A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.
Overview
A wild sow gives birth near a house, and people raise the young boar. After joining the wild herd, he finds that a Rākshasa regularly eats its members. He instructs the boars to imitate the predator’s grimaces, swelling sides and roar, then has them prepare two deep pits joined by a tunnel. When the Rākshasa lunges, he jumps into one pit and escapes through the other while the herd kills and eats its trapped enemy.
The boars then pursue a lion, undermine the tree in which it hides and kill it after it flees. Parker attributes the story to a Roḍiyā narrator of the North-western Province. His comparison with Jātaka 492 distinguishes that text’s tiger and sham ascetic from this telling’s Rākshasa and lion; the predators are not interchangeable identities, and his suggested route through Buddhist teaching remains a hypothesis.
Origins & earliest records
Sri Lankan narratives collected and translated by H. Parker
Records & interpretation
Complete tale and all its printed variants/comparative notes read; relevant introduction passages on collection and translation directly read.
Selected bibliography
Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.
- 01
Village Folk-Tales of Ceylon, Volume I
No. 71, How the Boars killed the Rākshasa, pp. 370–373
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
Village Folk-Tales of Ceylon, Volume I
Volume I. No. 71, How the Boars killed the Rākshasa, pp. 370–373
Complete tale and attached variant/comparative notes read. Occupational narrator attributions retained without caste judgments; false deity claim distinguished from actual divine identity; flour effigy not animated.
References
Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.
- Historical collected oral narrative translationParker, Village Folk-Tales of Ceylon I — No. 71, How the Boars killed the Rākshasa, pp. 370–373Research access: 2026-10-05
Image credits
A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.