batch.motif.buddhist-jataka-birth-stories-rhys-davids-gutenberg-l10302-l10448
---
record_id: batch.motif.buddhist-jataka-birth-stories-rhys-davids-gutenberg-l10302-l10448
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/buddhist-birth-stories-volume-1-rhys-davids.md
passage_locator:
label: END OF THE STORY OF THE DART OF LOVE. / END OF THE STORY OF THE SWIFT ANTELOPE.
/ END OF THE STORY OF THE DEER WHO WOULD NOT LEARN. / END OF THE STORY ON FOOD
OFFERED TO THE DEAD.; lines 10302-10448
start: '10302'
end: '10448'
translation: Buddhist birth stories; or, Jataka tales, Volume 1
notes: Generated from OpenAI Batch run motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority;
human review required.
canonical_text:
quote: ''
summary: 'The passage contains the Āyācita-bhatta Jātaka, in which people make vows
and animal offerings to gods for safe trade journeys, and a village proprietor
offers slaughtered animals to a banyan-tree spirit, who rebukes the practice;
people then cease life-destroying deeds. It then begins the Naḷapāna Jātaka, explaining
hollow Naḷa-canes: the Bodisat, as a monkey-king, protects his troop from a water-demon
by observing that footprints enter a pond but do not return, and by planning to
drink through reeds without entering the water.'
language: English
quote_policy: summarized
literal_observations:
- id: obs:1
text: Men preparing for trading journeys kill animals, make offerings to gods, and
vow to make another offering if they return safely and successfully.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:2
text: After returning safely and successfully, the men attribute the result to the
power of the god and kill animals to release themselves from the vow.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:3
text: A landed proprietor in Kāsi promises an offering to the Genius of a banyan-tree
at the village gate and later slays animals at the foot of the tree.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:4
text: The tree-god stands in a fork of the tree and utters a stanza saying that
seeking freedom through such deeds is bondage and that the wise are not made free
by them.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: obs:5
text: After the tree-god's speech, people refrain from life-destroying deeds and
live righteously.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: obs:6
text: The Teacher identifies himself in the past birth as the Genius of the Tree.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: obs:7
text: Monks at Naḷaka-pāna find Naḷa-canes hollow from root to point and ask the
Teacher why this is so.
category: object
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: obs:8
text: The former forest has a lake inhabited by a water-demon who eats whoever goes
down into the water.
category: setting
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: obs:9
text: The Bodisat is a monkey-king who lives in the forest with about eighty thousand
monkeys and protects them from harm.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- id: obs:10
text: The monkey-king tells the monkeys to ask him before eating unknown fruits
or drinking unknown water because the forest contains poisonous trees and pools
haunted by demons.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
- id: obs:11
text: The monkeys find a pond in an unfamiliar place and wait for their king instead
of drinking.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:11
- id: obs:12
text: The Bodisat observes footprints around the pond that go down into it but do
not come up, and concludes that the pond is haunted by demons.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:12
- id: obs:13
text: The water-demon emerges in a horrible form with blue belly, pale face, red
hands, and red feet, and urges the monkeys to go down and drink.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:13
- id: obs:14
text: The demon says he has power over all who go down into the pool and will devour
the monkeys.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:14
- id: obs:15
text: The Bodisat says the monkeys will drink the pond water through Naḷa-canes
without entering it, so the demon will have no power to eat them.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:15
figures:
- id: fig:1
name_or_label: The Teacher / Blessed One / Buddha
description: Religious teacher at Jetavana and later at the Ketaka wood who tells
the Jātaka tales and identifies past-birth roles.
role_refs:
- role:1
- role:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:6
- ev:7
- ev:16
- id: fig:2
name_or_label: Mendicants / monks
description: They ask whether there is advantage in offerings under a vow and later
ask why Naḷa-canes are hollow throughout.
role_refs:
- role:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:7
- id: fig:3
name_or_label: Men about to go on trading journeys
description: They kill animals, make offerings and vows before departure, and kill
animals again after safe return.
role_refs:
- role:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- id: fig:4
name_or_label: Landed proprietor in Kāsi
description: A village landholder who promises an offering to the Genius of a banyan-tree
and later slays animals to free himself from the vow.
role_refs:
- role:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: fig:5
name_or_label: Genius of the Banyan-tree / tree-god
description: A deity associated with a banyan-tree at a village gate; stands in
a fork of the tree and rebukes life-destroying offerings. The Teacher says he
was this figure in the past.
