batch.motif.buddhist-jataka-birth-stories-rhys-davids-gutenberg-l16402-l16553
---
record_id: batch.motif.buddhist-jataka-birth-stories-rhys-davids-gutenberg-l16402-l16553
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/buddhist-birth-stories-volume-1-rhys-davids.md
passage_locator:
label: INDIAN TALES FROM TIBETAN SOURCES. / THE RELIGIONS OF INDIA. / BY A. BARTH.
/ FOOTNOTES:; lines 16402-16553
start: '16402'
end: '16553'
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: 'A sequence of editorial footnotes explains terms and motifs in the surrounding
Jataka material: the yak-tail as a sign of Hindu royalty; the Banyan tree; scriptural
and ordination terms; Indra being alerted to a good person in trouble when his
marble throne grows warm; a ritual or food compound of milk, rice, honey, sugar,
and clarified butter; Buddhist heavens and world-systems; the Middle Country as
the sacred center of Jambudvipa; later traditions and sculptures representing
the Bodisat entering his mother’s womb as a white elephant; a comparison to medieval
Christian images of the Holy Child visible in the Virgin’s womb; and a birth proclamation
declaring supremacy and final birth.'
language: English
quote_policy: summarized
literal_observations:
- id: obs:1
text: The tail of the yak or Tibetan ox is described as an insignia of Hindu royalty.
category: object
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:2
text: A footnote identifies a referenced tree as the Banyan tree.
category: object
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:3
text: The note states that when a good man is in difficulty, Indra is alerted by
his marble throne becoming warm.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:4
text: A compound is glossed as consisting of milk, rice, honey, sugar, and clarified
butter.
category: object
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: obs:5
text: Named heavenly rulers include the four Mahārājas, Sakka, Suyāma, Santusita,
Paranimitta-vasavatti, and Mahā-Brahma, described as archangels in heavenly seats
of each world-system.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: obs:6
text: The seas surrounding each continent are said to contain five hundred islands.
category: setting
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: obs:7
text: Majjhima-desa is described as sacred land and the center of Jambudvīpa, the
then-known world.
category: setting
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: obs:8
text: The note compares the idea of a world center to China as the Middle Country
and to peoples treating their own capital as the navel or center of the world.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: obs:9
text: Later accounts are said to relate that the Bodisat entered his mother’s womb
as a white elephant.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: obs:10
text: The Incarnation scene is said to be represented at times in Buddhist sculptures.
category: object
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: obs:11
text: A note mentions medieval frescoes where the Holy Child was represented as
visible within the Virgin’s womb.
category: object
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- id: obs:12
text: 'A quoted expansion states: “I am supreme in the world; this is my last birth;
henceforth there will be no rebirth for me.”'
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
figures:
- id: fig:1
name_or_label: Indra
description: A divine figure who is apprised of a good man’s difficulty by the warming
of his marble throne.
role_refs:
- role:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: fig:2
name_or_label: Good man in difficulty
description: An unnamed good person whose distress causes Indra’s marble throne
to become warm.
role_refs:
- role:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: fig:3
name_or_label: Bodisat
description: In later accounts, the Bodisat is said to enter his mother’s womb as
a white elephant.
role_refs:
- role:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: fig:4
name_or_label: Bodisat’s mother
description: The mother whose womb the Bodisat enters in later accounts.
role_refs:
- role:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: fig:5
name_or_label: Holy Child
description: A figure in a Christian visual comparison, represented as visible within
the Virgin’s womb in medieval frescoes.
role_refs:
- role:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- id: fig:6
name_or_label: Virgin
description: The mother figure in the medieval fresco comparison, with the Holy
Child visible within her womb.
role_refs:
- role:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- id: fig:7
name_or_label: Heavenly rulers
description: The four Mahārājas, Sakka, Suyāma, Santusita, Paranimitta-vasavatti,
and Mahā-Brahma, described as archangels in Buddhist cosmology.
role_refs:
- role:6
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
roles:
- id: role:1
label: divine responder alerted by sign
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: Indra is notified of a good man’s difficulty when his marble throne becomes
warm.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: role:2
label: distressed righteous person
assigned_to:
- fig:2
basis: The person is described as a good man in difficulty.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: role:3
label: miraculous prenatal entrant
assigned_to:
- fig:3
basis: Later accounts say the Bodisat entered his mother’s womb as a white elephant.
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: role:4
label: mother of miraculous child
assigned_to:
- fig:4
- fig:6
basis: The Bodisat’s mother receives the Bodisat in her womb; the Virgin is mentioned
as the mother in the visual comparison.
