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Overview
Five men wait overnight in different parts of a fig-tree for a woman prevented from coming by her husband. After their complaints, the deity dwelling in the tree says they will go on lamenting, while the damaged tree will recover when Vaiśākha comes. This is the deity’s only intervention in the account. The subsequent contest for flowers is settled by an ordinary mutilated garden-keeper who rewards truthful speech; the flattering wishes that his nose might regrow never produce a healing miracle. The tree deity receives no name, visible form or part in that later bargain.
Origins & earliest records
Indian Buddhist narrative preserved in Tibetan translation
Records & interpretation
Whole chapter and its footnotes directly read in the digitized1906 edition.
Selected bibliography
Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.
- 01
Tibetan Tales Derived from Indian Sources
XXIII, The Five Lovers, pp. 299–301; note cites Kah-gyur ix. ff. 67–69
- 02
Tibetan Tales Derived from Indian Sources — XXIII The Five Lovers
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. Complete selected chaptersXX288–290 andXXII–XXVIII296–313 with all notes independently read; source-language originals not collated.
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
Schiefner/Ralston, Tibetan Tales Derived from Indian Sources (London, 1906)
XXIII, The Five Lovers. XXIII, The Five Lovers, pp. 299–301; note cites Kah-gyur ix. ff. 67–69
Complete chapter and all notes read. Translation’s canonical locator retained; original Tibetan not independently inspected. Actual endings, explicit identities and comparative material kept separate, with no death/kinship/anatomy inferred beyond the telling.
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. Complete selected chaptersXX288–290 andXXII–XXVIII296–313 with all notes independently read; source-language originals not collated.
- Five lovers wait overnight on separate branches of a tree while a suspicious husband restrains the woman who arranged their meeting. The tree’s deity remarks on their predicament and the tree’s eventual recovery from damage. After the woman arrives, the men compete to obtain flowers for her. Four flatter a mutilated flower keeper with false hopes of bodily regrowth; the truthful fifth receives the flowers and her favour.
XXIII The Five Lovers, complete299–301; deity300; note Kah-gyurix.ff67–69
German-mediated historical English translation, not direct Tibetan manuscript inspection. Whole book not claimed read. Page labels are hosted transcription markers, not separate facsimile collation. No ritual, spell formula, verse, medical procedure or modern adaptation copied.
References
Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.
- Historical translation of Buddhist narrativeSchiefner/Ralston, Tibetan Tales (1906), XXIII, The Five Lovers, pp. 299–301; note cites Kah-gyur ix. ff. 67–69Research access: 2026-10-05
Image credits
A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.