Motif
ambiguous truth used as fatal deception
ambiguous_truth_used_as_fatal_deception
A motif of the Trickster and Boundary Crosser family, within the sub-family Deceptive Speech, Voices, and False Claims. Every row below is a tagged passage; each rests on a quote in its source text.
1 occurrences
1 traditions
hindu
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Maha-bharata BOOK VIII / BHISHMA-BADHA / BOOK IX / DRONA-BADHA; lines 5256-5362 confidence: high
Drona continues the battle; his son Aswa-thaman is a renowned chief, and a battle elephant bears the same name; Bhima kills that elephant.
The slain elephant shares the name of Drona's son; a garbled report reaches Drona, and Yudhishthir's technically specific statement is only partly heard, causing Drona to lose heart before being slain.
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