Reimagining the Panchatantra: From Temple Reliefs to Illustrated Storytelling Book

Abstract

Panchatantra stories found in Indonesian temples are ancient narratives that play an important role in the development of the world of literacy as the pioneer of modern children's literature. Unfortunately, the public general disinterest in knowing and passing on the narrative of the temples' reliefs in Indonesia could cause the loss of the valuable story contained in the relief over time. Books have been admitted worldwide as the foremost media for literacy, documentation, and references, thus reimagining the Panchatantra stories contained in the reliefs in the form of a book as a form of recognition to the public is essential to be conducted. Due to the form of Panchatantra stories that are dominated by anthropomorphic subjects, this book should be targeted to children, as it is in accordance with their world and imagination. The design method used by the author is divided into four steps, namely research, idea development, creation, and production while using interviews, literature studies, observations, and quantitative methods in the form of questionnaires to support data collection. Findings suggest that this book is effective in promoting Panchatantra stories that are more approachable to children aged seven to eleven years old.