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

Overview

Two pheasants, Dharmika and Adharmika, have grown united and share bodily nourishment. While Adharmika sleeps, Dharmika eats an amṛita fruit washed ashore, reasoning that their common body will benefit. Adharmika resents being excluded and, when the other is asleep, deliberately eats a poisonous fruit. Both become insensible. Adharmika wishes to oppose his companion in future births, while Dharmika wishes to continue showing kindness.

The main telling does not explicitly announce their deaths or give a complete diagram of their conjoined anatomy. Its footnote compares a Panchatantra bird with one body and two beaks and a separate Upanishadic two-bird image; those descriptions are not silently imported as the physical specification or doctrinal identity of these named pheasants.

Two named birds sharing a body whose choices nourish or poison bothBuddhist narrative witness
01

Origins & earliest records

Indian Buddhist narrative preserved in Tibetan translation

02

Records & interpretation

Whole chapter and its footnotes directly read in the digitized1906 edition.

In the literature

“whose bodies were united in their growth”
Anonymous Buddhist narrative tradition; F. Anton von Schiefner and W.R.S.Ralston, mediated translators · Tibetan Tales Derived from Indian Sources — XLIX The United Pheasants
XLIX The United Pheasants, hosted printed-page marker358 · W.R.S.Ralston, English from Schiefner’s German Tibetan translation

The English narrative explicitly describes shared growth, without supplying a modern anatomical diagnosis.

Selected bibliography

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

  1. 01

    Tibetan Tales Derived from Indian Sources

    F. Anton von Schiefner, Tibetan-to-German translator; W. R. S. Ralston, English translator · 1906

    XLIX, The United Pheasants, pp. 358–359; notes cite Kah-gyur iv. ff. 232–233

  2. 02

    Tibetan Tales Derived from Indian Sources — XLIX The United Pheasants

    Anonymous Buddhist narrative tradition; F. Anton von Schiefner and W.R.S.Ralston, mediated translators · 1906

    Tibetan Tales Derived from Indian Sources, London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co., 1906, title-page transcription independently checked. Tibetan Kah-gyur to German by F. Anton von Schiefner, then German to English by W.R.S.Ralston. Complete selected XL–XLIX344–359 and all notes independently read. Tibetan/German source-language originals not collated; footnoted comparisons not promoted to separately inspected works.

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

Schiefner/Ralston, Tibetan Tales Derived from Indian Sources (London, 1906)

XLIX, The United Pheasants. XLIX, The United Pheasants, pp. 358–359; notes cite Kah-gyur iv. ff. 232–233

Complete chapter and all notes read. Translation’s canonical locator retained; original Tibetan not independently inspected. Actual endings, explicit identities and comparative material kept separate, with no death/kinship/anatomy inferred beyond the telling.

Inspect the digitized plate · Source collection manifest

Located primary passages

Specific passages supporting details in this entry, grouped by their published witness.

Tibetan Tales Derived from Indian Sources

Tibetan Tales Derived from Indian Sources, London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co., 1906, title-page transcription independently checked. Tibetan Kah-gyur to German by F. Anton von Schiefner, then German to English by W.R.S.Ralston. Complete selected XL–XLIX344–359 and all notes independently read. Tibetan/German source-language originals not collated; footnoted comparisons not promoted to separately inspected works.

  1. Dharmika and Adharmika grow joined and share nourishment. Dharmika eats a washed-up ambrosial fruit while his companion sleeps, reasoning that their common body will benefit. Offended at being excluded, Adharmika later eats poisonous fruit. Both become insensible; his hostile rebirth wish is answered by Dharmika’s wish to be kind. The selected body does not explicitly state death.

    XLIX The United Pheasants, complete358–359 and notes; Kah-gyuriv.ff232–233

Historical German-mediated English rendering; Tibetan originals and footnoted comparative works not independently collated. Page labels from hosted transcription. Religious/moral assertions remain narrative framing. No verse, ritual, prayer, medical preparation or modern adaptation copied.

References

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

  1. Historical translation of Buddhist narrativeSchiefner/Ralston, Tibetan Tales (1906), XLIX, The United Pheasants, pp. 358–359; notes cite Kah-gyur iv. ff. 232–233Research access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

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

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