SukaSaptati

I ordered this book from flipkart after studying a tale from 'World Tales' by Idries Shah. The wiki page on SukaSaptati made me order this book instantly. I wanted to study this book mainly to compare it with Arabian Nights and get to know the katha literature. At first I thought both were almost the same and only the situation in which the story has been told is different. Scheherazade saving herself from the king v/s Parrot preventing master's wife (Prabhavati) from going to paramour.

But the approach that parrot follows is entirely different. It challenges the mistress in the beginning.

'Go to your love if you have the wit like some X had',

'Go if you know how to protect yourself like some X in this story had',

'Go if you know how to answer difficult questions like some X in some Y city had'.

Actually sometimes it looks like parrot is encouraging the mistress to go out. In one story the parrot states

'You should certainly go. That is my definite view, for who can prevent the mind from seeking what it wants and water from flowing downwards'.

After such statements been made, curiosity kills Prabhavati and asks the parrot for explanation. Then the parrot starts to spin the tale.

Almost all stories depict illicit liasions and clever escapades. Very few stories are from Panchatantra which depict cleverness, intelligence and moral values. (Eg:- Tiger Slayer, Wise Swan)

The parrot keeps on narrating the story and when the story reaches the climax / tipping point or when a character is in danger, the parrot stops narrating and asks Prabhavati what the character would have done in such adversity. It is also a question put to the reader. ( Some times I get it right ;) Honestly I dont want to fall into such situations) Prabhavati always says 'No' and she is so involved that she doesn't even want to guess.

At the end mistress decides that she doesn't have the skill and goes to sleep alone. I thoroughly enjoyed the parrot character, its narration and songs.

That said songs in between narration looks like cinematic dialogues.

Is there any skill
in cheating one who trusts you ?
And is it brave to kill
one who sleeps in your arms ?

Yet another example is

You should do what's done to you,
if you are hit, then hit right back;
if he plucks feathers from my wing,
the hair I'll pull out from his head

But final story doesn't seem like compromising the husband from forgiving his wife.

Finally my objective was over. Here are some of the differences I noted between Arabian Nights and Sukasaptati.

Factor	Arabian Night	Sukasaptati
Narrator	A girl named Scheherazade who is vizier’s daughter	A parrot
Reason for narration	Shahrayar, the king marries a beautiful girl every day and kills her in the morning. To save her life Scheherazade starts telling stories in the night.	Prabhavati’s thirst for love increases after being dejected by her husband. Advised by evil friends she decides to go to meet her paramour at night. Being a loyal servant, the parrot prevents her from going out by narrating stories
Story Stops	Scheherazade stops the story abruptly since dawn is breaking	Parrot stops the story at critical situations and asks Prabhavati how to solve it
Story concept	Mostly involves genie and love	Mostly involving illicit liasions
Story within in a story	Always employed (5 levels are there)	Twice
Addressing narrator	O master, O king, O lord	My beauty, My lady of lovely hips, Big eyes, Delicate one, lovely legs, slim waisted one, My lady of lotus face, O charming one, lady of majestic gait, dear madam
Literature	Persian	Sanskrit
End	Shahryar marries Scheherazade	Prabhavati leaves her evil thoughts and lives with her husband peacefully

Warning: Some stories are little erotic (Eg:- Tale 57 - Vikramditya and Chandralekha) ;)