Motif
cattle raid as crisis of kingship and martial honor
cattle_raid_as_crisis_of_kingship_and_martial_honor
A motif of the Sacred Combat and Ritual Warfare family, within the sub-family Cattle Raid and Livestock War. 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 V / PATIVRATA-MAHATMYA / BOOK VI / GO-HARANA; lines 2854-2990 confidence: high
Cattle-lifting is described as common among kings of ancient India and compared with ancient Greek chiefs; the Trigarta and Kuru kings combine to raid Virata's cattle from different directions.
Enemy kings seize Virata's prized cattle while the king is absent, prompting an appeal to the prince to defend the kingdom's honor.
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