The acquaintance of AA MacDonell at this time probably convinced him it was a viable project. MacDonell was Boden Professor of Sanskrit at the University of Oxford, probably the most eminent centre for study of the language outside India.

Alfred visited the professor, and he was impressed enough with Alfred's attempts to teach himself Sanskrit to offer him support. MacDonell also told Sir Edgar Bonham Carter, Director of the School of Oriental Studies, about the project, and he invited Alfred to meet him and his staff in London. Alfred had to decline the offer because he simply couldn't afford the fare. He was also put in touch with EB Nash, another renowned Sanskrit scholar, but MacDonell would eventually write the introduction to the book when it was published.

Most scholars believe The Panchatantra was written at least 2,300 years ago, but its true origins are probably even older as many of the fables seem to be based on tales from ancient folklore. Its author is unknown, but it is sometimes accredited to a wise man called Bidpai, although this is possibly a Sanskrit word meaning 'court scholar'.

It is made up of five distinct books or sections that feature 87 fables - stories about animals with supposed moral lessons for humans - and they are evidently written for the benefit of three ignorant princes. The collection has a clear parallel with Aesop's Fables and the two may have influenced each other as about a dozen of The Panchatantra's fables have a striking relationship to Aesop's. The Panchatantra is as well known in Eastern cultures as Aesop's Fables are in our own.

His project to translate the stories is the only one that Alfred ever adopted that was intended for the consumption of children (although they can also be enjoyed by adults), and it was a bold attempt to introduce the learning of Eastern culture to a population that generally knew relatively little of foreign cultures, even including those countries that were still part of the British Empire.

In his biography, Leonard Clark said that once Alfred had made up his mind to begin the translation, he devoted "every spare minute" to the task, "rarely going far afield, and viewing the world at large, as it were, from behind a curtain of his own making". As if the mental challenge wasn't enough, Alfred was also experiencing increasing difficulty with his failing eyesight throughout the project.

Sanskrit is a kind of Western equivalent of Latin, technically considered a dead language in terms of it being now rarely spoken. However, it is the one that many ancient texts are written in, and these are still revered and crucial to Hinduism today. Alfred took to teaching himself Sanskrit so he could better understand his studies of Indian religions - a monumental task considering it does not use Western (Arabic) characters (see the illustration, below, showing Alfred's handwritten notes). Yet he was a confident reader of Sanskrit by the time he embarked on his project to translate The Panchatantra, and had already read the Bhagavad Gita.

His first task was to untangle the complex way in which the fables are usually presented. They have been described as being like Russian dolls, with each tale contained within related stories and linked to other verses, and are not unlike the way that Tolkien weaves folklore, folksong and legend into Lord of the Rings. Alfred's translation prunes these off-shoots of the main story, to reveal the central moral.

The project was completed just before Christmas 1928, having taken him exactly a year, and although still only in his early fifites, Leonard Clark's biographer notes that Alfred was already thinking of it as being "his final project".

Sanskrit scholars, who were already impressed with Alfred even taking on the translation, praised the end product, saying it "would be of great value to all future Sanskrit students", with MacDonell particularly impressed, saying: "I have read all his translations through, and the impression they produce is one of fidelity to the text, making allowances for his simplifications, which do not affect the narrative. I have therefore no doubt that Mr Williams' readers will not only derive much pleasure from these Tales, but also from the results of any further studies of Indian Fables which he may undertake."

Not for the first time, finding a publisher proved a problem, and it was more than a year later before Alfred finally got positive feedback from a publisher - Basil Blackwell in Oxford. Although impressed by the text, it may have been the impression that Alfred gave in his only meeting with Blackwell that persuaded him to go ahead with publishing. "As soon as he entered my room," Blackwell later reported, "I was aware that I was in the presence of a rare spirit," and expressed surprise that Alfred had cycled the 25 miles to see him.

So publication did go ahead, but Alfred would never see the book in print. On May 9, 1930, Mary, who herself had only three weeks to live, received a cheque from Blackwell for the copyright of Tales From The Panchatantra. But Alfred had already been dead a month.

However, Tales From The Panchatantra is ubdoubtedly one of Alfred's triumphs. For a start, it is a bold attempt to introduce Indian culture into popular British life, is his most potent legacy for children, and yet another example of how even the towering challenges he needed to overcome to complete his self-appointed task. It may also be said to be the beginnings of Swindon's celebration of Asian culture which is evident in its 21st century appreciation of the arts and traditions of its Asian community.

And - for once, perhaps - even Alfred allowed himself to be satisfied with the result, writing to his friend, Henry Byett, even before he found a publisher, to tell him: "I have found my final satisfaction in Sanskrit, as far as literature goes."

Wikipedia entry on The Panchatantra

Read the fables

The Merchant and King's Sweep