Here is the frame story of Suka Saptati, a Sanskrit collection of 70 erotic tales told by a parrot to a bored merchant’s wife.

The merchant was going on a long voyage across the sea and feared his young and beautiful wife would be unfaithful. So he begged his old friend, a parrot, to stop his wife from breaking the marriage laws. Every evening, the bored wife would want to step out of the house and find a lover for herself, the parrot would tell her an entertaining erotic story until she fell asleep. In this way, it told her 70 stories, until the merchant returned from his voyage, carrying gifts and love for his bored wife.

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Now, here is a similar frame story from the Arabian Nights, involving a king who doubts the faithfulness of wives. 

The king found out that his wife was unfaithful. So he decided he would marry a virgin every evening, enjoy the night with her and kill her at dawn. That way he would not give his wife the chance to be unfaithful. Finally, he married an intelligent girl who figured out a way to protect herself. At night, when the king lay in her arms, she would tell him a story but never complete it the same night, forcing the king to keep her alive the next day till he heard the end of the story. But when night came, the intelligent girl, now the queen, would end one story and start several more, so delightful that in order to know the ending of those stories, the king would spare her for another night. Thus, a thousand and one nights were spent listening to stories, by the end of which the king learnt to trust and love his wife.Both stories capture the anxiety of sea-faring merchants wondering if their wives back home had other lovers. Maybe this is why Hindu merchants stopped crossing the sea. Those who did lost their caste. Travelling was outsourced to Arabs who controlled the Indian Ocean until the arrival of the Portuguese 500 years ago.

The author writes and lectures on the relevance of mythology in modern times. Reach him at devdutt.pattanaik@mid-day.com