerged from the Fars or Pars province of southeastern Iran, and ruled for five centuries. During this time, they restored stability and expanded the empire both territorially as well as socio-economically.

Zoroastrianism too experienced a revival under a succession of legendary kings until the empire itself waned away in the 7th century unable to withstand a new force: Islam.

India-Iran-Israel: The Shared Fables

Anushirvan (Immortal Soul) or Khusrow I (531-579 CE), the vanquisher of Byzantines and regarded as a statesman who signed the famous Perpetual Peace treaty in 532, and then another one, the 12-point Fifty-Year Peace Treaty in 562. He was also one of the earliest recorded Indophile kings anywhere in the world.

The philosopher king Khusrow I is quoted by Iranian archaeologist Shapur Shabazi as having stated, “We examined the customs of our forebears, but, concerned with the discovery of the truth, we [also] studied the customs and conducts of the Romans and Indians and accepted those among them which seemed reasonable and praiseworthy, not merely likeable. We have not rejected anyone because they belonged to a different religion or people. And having examined “the good customs and laws of our ancestors as well as those of the foreigners, we have not declined to adopt anything which was good nor to avoid anything which was bad. Affection for our forebears did not lead us to accept customs which were not good.”

This spirit of learning led him to send many envoys to different countries including India, where his doctor Borzuya discovered a unique gem. The Panchatantra (Five Discourses) tales are the most translated work of literature that has come out of India. They are a set of nested stories arranged like Matryoshka dolls (also known as Babushka dolls), and told through animal characters. They date back to well before the Common era but the surviving version is believed to be from the 3rd century CE.

It has not been established conclusively where the fables were put together, possible locations range from Kashmir to Southern India, similarly while there are two pen names associated with the book, Vishu Sharma and Vasubhaga, the actual name of the author remains unknown.

Legends tell us that Khusrow I had sent his doctor to India to bring back the elixir of life, but Borzuya was handed the book, which renewed the zest for life through its fables about statecraft and relationships, patience and so on. Khusrow I must have been taken aback by the Bibliotherapy as it were, nevertheless, he had it transliterated into old Pahlavi, gave it the title ‘Kalilag and Damnag’. Later, Panchatantra was retold in other languages such as Arabic, Hebrew, Tibetan, Chinese and many others.

The Arabic version came out in the 8th century with minor changes, such as the title became Kalilah and Dimnah, based on the names of the jackal ministers, Karataka and Damanaka, in the original Sanskrit. Jackals, turtles, lions and elephants were changed to local animals according to the geography but its essence has remained unchanged.

Jewish Panchatantra

In the 13th century, Rabbi Joel is believed to have translated the Arabic version into Hebrew. Paul Lunde, author and Arabist, wrote, “the passage from Arabic into the European languages was, in each of the three chief channels, conducted by Jewish scholars. The Greek version was done by Simeon Seth, a Jewish physician at the Byzantine court in the 11th century, and from this were derived the Slavonic and the Croat versions.”

The old Spanish version was probably translated about 1250 by the Jewish translators of Alfonso the Good; this led to a Latin version. But the chief source of the European versions of Bidpai was a Hebrew one made by a certain Rabbi Joel, of which a Latin rendering was made by John of Capua, a converted Jew, under the title “Directorium Vite Humane”. From this were derived Spanish, German, Italian, Dutch, and English versions”. It is befitting that the Babushka nature of the book also manifested in the process of its transmission into various languages and cultures.

The book contains many themes, and has been interpreted as both being moral and amoral. Some of the chapters pertinent to conflicts and wars where it is shown that wits, not swords win wars through a fable based on rivalry between crows and owls. It is a pity that ancient wisdom that once emperors used to rely on has been consigned to the children’s section in our libraries and schools.

1500s: Iran and its Adoption of Twelver Shia’ism

After the fall of the Sassanians in the 8th century, a long string of dynasties followed for the next nearly 800 years, till the Safavids, who started as a Sufi brotherhood or order, took the reins of the country in their hand. Its founder Ismail (1501-1524) had an eclectic lineage comprising Georgian, Turkish, Kurdish and Arab influences, but there is no consensus on his precise origin. But there’s complete unanimity on Ismail’s contribution; he established the modern borders of Iran, and adopted Twelver Shia’ism as the official religion. His endorsement and complete backing of Shias triggered several others Shia orders to openly declare themselves as a separate sect and state patronage attracted new orders to Shia religion.

HistoriCity is a column by author Valay Singh that narrates the story of a city that is in the news, by going back to its documented history, mythology and archaeological digs. The views expressed are personal.