role_refs:
- role:5
- role:6
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:4
- ev:6
- id: fig:6
name_or_label: Bodisat as monkey-king
description: A monkey-king, in size like the fawn of a red deer, who leads about
eighty thousand monkeys and preserves them from harm.
role_refs:
- role:7
- role:8
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- ev:10
- ev:12
- ev:15
- id: fig:7
name_or_label: Troop of monkeys
description: About eighty thousand monkeys who live with the monkey-king, heed his
instruction, and wait for him before drinking from an unfamiliar pond.
role_refs:
- role:9
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- ev:10
- ev:11
- id: fig:8
name_or_label: Water-demon
description: A demon living in the lake or pond who eats those who go down into
the water and appears in a frightening colored form.
role_refs:
- role:10
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- ev:13
- ev:14
- id: fig:9
name_or_label: Novices
description: They bring Naḷa-canes to the monks for needle-cases.
role_refs:
- role:11
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
roles:
- id: role:1
label: Jātaka narrator
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: The Teacher responds to questions by telling former-birth tales.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:7
- ev:16
- id: role:2
label: Past-birth identifier
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: He makes the connection and says he was the Genius of the Tree in that past
life.
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: role:3
label: Questioners
assigned_to:
- fig:2
basis: They ask the Blessed One about the value of vow offerings and about hollow
Naḷa-canes.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:7
- id: role:4
label: Vow-makers and sacrificers
assigned_to:
- fig:3
- fig:4
basis: They vow offerings and kill animals in connection with those vows.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:3
- id: role:5
label: Tree deity
assigned_to:
- fig:5
basis: The figure is called the Genius of a Banyan-tree and a tree-god standing
in the tree.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:4
- id: role:6
label: Moral rebuker of killing
assigned_to:
- fig:5
basis: The tree-god's stanza criticizes seeking freedom through such deeds, after
which people stop life-destroying deeds.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
- id: role:7
label: Protective leader
assigned_to:
- fig:6
basis: The monkey-king lives with the troop and preserves them from harm.
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- id: role:8
label: Danger-detector and strategist
assigned_to:
- fig:6
basis: He reads the footprints, identifies the haunted pond, and proposes drinking
through reeds without entering the water.
evidence_refs:
- ev:12
- ev:15
- id: role:9
label: Obedient followers
assigned_to:
- fig:7
basis: The monkeys agree to ask before eating or drinking and wait for their king
at the pond.
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
- ev:11
- id: role:10
label: Water predator
assigned_to:
- fig:8
basis: The demon eats whoever descends into the water and claims power over all
who go down into the pool.
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- ev:14
- id: role:11
label: Object-bringers
assigned_to:
- fig:9
basis: The novices bring Naḷa-canes for needle-cases.
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
symbols:
- id: sym:1
label: Banyan-tree at the village gate
literal_form: Banyan-tree
associated_figures:
- fig:5
taxonomy_refs:
- tree
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:4
- id: sym:2
label: Animal offering under a vow
literal_form: Killed animals offered to gods or to a tree spirit in fulfillment
of a vow
associated_figures:
- fig:3
- fig:4
- fig:5
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:3
- ev:4
- id: sym:3
label: Haunted pond or lake
literal_form: Water body inhabited by a demon
associated_figures:
- fig:6
- fig:7
- fig:8
taxonomy_refs:
- water
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- ev:11
- ev:12
- ev:14
- id: sym:4
label: Footprints entering but not returning
literal_form: Marks of feet going down into the pond with no marks coming up
associated_figures:
- fig:6
- fig:8
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:12
- ev:16
- id: sym:5
label: Naḷa-canes or reeds
literal_form: Hollow reeds used to drink water without entering the pond; also brought
as needle-cases
associated_figures:
- fig:2
- fig:6
- fig:7
- fig:9
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- ev:15
scenes:
- id: scene:1
label: Question about vow offerings
summary: At Jetavana, mendicants ask the Blessed One whether there is any advantage
in the practice of making vowed offerings to gods after safe trading journeys.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:3
symbol_refs:
- sym:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- id: scene:2
label: Tree-god rebukes animal killing
summary: In Kāsi, a landholder slays animals at a banyan-tree to fulfill a vow;
the tree-god speaks from the tree and condemns the attempt to gain freedom through
such deeds.
figure_refs:
- fig:4
- fig:5
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
- sym:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:4
- id: scene:3
label: People abandon life-destroying offerings
summary: After the tree-god's admonition, people refrain from life-destroying deeds
and live righteously.
