{"history":[],"article":{"id":"cad8e88e-fb83-4f63-8866-936b4201de3f","title":"Śukasaptati","slug":"ukasaptati","content":":::summary\n**Name:** Śukasaptati (Tales of a Parrot) \n**Genre:** [Fables](https://bliptext.com/articles/fables) \n**Author:** Chintamani \n**Language:** [Sanskrit](https://bliptext.com/articles/sanskrit-language) \n**Release Date:** 12th century CE \n**Country:** India \n:::\n\n# \n**Śukasaptati**, or Seventy tales of the parrot, is a collection of stories originally written in [Sanskrit](https://bliptext.com/articles/sanskrit).\nThe stories are supposed to be narrated to a woman by her pet [parrot](https://bliptext.com/articles/parrot), at the rate of one story every night, in order to dissuade her from going out to meet her paramour when her husband is away.\nThe stories frequently deal with illicit liaisons, the problems that flow from them and the way to escape those crises by using one's wits.\nThough the actual purpose of the parrot is to prevent its mistress from leaving, it does so without moralising.\nAt the end of the seventy days, the woman's husband returns from his trip abroad and all is forgiven.\nMost of the stories are ribald and uninhibited, with some verging on the pornographic.\nThe situations depicted in the stories not only test the bounds of marriage, some stray into taboo areas of incest and, in one case, zoophilia.\nThe collection is part of the [Katha](https://bliptext.com/articles/katha-storytelling-format) tradition of Sanskrit literature.\nSome of the tales are actually repeated from earlier well-known collections in Sanskrit literature.\nIn the tradition of Sanskrit literature, the tales are frequently interspersed with verse, many original, some repeated from earlier works.\nThough it is not known when it was originally written, current scholarship accepts that the collection was in its current form by the 12th century CE, though currently the oldest known manuscript dates back to the 15th century CE.\nThe collection has been translated to many languages, including [Persian](https://bliptext.com/articles/persian-language) in the 14th century, and in Malay, [Hikayat Bayan Budiman](https://bliptext.com/articles/hikayat-bayan-budiman), by a certain Kadi Hassan in 773 AH (1371 AD).\nIt was last translated to English in 2000 CE.\n# [Padmavati and the Parrot | upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e3/%C5%9Aukasaptati.jpg]\n\n# Structure\nThe collection, following the [story within a story](https://bliptext.com/articles/story-within-a-story) format to maintain continuity, actually contains 72 stories, of which one story acts as the main narrative.\nThe remaining 71 stories are narrated by the parrot.\nThe main story is that of Madana Vinoda, the wayward son of a merchant, and his wife Padmavati.\nThe merchant's [Brahmin](https://bliptext.com/articles/brahmin) friend tries to bring Madana to the path of righteousness by giving him a pet talking parrot.\nThis attempt is successful as the parrot narrates a story that brings Madana to the path of duty.\nHaving learnt his lesson, he sets off on a voyage, presumably on a business venture, leaving his wife alone.\nPadmavati, though initially dejected by her husband's departure, soon falls into the company of wanton women who suggest that she take on a lover.\nShe agrees, and every night for the next seventy nights, she gets ready to meet him.\nBut she is thwarted in her attempt every single night by the parrot, which adopts the stratagem of telling her a story.\nThe parrot typically expresses approval of its mistress' intention by agreeing that the goal of life was to seek pleasure and acknowledges the strength of sexual desire.\nThen it excites her interest by asking whether she had the wits to escape if any troublesome situation were to arise, as the protagonist of her next story had.\nPadmavati naturally wants to know the details of the story and the parrot proceeds to narrate it.\nAt the end of the story, Padmavati decides not to go for her rendezvous that night.\nOn the seventieth night, Madana returns and Padmavati has learnt the errors of her ways.\nPrompted by the parrot, she makes a full confession to her husband, thanking the parrot for keeping her from physical infidelity.