Ancient Wisdom Atlas

Motif

animated headless battlefield dead

animated_headless_battlefield_dead

A motif of the Restless Dead, Haunting, and Vengeance family. Every row below is a tagged passage; each rests on a quote in its source text.

1 occurrences

1 traditions


buddhist

  • The Questions of King Milinda, Part II (Sacred Books of the East, Vol. 36) Chapter 5. / P-5)- / Book IV. Chapter 7. / Book IV. Chapter 8.; lines 6685-6827 confidence: medium

    Bhaddasala, a soldier of the Nanda royal family, wages war against king A'andagutta; the war is said to include eighty Corpse Dances and a great Head Holocaust involving vast numbers of slain elephants, horses, charioteers, and foot soldiers.

    After a great Head Holocaust, headless corpses are said to rise and dance in frenzy over the battlefield.

    read in the book