Although the original text of the Panchatantra is lost, it was evidently an independent work written in Sanskrit around 300 CE (give or take a century or two). Within the text its putative author is often given as Vishnu Sharma, but there is no evidence indicating this to be a real person, as opposed to a fictional story-telling figure. Durgasimha's translation is based on the so-called Southern Panchatrantra — a version closely resembling the original, which also engendered several other Indian vernacular versions, as well as the Hitopadesha.