\nThe parrot's seventieth story is in fact a plea for forgiveness on the grounds that Padmavati was not fully responsible for her fault, having been led astray by bad company.\n\n# Stories\nThe typical story involves a wife being surprised by her husband while she is in the act of committing [adultery](https://bliptext.com/articles/adultery).\nShe has to use her wits to get out of her predicament, which she always does.\nIn one story, she has to pass between the legs of a [Yaksha](https://bliptext.com/articles/yaksha), a feat impossible to achieve unless one has told the truth.\nThe wife manages it by having her lover dress up as a lunatic and grab her — as a result, she is able to truthfully swear that no one except her husband and the lunatic has ever touched her in her life.\nFrequently the stories test the limits of [taboo](https://bliptext.com/articles/taboo).\nIn one case, the wife introduces her lover as a cousin to enable his entry into the house.\nWhen the lover refuses to have sex with her on the ground that he is now her brother, she threatens to accuse him of [rape](https://bliptext.com/articles/rape) and gains his acquiescence.\nIn another story, the wife has both father and son as lovers, and she has to deal with the problem of what to do when her husband stumbles upon the scene.\nThe stories are often blunt, verging on [pornography](https://bliptext.com/articles/pornography).\nIn one case, the [cuckolded](https://bliptext.com/articles/cuckold) husband has managed to grab his rival's [penis](https://bliptext.com/articles/penis) while the lover was having sex with the wife literally behind the husband's back.\nThe wife then has the unenviable task of devising a way to extricate her lover.\nThe cuckolds are generally unaware of the situation though some times they are portrayed as simpleminded, and the wives often take advantage of their ignorance and superstitious nature.\nHowever, in one case, the husband, a king, is impressed by the lover's wit and lets his wife go with him, reasoning that while poets like the lover are rare, women like his wife are not.\nThe less typical story involves men being in similar situations, though in this case the trouble still comes in the form of the woman's husband rather than the man's wife.\nOther common stories revolve around men using the threat of embarrassment to regain gifts they showered on their lovers, often harlots.\nDalliances involving unmarried women having illicit sex are very rare — with the obvious exception of prostitutes.\nOne story manages to simultaneously stray into zoophilia and poke fun at a divinity.\nIt involves a woman who has promised to kiss the idol of [Ganapati](https://bliptext.com/articles/ganapati) if she achieves a particular (wholly legitimate) goal.\nThe mischievous idol grabs her lips and wouldn't let go.\nThe husband has to make the idol laugh by simulating sex with a donkey to rescue his wife.\nThe stories form an \"absorbing social document\" of those times.\nIt portrays a society where women's sexuality is openly accepted and [prostitutes](https://bliptext.com/articles/prostitute) are accepted as a semi-legitimate part of society.\nIn one story, a father engages a procuress to teach his son the art of safeguarding his wealth from the guiles of courtesans.\nNot all stories involve sexual escapades.\nSome deal with other tricky situations that one can encounter in life and of them some have been lifted straight from the [Panchatantra](https://bliptext.com/articles/panchatantra).\n\n# Verses\nAs with many Sanskrit texts, there are verses interspersed with prose that form part of the narrative.\nSome are erotic:\nThe best of the lover's couches
\nis higher on the sides
\nsunken at the centre
\nit will also bear the strong
\npoundings of a couple's passion\nThe middling bed is flat of surface
\nso that the night will often pass
\nwith rarely any contact
\nbetween the bodies two.\nThe worst is raised at the centre,
\nand both its sides slope down;
\neven adepts in the art cannot
\nmake love on it continuously
\nAnd some describe profound wisdom:\nThe rich man is wise,
\nhe is generous and good,
\nthe honoured kin of everyone;
\nbut when his money goes,
\nso does his glory.
