Arif Mohammed Khan
The Indian herb that went to Persia
Verily there exists in this world no purifier like knowledge. Gita 4.38
The 10th century Iranian poet Firdausi in his epic Shahnameh gives an interesting account of how the Indian classic Panchatantra — the embodiment of sensible counsel for wise conduct in the form of fables — travelled to Persia in 550 AD. He gives an idea of the importance that is attached to knowledge and wisdom in Indian tradition.
According to Shahnameh, during the reign of Anushirvan, his chief physician Burzoy informed the king that he had heard about the existence of a herb [Sanjivni] in the mountains of India, which could bring the dead back to life. He sought the king’s permission to go to India and find the miraculous herb. King Anushirvan readily approved the proposal and wrote a personal letter to his Indian counterpart, requesting him to extend the necessary assistance to his envoy so that he could find the herb.
The Indian king welcomed Burzoy on his arrival, and after learning about the nature of his mission, deputed a large team of scholars and officials to help him locate Sanjivni. With the local team in attendance, Burzoy went to the Himalayas, and after moving from one valley to another and after covering large areas, he finally succeeded in locating the herb. Burzoy prepared the potion according to the manual and sprinkled it over various corpses provided for his experiment. To his utter disappointment, the potion failed to produce the promised results. Burzoy was extremely distressed and worried how he would face the king and his people on his return.
A crestfallen Burzoy asked his Indian assistants to find some way to salvage his mission. They took him to an old sage who lived in a secluded place. After Burzoy explained the purpose of his visit, the sage said, “O Burzoy, you did not understand the allegory of the ancients. By the mountain they meant the learned, by the dead they meant the ignorant and by herb they meant knowledge and wisdom.”
The sage explained to Burzoy that when the learned man imparted knowledge and wisdom to the ignorant, then only was he revived to life: “The herb [wisdom] you have been looking for is not in the Himalayas but it is in the safe custody of your host the king, in the form of a book called Panchatantra. If you seek this book and accumulate its wisdom, then it will be the real miraculous herb that will become a source to bring back your dead to life.”
After hearing this new interpretation, Burzoy approached the king once again and told him that the metaphorical herb he was looking for was actually a book of wisdom kept in the royal treasury. Burzoy expressed his desire to see the book. The king agreed reluctantly, on the condition that Burzoy attended the court daily to read and understand the book in royal presence. Burzoy did accordingly and on each following day he read the book, memorised it and wrote it down in his own language, Pahalvi.
This was how the Panchatantra was first translated into Persian, and then in 750 AD Ibn Muqaffa translated the book into Arabic under the title of Kalilah wo Dimnah. The impact of the book can be judged from the fact that scholars hold it responsible for the rise of a new eclectic sect in Islam, known as Ikhwan al-Safa [Brethren of Purity]. Today, with more than 200 versions in 60 languages, the Panchatantra continues to bring the dead back to life.
Arif Mohammed Khan is a former Union Minister
A crestfallen Burzoy asked his Indian assistants to find some way to salvage his mission. They took him to an old sage who lived in a secluded place. After Burzoy explained the purpose of his visit, the sage said, “O Burzoy, you did not understand the allegory of the ancients. By the mountain they meant the learned, by the dead they meant the ignorant and by herb they meant knowledge and wisdom.”
The sage explained to Burzoy that when the learned man imparted knowledge and wisdom to the ignorant, then only was he revived to life: “The herb [wisdom] you have been looking for is not in the Himalayas but it is in the safe custody of your host the king, in the form of a book called Panchatantra. If you seek this book and accumulate its wisdom, then it will be the real miraculous herb that will become a source to bring back your dead to life.”
After hearing this new interpretation, Burzoy approached the king once again and told him that the metaphorical herb he was looking for was actually a book of wisdom kept in the royal treasury. Burzoy expressed his desire to see the book. The king agreed reluctantly, on the condition that Burzoy attended the court daily to read and understand the book in royal presence. Burzoy did accordingly and on each following day he read the book, memorised it and wrote it down in his own language, Pahalvi.
This was how the Panchatantra was first translated into Persian, and then in 750 AD Ibn Muqaffa translated the book into Arabic under the title of Kalilah wo Dimnah. The impact of the book can be judged from the fact that scholars hold it responsible for the rise of a new eclectic sect in Islam, known as Ikhwan al-Safa [Brethren of Purity]. Today, with more than 200 versions in 60 languages, the Panchatantra continues to bring the dead back to life.
Arif Mohammed Khan is a former Union Minister
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