figure_refs:
- fig:5
symbol_refs:
- sym:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: scene:4
label: Question about hollow Naḷa-canes
summary: At Naḷaka-pāna, monks find Naḷa-canes hollow from root to point and ask
the Teacher for the cause; he says it is due to a former command of his.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:9
symbol_refs:
- sym:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: scene:5
label: Monkey troop waits at unfamiliar pond
summary: In a former forest, the monkey-king has warned his troop about poisonous
trees and demon-haunted pools; when the monkeys find an unfamiliar pond, they
wait for him before drinking.
figure_refs:
- fig:6
- fig:7
symbol_refs:
- sym:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
- ev:11
- id: scene:6
label: Detection of the water-demon
summary: The monkey-king inspects the tracks at the pond, sees that footprints enter
but do not return, and concludes that the water is haunted; the demon emerges
and threatens to eat the troop.
figure_refs:
- fig:6
- fig:7
- fig:8
symbol_refs:
- sym:3
- sym:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:12
- ev:13
- ev:14
- id: scene:7
label: Drinking through reeds without entering the pond
summary: The monkey-king tells the demon that all eighty thousand monkeys will drink
through Naḷa-canes without entering the water, preventing the demon from seizing
them.
figure_refs:
- fig:6
- fig:7
- fig:8
symbol_refs:
- sym:3
- sym:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:15
- ev:16
candidate_motifs:
- id: motif:1
label: Vowed offering criticized as bondage rather than liberation
taxonomy_refs:
- sacred_exchange
- sacrifice
basis: The passage presents vows and animal offerings to gods or a tree spirit,
then has the tree-god condemn such deeds as not freeing the wise and leading fools
into bondage.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:3
- ev:4
confidence: medium
cautions: The passage frames the practice negatively; the motif is an admonition
against animal killing tied to vows, not an endorsement of sacrificial exchange.
- id: motif:2
label: Tree spirit as moral instructor
taxonomy_refs:
- wisdom
basis: A deity associated with a banyan-tree speaks from the tree to rebuke the
landholder's attempt to fulfill a vow by killing animals, and the community changes
its conduct afterward.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:4
- ev:5
- ev:6
confidence: medium
cautions: The available taxonomy has only a broad wisdom category for this role;
no more specific tree-spirit motif reference is supplied.
- id: motif:3
label: Wise leader detects hidden danger from tracks
taxonomy_refs:
- wisdom
basis: The monkey-king infers that the pond is demon-haunted because footprints
go down to the water but do not come back up.
evidence_refs:
- ev:12
- ev:16
confidence: high
cautions: This is a narrative problem-solving motif; no specific taxonomy ID for
tracks or detection is provided.
- id: motif:4
label: Avoiding a water-demon by using reeds
taxonomy_refs:
- wisdom
basis: The Bodisat prevents the demon from exercising power over those who enter
the pond by proposing that the monkeys drink through hollow Naḷa-canes without
entering the water.
evidence_refs:
- ev:14
- ev:15
confidence: high
cautions: The motif involves demon-haunted water and clever avoidance; the available
taxonomy does not include a precise water-demon or reed-drinking category.
- id: motif:5
label: Origin explanation for hollow reeds
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: The Teacher explains the hollowness of Naḷa-canes as the result of a former
command connected with the monkey-king episode.
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- ev:15
confidence: medium
cautions: The supplied excerpt ends before the full command or transformation is
narrated, so the etiological element is only partly represented in this line range.
comparison_claims: []
evidence:
- id: ev:1
type: summary
locator: lines 10302-10319
quote_or_summary: At Jetavana, the Teacher tells of men who, before trading journeys,
kill animals, offer them to gods, and vow to make further offerings if they return
safely.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/buddhist-birth-stories-volume-1-rhys-davids.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:2
type: summary
locator: lines 10315-10320
quote_or_summary: After safe and successful return, the men think this happened
through the god's power, kill animals, and make offerings to release themselves
from the vow.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/buddhist-birth-stories-volume-1-rhys-davids.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:3
type: summary
locator: lines 10326-10331
quote_or_summary: In Kāsi, a village landed proprietor promises an offering to the
Genius of a Banyan-tree by the village gate and, after returning safely, slays
animals and goes to the tree to free himself from the vow.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/buddhist-birth-stories-volume-1-rhys-davids.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:4
type: quote
locator: lines 10332-10339
quote_or_summary: 'The tree-god, standing in a fork of the tree, says: “Not by such
deeds as these are the wise made free.”'