\nIn some cases the verses are part of the story and actually act as part of the conversation between the characters.\nIn others, they are merely regurgitations of earlier works such as the [Hitopadesha](https://bliptext.com/articles/hitopadesha), the Panchatantra, and even the [Puranas](https://bliptext.com/articles/puranas).\n\n# History\nThough the collection's oldest known manuscript dates back only to the 15th century, there are references to it in other works much earlier.\nCurrent scholarship dates the book in its current form to the 12th century, though the individual stories in it are much older and are often found in the [Jataka tales](https://bliptext.com/articles/jataka-tales) and in the [Kathasaritsagara](https://bliptext.com/articles/kathasaritsagara).\nThere are two versions of the work available in Sanskrit, the simplicior version attributed to a Brahmin Chintamani has been described as having a \"simple, somewhat abrupt style\" while the ornatior version, attributed to a Jain monk Shvetambara is \"elaborate and ornate\".\nThe simplicior version is considered to be older.\nThe names simplicior and ornatior were assigned by German scholar [Richard Schmidt](https://bliptext.com/articles/richard-schmidt-indologist).\n\n# Translations\nThere have been many translations of the work into both Indian and non-Indian languages.\nIn the 14th century, Persian scholar [Nakhshabi](https://bliptext.com/articles/nakhshabi) translated it as [Tutinama](https://bliptext.com/articles/tutinama).\nThis in turn was translated into Turkish and formed the basis for the German translation, which was the first one into a Western language.\nThe German translation, \"Der textus ornatior der Çukasaptati\", translated by Richard Schmidt was published in the year 1896 in [Stuttgart](https://bliptext.com/articles/stuttgart) by W Kohlhammer.\nIt has been translated into [Telugu](https://bliptext.com/articles/telugu-language) [poetic form](https://bliptext.com/articles/poem) by Palavekari Kadiripati.\n[Vavilla Ramaswamy Sastrulu and Sons](https://bliptext.com/articles/vavilla-ramaswamy-sastrulu-and-sons) published the work in 1935 and 1951.\nIt was published by Andhra Pradesh Sahitya Akademi in 1979 under the editorship of B. Ramaraju.\nA Malayalam translation is available for the work, named as Thatha Paranja Kathakal\nIn 2000, [HarperCollins](https://bliptext.com/articles/harpercollins) India published a translation from the original Sanskrit done by Indian diplomat-scholar [A N D Haksar](https://bliptext.com/articles/a-n-d-haksar).\nThe book claims that this was the first rendition into English that made use of the original Sanskrit, as against the Persian translation.","current_revision":null,"created_by":"kACnuQmH5k9Nr5VNVEpVeg7XpvUmMctD","created_at":"2025-01-26T08:24:56.068Z","updated_at":"2025-01-26T08:24:56.068Z","search_vector":"'śukasaptati':1","search_content":" \n**Name:** Śukasaptati (Tales of a Parrot) \n**Genre:** [Fables](https://bliptext.com/articles/fables) \n**Author:** Chintamani \n**Language:** [Sanskrit](https://bliptext.com/articles/sanskrit-language) \n**Release Date:** 12th century CE \n**Country:** India \n \n\n# \n**Śukasaptati**, or Seventy tales of the parrot, is a collection of stories originally written in [Sanskrit](https://bliptext.com/articles/sanskrit).\nThe stories are supposed to be narrated to a woman by her pet [parrot](https://bliptext.com/articles/parrot), at the rate of one story every night, in order to dissuade her from going out to meet her paramour when her husband is away.\nThe stories frequently deal with illicit liaisons, the problems that flow from them and the way to escape those crises by using one's wits.\nThough the actual purpose of the parrot is to prevent its mistress from leaving, it does so without moralising.\nAt the end of the seventy days, the woman's husband returns from his trip abroad and all is forgiven.\nMost of the stories are ribald and uninhibited, with some verging on the pornographic.\nThe situations depicted in the stories not only test the bounds of marriage, some stray into taboo areas of incest and, in one case, zoophilia.\nThe collection is part of the [Katha](https://bliptext.com/articles/katha-storytelling-format) tradition of Sanskrit literature.\nSome of the tales are actually repeated from earlier well-known collections in Sanskrit literature.\nIn the tradition of Sanskrit literature, the tales are frequently interspersed with verse, many original, some repeated from earlier works.\nThough it is not known when it was originally written, current scholarship accepts that the collection was in its current form by the 12th century CE, though currently the oldest known manuscript dates back to the 15th century CE.