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Kalīlah wa Dimnah, a compendium of individual tales and short stories, is a very well-known Middle Eastern literary work. Although it can not match the popularity of the ‘One Thousand and One Nights’, it is nevertheless sufficiently well known to have attracted scholarly interest for decades. As a result, a considerable volume of scholarly writing has been produced regarding its origin and importance.This article focuses on the origin of one story in the work, the trial of Dimnah. Since the Indian original is missing, accepted wisdom attributes the writing of this story to its first Arabic translator, Ibn al-Muqaffac. Although I do not challenge this view, I argue that there could be an Urtext in Middle Persian which was later rewritten by the famous translator. In what follows, this article provides evidence for this hypothesis from what at first glance might be considered a surprising perspective – Sasanian legal history.

Sasanian criminal law had at least three different functions: to protect the political interest of the state and the ruling elite, to maintain Zoroastrianism as the official religion of the kingdom, and to protect the society against criminals. Crimes were classified into various categories and sub-categories on which penalties of individual delicts were depending. According to the theory of punishment elaborated by the sages and jurisconsults, the aim of the penalty was to save the soul of the perpetrator from the consequences of his crime. In criminal procedure law Zoroastrian clergy played a decisive role, at least in proceedings against heretics and members of religious minorities. Capital punishments were imposed by crucifixion, beheading with the sword, burning, stoning and other crucial methods of execution. Albeit existing, prisons served only as preventive detention. Prisoners could be released on bail; bribery, however, was also an effective means to escape punishment.

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