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

Overview

In Parker’s No.190, a Gamarāla catches a white rat-snake after seven years of trying. A dēvatāwā tells him in a dream that eating its head will bring kingship. While he bathes, his wife unknowingly serves the head to a visiting Tom-tom Beater who has brought woven cloth. Seven years later the recipient’s royal destiny must be honoured, despite opposition based on his community status.

The opponents try to limit his reign to the time an arrow remains in flight. Śakra holds the arrow for thirty years, allowing Moṭā-Tissa to rule until it falls. The narrative assigns this aerial intervention to Śakra, not to the snake. It gives the animal no speech, transformation, personal name or precise zoological identity beyond the translated white rat-snake description.

The remainder concerns persecution of the ruler’s community, a surviving infant and restoration of ceremonial duties under a later king; the snake does not return. Parker attributes the tale to a Washerman in the North-western Province. His comparative note about a kingship-conferring cock in a Tibetan collection is a different witness and does not turn this snake into a bird. The supernatural property belongs to the narrated head, not to an edible remedy or a claim about living snakes.

White snakeRoyal destiny through the headAccidental recipientSeparate divine intervention
01

Origins & earliest records

Sri Lankan village narrative recorded by H. Parker

02

Records & interpretation

Complete No.190 main tale, comparison and four footnotes read.

Selected bibliography

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

  1. 01

    Village Folk-Tales of Ceylon, Volume III

    H. Parker · 1914

    No.190, The Story of the Four-Fold Trap, main pp.48–51; comparisons and trap explanation pp.51–52; complete section read.

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

H. Parker, Village Folk-Tales of Ceylon, Volume III (1914)

III. No.190, pp.48–52 including notes

Complete parker3-s190.txt main/comparison/all four footnotes read. White rat-snake head distinct from comparative cock; thirty-year suspended arrow explicitly Śakra action. No new community-as-creature record.

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References

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

  1. Historical translated folktaleParker, Volume III (1914), No.190Research access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

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