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

Overview

Rāshṭrapāla, called a flamingo-king in the English translation, gathers birds for his daughter’s choice of husband. She selects a peacock, who spreads his tail and dances in celebration. Her father judges this display immodest and refuses the marriage even while acknowledging the bird’s beauty, eye-patterned plumage and lapis-coloured neck. No alternative husband or later wedding is supplied. Flamingo is retained as this edition’s rendering, without reconstructing an uninspected original bird name.

Speaking bird king who vetoes his daughter’s chosen suitorBuddhist narrative witness
01

Origins & earliest records

Indian Buddhist narrative preserved in Tibetan translation

02

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.

  1. 01

    Tibetan Tales Derived from Indian Sources

    F. Anton von Schiefner, Tibetan-to-German translator; W. R. S. Ralston, English translator · 1906

    XLVI, The Peacock as Bridegroom, p. 354; note cites Kah-gyur iii. f. 90

  2. 02

    Tibetan Tales Derived from Indian Sources — XLVI The Peacock as Bridegroom

    Anonymous Buddhist narrative tradition; F. Anton von Schiefner and W.R.S.Ralston, mediated translators · 1906

    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 XL–XLIX344–359 and all notes independently read. Tibetan/German source-language originals not collated; footnoted comparisons not promoted to separately inspected works.

Family, evolution & connections

Rāshṭrapāla and his choosing daughter

Only the explicit parentage in The Peacock as Bridegroom.

One father-to-daughter branch follows the narrative’s repeated relationship statements. Mother and daughter’s personal name are unstated. The rejected peacock is a suitor, not a completed spouse. This is the 1906 English translation; Tibetan and German originals were not independently collated.

Schiefner/Ralston, Tibetan Tales, 1906 English edition, XLVI, The Peacock as Bridegroom, pp. 354

Primary records and illustrations

Direct primary record

Schiefner/Ralston, Tibetan Tales Derived from Indian Sources (London, 1906)

XLVI, The Peacock as Bridegroom. XLVI, The Peacock as Bridegroom, p. 354; note cites Kah-gyur iii. f. 90

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.

Inspect the digitized plate · Source collection manifest

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 XL–XLIX344–359 and all notes independently read. Tibetan/German source-language originals not collated; footnoted comparisons not promoted to separately inspected works.

  1. The flamingo-king Rāshṭrapāla’s daughter chooses a peacock from assembled birds. Hearing that he has been selected, the peacock displays his tail and dances. Her father calls the display impudent and refuses the marriage despite the peacock’s appeal to his beauty and voice. No completed wedding is narrated.

    XLVI The Peacock as Bridegroom, complete354; note Kah-gyuriii.f90

Historical German-mediated English rendering; Tibetan originals and footnoted comparative works not independently collated. Page labels from hosted transcription. Religious/moral assertions remain narrative framing. No verse, ritual, prayer, medical preparation or modern adaptation copied.

References

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

  1. Historical translation of Buddhist narrativeSchiefner/Ralston, Tibetan Tales (1906), XLVI, The Peacock as Bridegroom, p. 354; note cites Kah-gyur iii. f. 90Research 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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