\nThe collection has been translated to many languages, including [Persian](https://bliptext.com/articles/persian-language) in the 14th century, and in Malay, [Hikayat Bayan Budiman](https://bliptext.com/articles/hikayat-bayan-budiman), by a certain Kadi Hassan in 773 AH (1371 AD).\nIt was last translated to English in 2000 CE.\n# [Padmavati and the Parrot | upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e3/%C5%9Aukasaptati.jpg]\n\n# Structure\nThe collection, following the [story within a story](https://bliptext.com/articles/story-within-a-story) format to maintain continuity, actually contains 72 stories, of which one story acts as the main narrative.\nThe remaining 71 stories are narrated by the parrot.\nThe main story is that of Madana Vinoda, the wayward son of a merchant, and his wife Padmavati.\nThe merchant's [Brahmin](https://bliptext.com/articles/brahmin) friend tries to bring Madana to the path of righteousness by giving him a pet talking parrot.\nThis attempt is successful as the parrot narrates a story that brings Madana to the path of duty.\nHaving learnt his lesson, he sets off on a voyage, presumably on a business venture, leaving his wife alone.\nPadmavati, though initially dejected by her husband's departure, soon falls into the company of wanton women who suggest that she take on a lover.\nShe agrees, and every night for the next seventy nights, she gets ready to meet him.\nBut she is thwarted in her attempt every single night by the parrot, which adopts the stratagem of telling her a story.\nThe parrot typically expresses approval of its mistress' intention by agreeing that the goal of life was to seek pleasure and acknowledges the strength of sexual desire.\nThen it excites her interest by asking whether she had the wits to escape if any troublesome situation were to arise, as the protagonist of her next story had.\nPadmavati naturally wants to know the details of the story and the parrot proceeds to narrate it.\nAt the end of the story, Padmavati decides not to go for her rendezvous that night.\nOn the seventieth night, Madana returns and Padmavati has learnt the errors of her ways.\nPrompted by the parrot, she makes a full confession to her husband, thanking the parrot for keeping her from physical infidelity.\nThe parrot's seventieth story is in fact a plea for forgiveness on the grounds that Padmavati was not fully responsible for her fault, having been led astray by bad company.\n\n# Stories\nThe typical story involves a wife being surprised by her husband while she is in the act of committing [adultery](https://bliptext.com/articles/adultery).\nShe has to use her wits to get out of her predicament, which she always does.\nIn one story, she has to pass between the legs of a [Yaksha](https://bliptext.com/articles/yaksha), a feat impossible to achieve unless one has told the truth.\nThe wife manages it by having her lover dress up as a lunatic and grab her — as a result, she is able to truthfully swear that no one except her husband and the lunatic has ever touched her in her life.\nFrequently the stories test the limits of [taboo](https://bliptext.com/articles/taboo).\nIn one case, the wife introduces her lover as a cousin to enable his entry into the house.\nWhen the lover refuses to have sex with her on the ground that he is now her brother, she threatens to accuse him of [rape](https://bliptext.com/articles/rape) and gains his acquiescence.\nIn another story, the wife has both father and son as lovers, and she has to deal with the problem of what to do when her husband stumbles upon the scene.\nThe stories are often blunt, verging on [pornography](https://bliptext.com/articles/pornography).\nIn one case, the [cuckolded](https://bliptext.com/articles/cuckold) husband has managed to grab his rival's [penis](https://bliptext.com/articles/penis) while the lover was having sex with the wife literally behind the husband's back.\nThe wife then has the unenviable task of devising a way to extricate her lover.\nThe cuckolds are generally unaware of the situation though some times they are portrayed as simpleminded, and the wives often take advantage of their ignorance and superstitious nature.\nHowever, in one case, the husband, a king, is impressed by the lover's wit and lets his wife go with him, reasoning that while poets like the lover are rare, women like his wife are not.\nThe less typical story involves men being in similar situations, though in this case the trouble still comes in the form of the woman's husband rather than the man's wife.