The Book of Good Counsels - From the Sanskrit of the "Hitopadesa": Free Audiobook and Listening Guide

The Book of Good Counsels - From the Sanskrit of the "Hitopadesa", credited to Sir Edwin Arnold, is available as a LibriVox volunteer audiobook. This guide identifies the recording, its source summary and its audio tracks.

About the work

The LibriVox catalogue summary, preserved with the recording, reads:

LibriVox recording of The Book of Good Counsels - From the Sanskrit of the "Hitopadesa", by Sir Edwin Arnold. Read by Jothi. The term ‘Hitopadesha’ is a combination of two Sanskrit terms, ‘Hita’ (welfare/ benefit) and ‘Upadesha’ (counsel). As the term suggests, The Hitopadesha is a collection of tales that gives good counsel. Hitopadesa was presumably written by Narayan Pandit and is an independent treatment of the Vishnu Sarman's Panchatantra (3rd century BC) which it resembles in form. In Hitopadesha, Vishnu Sarman is depicted as a Sage who undertakes to give good counsel to the sons of Sudarsana, the king of Pataliputra, through stories within stories involving talking animals. The dating of Hitopadesha is problematic as no other work by Narayan Pandit is known. The earliest manuscript of Hitopadesha dates from 1373; it could be of East Indian origin during the Pala Empire (8th-12th centuries). This book is a condensed but faithful transcript of Hitopadesha in sense and manner rendered in English by Sir Edwin Arnold. Sir Edwin says in the Preface that the Hitopadesa may be styled 'The father of all Fables'; for "from its numerous translations come Esop and Piplay and in latter days, 'Reineke Fuchs'." Summary by Jothi.

Recording facts

• Recording title: The Book of Good Counsels - From the Sanskrit of the "Hitopadesa"
• Author credits: Sir Edwin Arnold
• Language: English
• Original MP3 tracks: 7
• Listed recording duration: 4:53:00

Catalogue topics

• philosophy

Track guide

1. 00 - Dedication and Preface — 7:21
2. 01 - Introduction — 8:41
3. 02 - The Winning of Friends — 1:08:04
4. 03 - The Parting of Friends — 1:03:41
5. 04 - War — 56:38
6. 05 - Peace — 49:50
7. 06 - Notes — 42:39

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Source and rights

This is a record from LibriVox's official Internet Archive collection, with a public-domain licence recorded in its metadata. LibriVox's policy includes its catalogue summaries as well as its recordings. Its public-domain assessment follows United States law; copyright status can differ elsewhere. The summary and track facts are reproduced and reformatted from that record. Dates attached to the archive upload are not treated as original book publication dates.