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Overview
In Parker’s Western Province tale, a woman calls Mārayā her husband when neighbours ask about her son’s father. Hearing this pleases him and prompts him to help the boy become a physician; the statement does not independently establish biological paternity. Parker’s footnote identifies Mārayā with Māra, the god of death or Death personified. The narrative is a particular Sri Lankan encounter, not a summary of every Buddhist account of Māra.
Mārayā supplies one medicine and a rule: it cures a patient when he stands at the head of the bed, but cannot save someone when he stands at the feet. The physician defeats this limitation by having a patient’s bed turned around. Angered, Mārayā comes to kill him. A separate spell lets the physician bind him to a chair until he grants three more years of life, then to a coconut tree in exchange for another three years.
At the next visit, Mārayā enters a locked room through its keyhole. Asked to demonstrate this ability by entering a bottle, he complies and is sealed inside. Thereafter the physician carries the bottle to patients and places it beside their heads, making every treatment succeed. Mārayā is neither killed nor released in the ending. The text gives no fixed size or bodily anatomy, although passage through a keyhole and bottle establishes an extraordinary capacity.
Origins & earliest records
Sri Lankan oral narrative in Parker’s English collection
Records & interpretation
Complete numbered main tale, ending and appended notes read from retained primary edition.
Selected bibliography
Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.
- 01
Village Folk-Tales of Ceylon, Volume III
No. 252, pp. 339–342, including following comparative notes; Western Province; individual teller not named.
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
H. Parker, Village Folk-Tales of Ceylon, Volume III (1914)
Volume III. No. 252, pp. 339–342; following notes also read
Complete retained parker3-s252.txt read. Western Province; individual teller not named. At the next visit, Mārayā enters a locked room through its keyhole. Asked to demonstrate this ability by entering a bottle, he complies and is sealed inside. Thereafter the physician carries the bottle to patients and places it beside their heads, making every treatment succeed. Mārayā is neither killed nor released in the ending. The text gives no fixed size or bodily anatomy, although passage through a keyhole and bottle establishes an extraordinary capacity.
References
Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.
- Historical primary folklore collectionParker, Volume III, No. 252Research access: 2026-10-05
Image credits
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