\nOther common stories revolve around men using the threat of embarrassment to regain gifts they showered on their lovers, often harlots.\nDalliances involving unmarried women having illicit sex are very rare — with the obvious exception of prostitutes.\nOne story manages to simultaneously stray into zoophilia and poke fun at a divinity.\nIt involves a woman who has promised to kiss the idol of [Ganapati](https://bliptext.com/articles/ganapati) if she achieves a particular (wholly legitimate) goal.\nThe mischievous idol grabs her lips and wouldn't let go.\nThe husband has to make the idol laugh by simulating sex with a donkey to rescue his wife.\nThe stories form an \"absorbing social document\" of those times.\nIt portrays a society where women's sexuality is openly accepted and [prostitutes](https://bliptext.com/articles/prostitute) are accepted as a semi-legitimate part of society.\nIn one story, a father engages a procuress to teach his son the art of safeguarding his wealth from the guiles of courtesans.\nNot all stories involve sexual escapades.\nSome deal with other tricky situations that one can encounter in life and of them some have been lifted straight from the [Panchatantra](https://bliptext.com/articles/panchatantra).\n\n# Verses\nAs with many Sanskrit texts, there are verses interspersed with prose that form part of the narrative.\nSome are erotic:\nThe best of the lover's couches \nis higher on the sides \nsunken at the centre \nit will also bear the strong \npoundings of a couple's passion\nThe middling bed is flat of surface \nso that the night will often pass \nwith rarely any contact \nbetween the bodies two.\nThe worst is raised at the centre, \nand both its sides slope down; \neven adepts in the art cannot \nmake love on it continuously \nAnd some describe profound wisdom:\nThe rich man is wise, \nhe is generous and good, \nthe honoured kin of everyone; \nbut when his money goes, \nso does his glory. \nIn some cases the verses are part of the story and actually act as part of the conversation between the characters.\nIn others, they are merely regurgitations of earlier works such as the [Hitopadesha](https://bliptext.com/articles/hitopadesha), the Panchatantra, and even the [Puranas](https://bliptext.com/articles/puranas).\n\n# History\nThough the collection's oldest known manuscript dates back only to the 15th century, there are references to it in other works much earlier.\nCurrent scholarship dates the book in its current form to the 12th century, though the individual stories in it are much older and are often found in the [Jataka tales](https://bliptext.com/articles/jataka-tales) and in the [Kathasaritsagara](https://bliptext.com/articles/kathasaritsagara).\nThere are two versions of the work available in Sanskrit, the simplicior version attributed to a Brahmin Chintamani has been described as having a \"simple, somewhat abrupt style\" while the ornatior version, attributed to a Jain monk Shvetambara is \"elaborate and ornate\".\nThe simplicior version is considered to be older.\nThe names simplicior and ornatior were assigned by German scholar [Richard Schmidt](https://bliptext.com/articles/richard-schmidt-indologist).\n\n# Translations\nThere have been many translations of the work into both Indian and non-Indian languages.\nIn the 14th century, Persian scholar [Nakhshabi](https://bliptext.com/articles/nakhshabi) translated it as [Tutinama](https://bliptext.com/articles/tutinama).\nThis in turn was translated into Turkish and formed the basis for the German translation, which was the first one into a Western language.\nThe German translation, \"Der textus ornatior der Çukasaptati\", translated by Richard Schmidt was published in the year 1896 in [Stuttgart](https://bliptext.com/articles/stuttgart) by W Kohlhammer.\nIt has been translated into [Telugu](https://bliptext.com/articles/telugu-language) [poetic form](https://bliptext.com/articles/poem) by Palavekari Kadiripati.\n[Vavilla Ramaswamy Sastrulu and Sons](https://bliptext.com/articles/vavilla-ramaswamy-sastrulu-and-sons) published the work in 1935 and 1951.\nIt was published by Andhra Pradesh Sahitya Akademi in 1979 under the editorship of B. Ramaraju.\nA Malayalam translation is available for the work, named as Thatha Paranja Kathakal\nIn 2000, [HarperCollins](https://bliptext.com/articles/harpercollins) India published a translation from the original Sanskrit done by Indian diplomat-scholar [A N D Haksar](https://bliptext.com/articles/a-n-d-haksar).\nThe book claims that this was the first rendition into English that made use of the original Sanskrit, as against the Persian translation.","revisionCount":0},"hasMore":false,"nextCursor":null}