A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.

Overview

Ardschi-Bordschi excavates a brilliant golden throne beneath a mound associated with a boy’s extraordinary judgment. Its sixteen jeweled steps each carry two wooden figures, a warrior and a Sûta, or bard. When the king approaches, the lowest pair moves to block him: the warrior strikes his breast and the bard challenges his right to ascend. All thirty-two figures join the warning.

They identify the throne as the former seat of Churmusta and then Vikramâditja, and demand a ruler devoted to living beings rather than his own pleasures. One bard begins recounting the earlier king’s life. The animate figures are explicitly wood, while the throne’s four golden supporting lions are not said to move. The paired warrior-and-bard arrangement belongs to Busk’s Mongolian-derived witness and is not silently replaced by figures from other throne-story traditions.

Their successive accounts test Ardschi-Bordschi against the earlier ruler’s extraordinary birth, youth and deeds. Fresh warrior-and-bard pairs leave their guarding positions whenever he tries again to ascend. The bards describe the infant’s speech, his serpent guardians, the defeat of the Schimnus and the winning of Naran, while the entire company repeatedly reinforces the prohibition.

When Ardschi-Bordschi takes his chief wife toward the throne, the test extends to her conduct. A bard invokes Vikramâditja’s wife Tsetsen Budschiktschi and tells of a parrot whose stories restrain a merchant’s wife. These marital standards and comparisons are the narrators’ prescriptions. The consulted cycle ends with another conditional warning; it does not report that Ardschi-Bordschi finally succeeds in ascending.

Carved wooden bodiesSpeech and movementGuardians of royal ethical qualification
01

Origins & earliest records

Mongolian transmission of an Indian-derived tale, mediated by European editions and Busk’s adaptation

02

Records & interpretation

Complete throne-discovery and subsequent birth, youth, deeds and parrot narratives262–324, with attached notes, directly read.

Selected bibliography

Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.

  1. 01

    Sagas from the Far East

    Rachel Harriette Busk, compiler and adapter · 1873

    Ardschi-Bordschi discovers Vikramâditja’s Throne, pp. 262–266

  2. 02

    Sagas from the Far East

    Rachel Harriette Busk · 1873

    Subsequent birth, youth, deeds and parrot sections, pp. 266–324; associated notes, pp. 398–405.

Family & connections

A source-supported family tree or inspiration record has not yet been compiled for this profile. Related reading below indicates a connection in subject matter, not a proven lineage or creative influence.

Primary records and illustrations

Direct primary record

Rachel Harriette Busk, Sagas from the Far East (London, 1873)

Saga of Ardschi-Bordschi and Vikramâditja’s Throne. Throne-discovery section, pp. 262–266; notes 1–5; subsequent narratives266–324 and notes398–407

Complete section and notes read. Sixteen steps with warrior/bard pairs give thirty-two figures; moving wooden figures distinguished from static golden lion supports. Subsequent life narratives not yet all read. All subsequent birth/youth/deeds/parrot narratives and attached notes directly read; serial guardian interventions and unresolved final warning added.

Inspect the digitized plate · Source collection manifest

References

Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.

  1. Historical literary adaptationBusk, Sagas from the Far East (1873), throne-discovery episode, pp. 262–266Research access: 2026-10-05
  2. Historical literary adaptationBusk, subsequent throne narratives266–324Research access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

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