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- ev:9
- id: role:5
label: visible unborn holy child
assigned_to:
- fig:5
basis: The Holy Child is described as visible within the Virgin’s womb in medieval
frescoes.
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- id: role:6
label: cosmic heavenly rulers
assigned_to:
- fig:7
basis: The named beings are described as archangels in heavenly seats of each world-system.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
symbols:
- id: sym:1
label: yak-tail royal insignia
literal_form: tail of the yak or Tibetan ox
associated_figures: []
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: sym:2
label: Banyan tree
literal_form: Banyan-tree
associated_figures: []
taxonomy_refs:
- tree
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: sym:3
label: warming marble throne
literal_form: Indra’s marble throne becoming warm
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:2
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: sym:4
label: milk compound
literal_form: milk, rice, honey, sugar, and clarified butter
associated_figures: []
taxonomy_refs:
- milk
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: sym:5
label: sacred middle land
literal_form: Majjhima-desa as the center of Jambudvīpa
associated_figures: []
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: sym:6
label: white elephant prenatal form
literal_form: white elephant
associated_figures:
- fig:3
- fig:4
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: sym:7
label: visible child in womb
literal_form: child visible within mother’s womb
associated_figures:
- fig:3
- fig:4
- fig:5
- fig:6
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- ev:9
scenes:
- id: scene:1
label: Indra alerted by heated throne
summary: A good man’s difficulty is said to be made known to Indra when Indra’s
marble throne becomes warm.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
symbol_refs:
- sym:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: scene:2
label: Sacred center of Jambudvīpa
summary: Majjhima-desa is described as sacred land regarded as the center of Jambudvīpa
and the known world.
figure_refs: []
symbol_refs:
- sym:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: scene:3
label: Bodisat enters the womb as white elephant
summary: Later accounts are said to present the Bodisat entering his mother’s womb
in the form of a white elephant, a scene also represented in Buddhist sculpture.
figure_refs:
- fig:3
- fig:4
symbol_refs:
- sym:6
- sym:7
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: scene:4
label: Holy Child visible within the Virgin’s womb
summary: The note mentions medieval frescoes in which the Holy Child is similarly
represented as visible within the Virgin’s womb.
figure_refs:
- fig:5
- fig:6
symbol_refs:
- sym:7
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- id: scene:5
label: Final-birth proclamation
summary: A quoted expansion has the speaker declare supremacy in the world, identify
the birth as the last birth, and deny future rebirth.
figure_refs: []
symbol_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
candidate_motifs:
- id: motif:1
label: sacred land as world center
taxonomy_refs:
- world_center
basis: The passage states that Majjhima-desa was regarded as the sacred center of
Jambudvīpa and compares this to other notions of a central country or world navel.
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
confidence: high
cautions: The passage is an explanatory footnote rather than a narrative episode.
- id: motif:2
label: miraculous conception or prenatal incarnation sign
taxonomy_refs:
- sacred_birth
- miraculous_child
basis: Later accounts are said to narrate the Bodisat entering his mother’s womb
as a white elephant, with sculptural representations of the incarnation scene.
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
confidence: high
cautions: The note explicitly frames this as a later account, not necessarily the
immediate base narrative.
- id: motif:3
label: divine alert to righteous distress
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: The note states that Indra is alerted to a good man’s difficulty when his
marble throne becomes warm.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
confidence: medium
cautions: No available taxonomy reference precisely matches this signaling motif.
- id: motif:4
label: royal insignia object
taxonomy_refs:
- royal_legitimacy
basis: The yak-tail is described as an insignia of Hindu royalty.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
confidence: medium
cautions: The passage gives a symbolic object, but no full narrative of royal legitimation.
- id: motif:5
label: declaration of final birth
taxonomy_refs:
- death_rebirth
basis: The quoted expansion declares the birth to be the last and says there will
be no rebirth henceforth.
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
confidence: medium
cautions: The motif is doctrinally tied to cessation of rebirth; the available taxonomy
has only a broad death/rebirth category.
comparison_claims:
- id: claim:1
claim: The passage explicitly compares Majjhima-desa as the center of the known
world with China as the Middle Country and with other peoples’ tendency to view
their own capital as the world’s navel or center.
claim_level: same_function
target: world-center or middle-country traditions
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
counter_evidence_refs: []
confidence: high
limitations: The comparison is functional and conceptual; it does not establish
historical contact or shared origin.
- id: claim:2
claim: The passage notes a visual similarity between Buddhist incarnation imagery
involving the child in the mother’s womb and medieval Christian frescoes showing
the Holy Child visible within the Virgin’s womb.
claim_level: visual_similarity
target: medieval Christian Virgin-and-Holy-Child womb imagery
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- ev:9
counter_evidence_refs: []
confidence: medium
limitations: The author states the comparison from memory and says the reference
was mislaid; no historical relationship is claimed.
