The Panchatantra (IAST: Pañcatantra, ISO: Pañcatantra, Sanskrit: पञ्चतन्त्र, "Five Treatises") is an ancient Indian collection of interrelated animal fables in Sanskrit verse and prose, arranged within a frame story.[2] The surviving work is dated to about 200 BCE, but the fables are likely much more ancient.[3][4] The text's author is unknown, but it has been attributed to Vishnu Sharma in some recensions and Vasubhaga in others, both of which may be fictitious pen names.[3] It is likely a Hindu text,[3][5] and based on older oral traditions with "animal fables that are as old as we are able to imagine".[6]