A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.
Overview
Viśākha flees with his wife when his exiled brothers plan to survive by killing their wives for food. He saves her with portions of his own flesh and blood and later rescues a mutilated stranger. The narrative attributes the mountain’s unusually potent roots and berries to his merit. His wife and the rescued man become lovers; she drops him into a ravine while pretending to need a plant remedy. He survives, reaches a city and becomes king, while the food on the abandoned mountain loses its strength. When the pair arrive begging, he exposes the betrayal and the ministers expel her. The account’s hostile generalizations about women are historical rhetoric, not accepted facts; its reference to cannibals does not establish that his brothers are a separate Rākshasa species.
Origins & earliest records
Indian Buddhist narrative preserved in Tibetan translation
Records & interpretation
Whole chapter and its footnotes directly read in the digitized1906 edition.
In the literature
“shrivelled and lost their power”
XXI How a Woman Requites Love, hosted printed-page marker294 · W.R.S.Ralston, English from Schiefner’s German Tibetan translation
The mountain roots and berries lose their narrative power after Viśākha is cast down.
Selected bibliography
Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.
- 01
Tibetan Tales Derived from Indian Sources
XXI, How a Woman Requites Love, pp. 291–295; note cites Kah-gyur iv. ff. 183–191
- 02
Tibetan Tales Derived from Indian Sources — XXI How a Woman Requites Love
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 chaptersXVII273–278/XVIII279–285/XXI291–295 and their notes read; Tibetan and German 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)
XXI, How a Woman Requites Love. XXI, How a Woman Requites Love, pp. 291–295; note cites Kah-gyur iv. ff. 183–191
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 chaptersXVII273–278/XVIII279–285/XXI291–295 and their notes read; Tibetan and German originals not collated.
- Banished Viśākha saves his wife from a plan to eat the brothers’ wives, then sustains her with his own flesh and blood. He rescues a mutilated river victim; his wife later takes that man as lover and drops Viśākha into a ravine. He survives and becomes king. His former mountain foods lose their special power after his removal, forcing the pair to seek alms. Their arrival at court exposes her betrayal and ends with her expulsion.
Historical German-mediated English translation. Chapter’s Kah-gyur folios are attributed source notes, not independent Tibetan manuscript inspection. Printed-page markers are hosted transcription labels, not separate facsimile collation. No prayer, spell, ritual, medical recipe or modern translation copied.
References
Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.
- Historical translation of Buddhist narrativeSchiefner/Ralston, Tibetan Tales (1906), XXI, How a Woman Requites Love, pp. 291–295; note cites Kah-gyur iv. ff. 183–191Research access: 2026-10-05
Image credits
A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.