The India of Barlaam and Ioasaph: “Curiouser and Curiouser”

Various inscriptions in different manuscripts of BkI point to India as the origin of the story. In addition to this factual evidence, readers of the BkI have been naturally led to think of India as the origin of the narrative of the BkI because of its indulgence in fables and because of its Buddhist elements. However, are theriomorphic fables a monopoly of Indian literature? Secondly, how important are such Buddhist elements? And thirdly, exactly which land do these inscriptions mean by “India”? The answers are not so obvious and appear “curiouser and curiouser”, as Lewis Carroll’s Alice would notoriously say.