PREFACE
REGARDING the date and authorship of the Kanarese version of the Pancha Tantra we have no information, but it is conjectured to have been written in the 16th century A.D.
It was first published in 1864, edited by Mr. J. Garrett, then Director of Public Iustruction in Mysore, with the assistance of M. I). Singarachari, munshi to the Kanarese Translator to the Madras Governinent, who compared it with the original Sanskrit, as well as with the Tamil and Telugu versions.
A second edition appeared the following year, in which were inserted the Sanskrit slokas and Kanarese padyams, two copies of the work contained in the Library of the College of Fort St. George having been lent for the purpose by the Board of Examiners. The book has been out of print for some time, but being required for the examinations of the Madras University has now been issued afresh. (The Kanarese padyams have been excluded from the present revised edition as they appear to be the composition of an inferior modern writer.)
The following are extracts from the introduction to the former editions :-
The collection of Fables and Stories termed Pancha Tantra is one of the oldest in the world. It was translated from Sanskrit into Persian in the sixth century; and from Persian into Arabic in the ninth century; it was afterwards rendered into Hebrew,