- id: claim:3
claim: The passage states that the legend of connatal figures is also found in the
books of Northern Buddhists, though in exaggerated and contradictory terms.
claim_level: same_motif
target: Northern Buddhist versions of the connatal-figures legend
evidence_refs:
- ev:11
counter_evidence_refs:
- ev:11
confidence: medium
limitations: The footnote does not summarize the legend’s details in this passage
and notes contradictions in the Northern Buddhist versions.
evidence:
- id: ev:1
type: quote
locator: lines 16402-16406; footnote 136
quote_or_summary: "“The tail of the Yak or Tibetan ox ... is a beautiful object,
and one of the insignia of Hindu royalty.”"
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/buddhist-birth-stories-volume-1-rhys-davids.md
rights_note: Public domain source text.
- id: ev:2
type: quote
locator: line 16425; footnote 148
quote_or_summary: "“The Banyan-tree.”"
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/buddhist-birth-stories-volume-1-rhys-davids.md
rights_note: Public domain source text.
- id: ev:3
type: summary
locator: lines 16445-16446; footnote 159
quote_or_summary: When a good man is in difficulty, Indra is apprised of it by his
marble throne becoming warm.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/buddhist-birth-stories-volume-1-rhys-davids.md
rights_note: Public domain source text.
- id: ev:4
type: summary
locator: lines 16453-16454; footnote 163
quote_or_summary: A compound is glossed as milk, rice, honey, sugar, and clarified
butter.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/buddhist-birth-stories-volume-1-rhys-davids.md
rights_note: Public domain source text.
- id: ev:5
type: summary
locator: lines 16467-16471; footnote 171
quote_or_summary: The four Mahārājas, Sakka, Suyāma, Santusita, Paranimitta-vasavatti,
and Mahā-Brahma are named as archangels in heavenly seats in each Buddhist world-system.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/buddhist-birth-stories-volume-1-rhys-davids.md
rights_note: Public domain source text.
- id: ev:6
type: summary
locator: lines 16472-16473; footnote 172
quote_or_summary: In the seas surrounding each continent there are said to be five
hundred islands.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/buddhist-birth-stories-volume-1-rhys-davids.md
rights_note: Public domain source text.
- id: ev:7
type: summary
locator: lines 16475-16488; footnote 173
quote_or_summary: Majjhima-desa is described with boundaries and as sacred land
regarded as the center of Jambudvīpa, compared with China as Middle Country and
with peoples treating their own capital as the navel or center of the world.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/buddhist-birth-stories-volume-1-rhys-davids.md
rights_note: Public domain source text.
- id: ev:8
type: summary
locator: lines 16489-16492; footnote 174
quote_or_summary: Later accounts relate that the Bodisat entered his mother’s womb
as a white elephant, and the incarnation scene is sometimes represented in Buddhist
sculptures.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/buddhist-birth-stories-volume-1-rhys-davids.md
rights_note: Public domain source text.
- id: ev:9
type: summary
locator: lines 16498-16500; footnote 176
quote_or_summary: The note mentions medieval frescoes in which the Holy Child was
similarly represented as visible within the Virgin’s womb, but the author has
mislaid the reference.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/buddhist-birth-stories-volume-1-rhys-davids.md
rights_note: Public domain source text.
- id: ev:10
type: quote
locator: lines 16501-16503; footnote 177
quote_or_summary: "“I am supreme in the world; this is my last birth; henceforth
there will be no rebirth for me.”"
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/buddhist-birth-stories-volume-1-rhys-davids.md
rights_note: Public domain source text.
- id: ev:11
type: summary
locator: lines 16504-16514; footnote 178
quote_or_summary: The note discusses a list of Connatal Ones and says the legend’s
main features are early, also appearing in Northern Buddhist books in exaggerated
and contradictory terms.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/buddhist/project-gutenberg/buddhist-birth-stories-volume-1-rhys-davids.md
rights_note: Public domain source text.
confidence:
extraction: medium
motif_candidates: medium
comparison_claims: medium
notes: The passage consists of editorial footnotes rather than a continuous mythic
narrative. Motif candidates are limited to motifs explicitly mentioned or explained
in the notes.
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: |-
Only provided passage text and metadata were used. Empty taxonomy arrays indicate that no supplied taxonomy reference was directly supported.
batch_run_id=motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority
custom_id=motif_extract:buddhist-jataka-birth-stories-rhys-davids-gutenberg__l16402-l16553
passage_sha256=1c77e579ec02a56c5f1ca20e011d732f54e425f862d13f238fca64aee9809a7b