Sukasaptati

Śukasaptati, or Seventy tales of the parrot, is a collection of stories originally written in Sanskrit. The stories are supposed to be narrated to a woman by her pet 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.

The stories frequently deal with illicit liaisons, the problems that flow from them and the way to escape those crises by using one's wits. Though the actual purpose of the parrot is to prevent its mistress from leaving, it does so without moralising. At the end of the seventy days, the woman's husband returns from his trip abroad and all is forgiven. Most of the stories are ribald and uninhibited, with some verging on the pornographic. The situations depicted in the stories not only test the bounds of marriage, some stray into taboo areas of incest and, in one case, zoophilia.

The collection is part of the Katha tradition of Sanskrit literature. Some of the tales are actually repeated from earlier well-known collections in Sanskrit literature. In the tradition of Sanskrit literature, the tales are frequently interspersed with verse, many original, some repeated from earlier works. Though 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. The collection has been translated to many languages, including Persian in the 14th century, and in Malay, Hikayat Bayan Budiman, by a certain Kadi Hassan in 773 AH (1371 AD). It was last translated to English in 2000 CE.

The collection, following the story within a story format to maintain continuity, actually contains 72 stories, of which one story acts as the main narrative. The remaining 71 stories are narrated by the parrot.

The main story is that of Madana Vinoda, the wayward son of a merchant, and his wife Padmavati. The merchant's Brahmin friend tries to bring Madana to the path of righteousness by giving him a pet talking parrot. This attempt is successful as the parrot narrates a story that brings Madana to the path of duty. Having learnt his lesson, he sets off on a voyage, presumably on a business venture, leaving his wife alone.

Padmavati, though initially dejected by her husband's departure, soon falls into the company of wanton women who suggest that she take on a lover. She agrees, and every night for the next seventy nights, she gets ready to meet him. But she is thwarted in her attempt every single night by the parrot, which adopts the stratagem of telling her a story. The 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. Then 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. Padmavati naturally wants to know the details of the story and the parrot proceeds to narrate it. At the end of the story, Padmavati decides not to go for her rendezvous that night.

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