The Tiger, the Brahmin and the Jackal is a popular Indian

folklore Folklore is the body of expressive culture shared by a particular group of people, culture or subculture. This includes oral traditions such as Narrative, tales, myths, legends, proverbs, Poetry, poems, jokes, and other oral traditions. This also ...

with a long history and many variants. The earliest record of the folklore was included in the

Panchatantra The ''Panchatantra'' ( IAST: Pañcatantra, ISO: Pañcatantra, , "Five Treatises") is an ancient Indian collection of interrelated animal fables in Sanskrit verse and prose, arranged within a frame story.

, which dates the story between 200 BCE and 300 CE. Mary Frere included a version in her 1868 collection of Indian folktales, ''Old Deccan Days'', the first collection of Indian folktales in English. A version was also included in

Joseph Jacobs Joseph Jacobs (29 August 1854 – 30 January 1916) was an Australian-born folklorist, literary critic and historian who became a notable collector and publisher of English folklore. Born in Sydney to a Jewish family, his work went on to popula ...

' collection ''Indian Fairy Tales.''

Plot

Brahmin Brahmin (; ) is a ''Varna (Hinduism), varna'' (theoretical social classes) within Hindu society. The other three varnas are the ''Kshatriya'' (rulers and warriors), ''Vaishya'' (traders, merchants, and farmers), and ''Shudra'' (labourers). Th ...

(a member of the priesthood class) passes a

tiger The tiger (''Panthera tigris'') is a large Felidae, cat and a member of the genus ''Panthera'' native to Asia. It has a powerful, muscular body with a large head and paws, a long tail and orange fur with black, mostly vertical stripes. It is ...

in a trap. The tiger pleads for his release, promising not to eat the Brahmin. The Brahmin sets him free but no sooner is the tiger out of the cage then he says he is going to eat the Brahmin, going back on his promise. The Brahmin is horrified and tells the tiger how unjust he is. They agree to ask the first three things they encounter to judge between them. The first thing they encounter is a

tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, e.g., including only woody plants with secondary growth, only ...

, who, having suffered at the hands of humans, answers that the tiger should eat the Brahmin. Next a buffalo, exploited and mistreated by humans, agrees it is only just that the Brahmin should be eaten. Finally they meet a

jackal Jackals are Canidae, canids native to Africa and Eurasia. While the word has historically been used for many canines of the subtribe Canina (subtribe), canina, in modern use it most commonly refers to three species: the closely related black-b ...

who, sympathetic to the Brahmin's plight, at first feigns incomprehension of what has happened and asks to see the trap. Once there he claims he still doesn't understand. The tiger gets back in the trap to demonstrate and the jackal quickly shuts him in, suggesting to the Brahmin that they leave matters thus.

Variants

There are more than a hundred versions of this tale spread across the world. In some the released animal is a crocodile, in some a snake, a tiger and in others a

wolf The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the grey wolf or gray wolf, is a Canis, canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of Canis lupus, subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, includin ...

Folklorist Folklore studies (also known as folkloristics, tradition studies or folk life studies in the UK) is the academic discipline devoted to the study of folklore. This term, along with its synonyms, gained currency in the 1950s to distinguish the ac ...

stated that the tale can be found in early Indian sources. Some variants are very old, going back at least to the ''

'' or '' Fables of Bidpai'' and the

Jataka tales The ''Jātaka'' (Sanskrit for "Birth-Related" or "Birth Stories") are a voluminous body of literature native to the Indian subcontinent which mainly concern the previous births of Gautama Buddha in both human and animal form. Jataka stories we ...

. In Europe, it appeared some 900 years ago in the '' Disciplina Clericalis'' of

Petrus Alphonsi Petrus Alphonsi (died after 1116) was a Spanish physician, writer, astronomer and polemicist who was born and raised as a Jew and later in life converted to Christianity in 1106. He is also known just as Alphonsi, and as Peter Alfonsi or Pete ...

, and later in the '' Gesta Romanorum'' and in the ''Directorium Vitae Humanae'' of John of Capua. There are also modern illustrated versions of the tale, such as ''The Tiger, the Brahmin & the Jackal'' illustrated by David Kennett and ''The Tiger and the Brahmin'' illustrated by Kurt Vargo. Rabbit Ears Productions produced a video version of the last book, narrated by

Ben Kingsley Sir Ben Kingsley (born Krishna Pandit Bhanji; 31 December 1943) is an English actor. He has received List of awards and nominations received by Ben Kingsley, various accolades throughout Ben Kingsley on screen and stage, his career spanning fi ...

, with music by

Ravi Shankar Ravi Shankar (; born Robindro Shaunkor Chowdhury, sometimes spelled as Rabindra Shankar Chowdhury; 7 April 1920 – 11 December 2012) was an Indian sitar, sitarist and composer. A sitar virtuoso, he became the world's best-known expert of Hin ...

. The variant by Rabbit Ears Productions alters certain bits of the story, where the Brahmin travels alone to gain the opinion of others. An elephant is included as first of the three things (the latter two being the tree and water buffalo) that the Brahmin encounters. A Shona version of this folktale was adapted in a popular Zimbabwean folkson
Mutongi Gava Maenzanise
The variation is that its a leopard not a tiger and the next creature they see is a cow.

Notes

External links

Sound recording of the tale
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tiger, the Brahmin and the Jackal, The Indian folklore Indian fairy tales Indian legends Indian literature Sanskrit literature Fables Animal tales Fairy tales about talking animals Fairy tales about talking plants Short stories about talking trees Jataka tales Oral tradition Tigers in Buddhism Tigers in literature Brahmins ATU 150-199 Panchatantra

Plot

Variants

See also

Notes

External links