Kleeja and Daman

Some people disagreed about the origin of the book, but many researchers unanimously agreed that it dates back to Indian origins, and it was written in Sanskrit in the fourth century AD. The book also discusses in its introduction the story of the philosopher Bidba with his Indian king Dabsalim, which states that Alexander the Great of the Romans invaded the lands of the East in his conquests, including the Indian lands where he defeated their king. As a result, he decided to appoint one of his followers to continue after his invasion of other countries, but the people of India did not accept this foreign ruler, which led them to overthrow him and choose someone from among them, Dabsalim, and make him their king. However, he soon changed from a just and merciful king to a tyrant, which prompted the wise philosopher Bidba to go to him and offer advice. After the king listened to his words, King Dabsalim became angry and ordered Bidba to be killed and crucified initially, before refraining from that and merely imprisoning him. Later, King Dabsalim released Bidba from prison and asked him to repeat his words. Bidba did so, and Dabsalim listened with emotion and promised to act according to his advice, then ordered his bonds to be loosened and appointed him as his minister. This was the beginning of writing the book, as Bidba asked King Dabsalim to record and preserve it. However, some doubted this and believed that the origin of the book is Arabic, because the Arabic version is the only ancient remaining copy of the book, with the Indian and Persian versions lost if they ever existed. They think that the story of the introduction and its transfer from India to Persia, along with the stories told on the tongues of animals, are merely the imagination of the writer Abdullah ibn al-Muqaffa, to distance himself from accusations that he feared for his life. He said in his book: "It is Ibn al-Muqaffa who authored the book 'Kalila and Dimna,' and it is said that he did not write it himself but that it was in Persian and he translated it into Arabic."