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/buddhist-birth-stories-volume-1-rhys-davids.md
rights_note: Public domain source; short quotation.
- id: ev:5
type: summary
locator: lines 10341-10342
quote_or_summary: From that time people refrain from life-destroying deeds and live
righteously.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/buddhist-birth-stories-volume-1-rhys-davids.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:6
type: quote
locator: lines 10346-10347
quote_or_summary: 'The Teacher sums up the Jātaka: “I at that time was the Genius
of the Tree.”'
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/buddhist-birth-stories-volume-1-rhys-davids.md
rights_note: Public domain source; short quotation.
- id: ev:7
type: summary
locator: lines 10357-10370
quote_or_summary: At the Ketaka wood near Lake Naḷaka-pāna, monks have Naḷa-canes
brought by novices for needle-cases, find them hollow from root to point, and
ask the Teacher why; he answers that it is due to a former command of his.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/buddhist-birth-stories-volume-1-rhys-davids.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:8
type: summary
locator: lines 10374-10376
quote_or_summary: The former setting is a dense forest with a lake where a water-demon
eats whoever goes down into the water.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/buddhist-birth-stories-volume-1-rhys-davids.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:9
type: summary
locator: lines 10376-10379
quote_or_summary: The Bodisat is a monkey-king, as large as a red-deer fawn, attended
by about eighty thousand monkeys whom he preserves from harm.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/buddhist-birth-stories-volume-1-rhys-davids.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:10
type: summary
locator: lines 10381-10385
quote_or_summary: The monkey-king warns his troop about poisonous trees and pools
haunted by demons and instructs them to ask him before eating unfamiliar fruit
or drinking unfamiliar water.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/buddhist-birth-stories-volume-1-rhys-davids.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:11
type: summary
locator: lines 10387-10391
quote_or_summary: The monkeys reach an unfamiliar place, find a pond while searching
for water, sit without drinking, and wait for their king.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/buddhist-birth-stories-volume-1-rhys-davids.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:12
type: summary
locator: lines 10393-10401
quote_or_summary: The Bodisat sees footprints at the pond edge going down but not
coming up, concludes the pond is haunted, and praises the monkeys for not drinking.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/buddhist-birth-stories-volume-1-rhys-davids.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:13
type: summary
locator: lines 10403-10407
quote_or_summary: The water-demon emerges in a frightening form described as blue-bellied,
pale-faced, red-handed, and red-footed, and tells the monkeys to go down and drink.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/buddhist-birth-stories-volume-1-rhys-davids.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:14
type: summary
locator: lines 10409-10420
quote_or_summary: The demon admits he haunts the spot and has power over those who
go down into the pool, even birds, and threatens to devour all the monkeys.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/buddhist-birth-stories-volume-1-rhys-davids.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:15
type: summary
locator: lines 10424-10435
quote_or_summary: The Bodisat says the monkeys will drink through Naḷa-canes from
the pond without entering it, so the demon will have no power to eat them.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/buddhist-birth-stories-volume-1-rhys-davids.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:16
type: quote
locator: lines 10437-10448
quote_or_summary: 'The recalled stanza says: “I saw the marks of feet that had gone
down, / I saw no marks of feet that had returned,” followed by the plan to drink
water through a reed without becoming the demon''s prey.'
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/buddhist-birth-stories-volume-1-rhys-davids.md
rights_note: Public domain source; short quotation.
confidence:
extraction: high
motif_candidates: medium
comparison_claims: high
notes: The passage gives clear figures, actions, and objects. Motif taxonomy assignments
are necessarily broad because the supplied taxonomy lacks specific entries for
tree-deity rebuke, demon-haunted water, footprints as evidence, and etiological
hollow reeds. No comparison claims were added because the passage itself does
not support cross-textual comparison.
reviewer_status:
status: needs_review
reviewer: ''
reviewed_at: ''
notes: Machine-generated draft from OpenAI Batch; not human-reviewed.
extracted_by: openai_batch:gpt-5.5
extracted_at: '2026-04-28'
notes: |-
Extraction uses only the supplied passage text and metadata. The line-range label mentions prior story endings, but the provided passage text begins with the Āyācita-bhatta Jātaka and continues into the Naḷapāna Jātaka.
batch_run_id=motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority
custom_id=motif_extract:buddhist-jataka-birth-stories-rhys-davids-gutenberg__l10302-l10448
passage_sha256=2d75ef068fced7a5d9267ed3ce7b20ab44b1ac959b72b321c633e9886250e933