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

Overview

In Parker’s North-western Province tale, a princess created by Śakra from her husband’s own body takes a Nāgayā as a lover. They plan to kill the prince by learning the location of his death, which he eventually says is in his thumb that day. The Nāgayā waits in cobra form beside the bathing path, but the prince’s attendants find and kill him before he can bite.

The grieving princess cuts off his hood and conceals his remains in the case made for a golden waist-chain. She challenges her husband to explain a riddle about a Nāga belt, with death as the penalty for failure. A lamp-smoke-drinking godling’s overheard account eventually supplies the answer. Parker’s footnote defines this Nāgayā as able to assume either human or cobra form; the text does not show a separate human-form scene or the cobra’s return to life. The story’s accusation of female faithlessness is its narrative premise, not an assessment of women.

Cobra lover whose death becomes the subject of a lethal riddleVersion-specific collected narrative
01

Origins & earliest records

Sri Lankan narratives collected and translated by H. Parker

02

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.

  1. 01

    Village Folk-Tales of Ceylon, Volume I

    H. Parker (collector and translator) · 1910

    No. 19, The Faithless Princess, pp. 157–159

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

Village Folk-Tales of Ceylon, Volume I

Volume I. No. 19, The Faithless Princess, pp. 157–159

Complete No.19 with comparison and both footnotes read. Human/cobra ability is explicitly the collector’s footnote; no narrated revival or deliberate divine rescue. Public historical narrative context, not a claim about all contemporary belief.

Inspect the digitized plate · Source collection manifest

References

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

  1. Historical collected oral narrative translationParker, Village Folk-Tales of Ceylon I — No. 19, The Faithless Princess, pp. 157–159Research 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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