On Yuan Chwang's Travels in India, 629–645 A.D. v1.c10.s3.22

v1.c10.s3.22

Fa-hsien simply relates that the P'usa here once gave his head in charity to a man, and adds that this act gave its name to the country, as if Taksha-śira or "Severed head".¹ In another treatise it is the king of the Kan-yi (乾夷) country who agrees to give his head to a wicked and importunate petitioner, but when the latter draws his sword to cut off the king's head, a deity intervenes and saves the king's life.² In this Jātaka the king is the P'usa, and the cruel petitioner is Devadatta. This story is told with some variations in the "Divyāvadāna Mālā" where the king is Chandraprabha, and his head is actually cut off by the petitioner.³ In one book we read of Prince Moon-brightness (Chandraprabha) giving his blood and marrow to heal a poor distressed man.⁴ It is rather curious to find the story which Yuan-chuang here tells about the woman afflicted with a loathsome skin disease cleansing the sacred building and offering flowers and in consequence becoming healed and endowed with beauty and a sweet breath quoted in an Abhidharma-vibhāsha-śāstra.¹