Buddhist traditions, Nivedita and Coomaraswamy
Lucky Tree-God
A king seeking a unique single-column palace orders a great sal tree cut down. Its resident deity fears less for his own death than for the younger trees sheltering around him. The tree-god asks to be cut from the top downward so the falling trunk will not crush his kin. The king recognises the generosity of the request and spares the tree.
Also known as Lucky-tree
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In the sources
Principal account
TraditionalA king seeking a unique single-column palace orders a great sal tree cut down. Its resident deity fears less for his own death than for the younger trees sheltering around him.
Further detail
TraditionalThe tree-god asks to be cut from the top downward so the falling trunk will not crush his kin. The king recognises the generosity of the request and spares the tree.
Context & interpretation
This entry follows the Tree-God Jataka retelling in the collection. The deity and his kin are narrative beings inhabiting trees; the story is not a general claim that every tree has an identical resident spirit.
Original passages
Source 1
Myths of the Hindus and Buddhists
the destruction of my childrenOpen this page in the book
Passage & edition details
Location recorded at citation review: Myths of the Hindus & Buddhists (1914), active reader leaf 312
Exact passage checked against active scan text and original-leaf mapping; scan line breaks normalised.
- Edition
- IMJ-0109-E001
- Reader page
- IMJ-0109-E001-P0312
- Original scan leaf
- 312
- Recorded leaf number
- 312
- Current Reader position
- 303
- Reader verification
- Source-preserving update confirmed
Source 2
Myths of the Hindus and Buddhists
I should crush them if I fall entire upon themOpen this page in the book
Passage & edition details
Location recorded at citation review: Myths of the Hindus & Buddhists (1914), active reader leaf 313
Exact passage checked against active scan text and original-leaf mapping; scan line breaks normalised.
- Edition
- IMJ-0109-E001
- Reader page
- IMJ-0109-E001-P0313
- Original scan leaf
- 313
- Recorded leaf number
- 313
- Current Reader position
- 304
- Reader verification
- Source-preserving update confirmed