Pancatantra And On Chinese, Korean And Japanese Folk Tales A Comparative Study

Pancatantra was translated into Chinese as Five Volumes Book. It is a collection of fairy tales and allegory in Sanskrit in the ancient India. It was compiled by a Brahman named Vishnu Seleemen for the purpose of educating the three princes at the order of the king. This book not only mentions the relationship between the Monarch and his ministers but also covers the reign and diplomacy. According to the contents, it is divided into five volumes: Friends Separating, Friends Making, The Six Strategy of being used in the war and peace by Crow and Owl, The lost of having been gained, Action without thinking. Each volume includes several sections. It consists of 78 stories.Pancatantra takes the important position in the history of Indian literature. It has great influence in India. Pancatantra has been translated into many languages which are only less than those languages of the Bible. It has widely spread in the world. It has affected on the production of tales and allegory in many countries in the world. Pancatantra has been spread into Europe and Arabian countries such as Green Brothers' tales in Germany and Jeande La Fontaine' s allegory in France. Pancatantra has also been spread in the Eastern Asian widely as well. It has great influence on Chinese, Korean and Japanese literature.This essay explores the inner-relationship between the stories in Pancatantra and the folk stories in China, Korea, and Japan by applying the theory of interdisciplinary study, influence study,positivistic study, comparative study which have often been adopted in Comparative Literature. It reveals the close relationship among Indian, Chinese, Korean and Japanese literature and to show how Pancatantra influences these countries by comparing "Brahman' s Dream" and other nine stories taken from Pancatantra with "Pre-congratulation" and other eight stories from China, "The Man Selling the Fishing Net" and other six stories from Korea, and "Intention to being rich" and other five stories from Japan.Based on the comparative study, a conclusion that the stories in Pancatantra have been mixed with the local culture when they are spread into China, Japan, Korea. They have become part of cultures in these countries, that is to say, it is the process of conflict, acceptance, mixture, inheriting and variation. It is the essential phenomenon of the cultural communication .By comparing Pancatantra with Chinese, Korean and Japanese folk stories, it is meaningful to discuss the history of cultural communication between India and Eastern Asia, to have some proper knowledge about the development of folk literature and the law of variation. On the other hand, it has revealed the specific content of culture and culture value.