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Overview
Janmachitra inhabits a lake in King Dhana’s prosperous northern Panchāla. A rival king sends a charmer to remove him and transfer the rain that sustains the country. The nāga assumes human form to ask the hunter Phalaka for help. The charmer’s pegs, threads and spells make the lake seethe; Janmachitra insists that the binding must be reversed before the charmer is killed, because death alone would not undo it.
After Phalaka compels the reversal, Janmachitra welcomes him to his parents’ home and rewards him. He later relinquishes the Amogha-chain, which protects the nāgas against Garuḍa, only after consultation with his parents. This object subsequently enables the capture of Manoharā. The tale supplies a human transformation but no detailed serpentine anatomy.
Origins & earliest records
Indian Buddhist narrative preserved in Tibetan translation
Records & interpretation
Complete chapter V and its footnotes directly read in the digitized 1906 edition.
In the literature
“after assuming the form of a man”
V Sudhana Avadāna, hosted printed-page marker47 · W.R.S.Ralston, English from Schiefner’s German Tibetan translation
Janmachitra approaches Phalaka in human form to ask protection against removal.
Selected bibliography
Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.
- 01
Tibetan Tales Derived from Indian Sources
V, Sudhana Avadāna, pp. 44–50; chapter footnote cites Kah-gyur ii. 202–209
- 02
Tibetan Tales Derived from Indian Sources — V Sudhana Avadāna
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. CompleteV44–74 and all notes independently read: Janmachitra rescue, Manoharā capture/escape, Pānchika intervention, quest, Druma tests and airborne return. Editor’s explicitly obscure route passage retained as uncertain; original manuscripts not collated.
Family, evolution & connections
Janmachitra’s unnamed parents in the Sudhana Avadāna
Same English translation, story V, pp. 49–50, prior to the Sudhana birth episode.
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- Unnamed father + unnamed mother (two stated parents)
Janmachitra explicitly consults his father and mother before transferring the Amogha-chain. Joint parent label is a grouping of two stated parents, not a single organism. Neither parent is named. No original-language manuscript collation or wider Nāga pedigree is implied.
Janmachitra’s unnamed father
Before giving the hunter the Amogha-chain, Janmachitra says he will ask his father and mother; the narrator confirms consultation. Neither parent receives a name in this passage.
Janmachitra’s unnamed mother
The same passage explicitly identifies Janmachitra’s mother among the two consulted parents. The magical protective chain is their household possession, not an offspring.
Primary records and illustrations
Schiefner/Ralston, Tibetan Tales Derived from Indian Sources (London, 1906)
V, Sudhana Avadāna. pp. 44–50
Entire chapter pp. 44–74 and footnotes read; chapter note cites Kah-gyur ii. 202–209. Edition title page checked. Primary witness of the historical translation; original Tibetan not independently checked. Translator’s uncertain river-name conjectures excluded.
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. CompleteV44–74 and all notes independently read: Janmachitra rescue, Manoharā capture/escape, Pānchika intervention, quest, Druma tests and airborne return. Editor’s explicitly obscure route passage retained as uncertain; original manuscripts not collated.
- Janmachitra lives in North Panchāla’s lake and supplies beneficial rain. A rival king hires a charmer to remove him. Taking human form, the Nāga asks the hunter Phalaka to intervene; only after the forced spell reversal does Phalaka kill the charmer. Janmachitra then introduces the rescuer to his actual parents. At a hermit’s suggestion the hunter demands the Amogha-chain used against Garuḍa danger. After consulting his parents, the Nāga surrenders it; that same gift enables the later capture of Manoharā.
V Sudhana Avadāna, complete44–74; Janmachitra44–50 and note2; Kah-gyurii.202–209
German-mediated English narrative; Sanskrit/Tibetan originals and listed parallel versions not independently collated. Route names/fluvial interpretation explicitly uncertain in translator note8. Printed markers from transcription. Coercive marriage, captivity and sacrifices remain historical narrative framing, not endorsed. No rite, spell, sacrificial preparation, medical recipe, devotional formula or verse copied.
References
Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.
- Historical translation of Buddhist narrativeSchiefner/Ralston, Tibetan Tales (1906), V, pp. 44–50Research access: 2026-10-05
Image credits
A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.
