Abstract
The present study examines the translation and adaptation of a medieval Buddhist tale about an “ugly woman,” with particular attention to how gendered implications were reshaped through its cross-cultural transmission. While previous scholarship has primarily compared textual variants to reconstruct the history of the story’s transmission, it has often overlooked the cultural resonances embedded within these variants. In contrast, this study argues that the Dunhuang variants reinterpret the story’s original Indian setting, characterized by mixed-gender gatherings and social behavior regulated by stipulated fines, into a form more attuned to medieval Chinese gender norms. A comparative analysis of Chinese and Sanskrit sources reveals a dual narrative structure: a flexible, adaptive layer centered on the male protagonist, and a stable, karmically fixed core centered on the “ugly woman.” The male protagonist’s social interactions become key sites of localized adaptation, shaped by audience relatability, cultural expectations and prevailing gender codes. One adaptation reimagines the regular outdoor gatherings of caste-bound Indian landlords as the then newly emergent elaborate indoor Chinese house parties for close associates, where interaction with the host’s wife was customary, namely guangzuo chengqi 廣坐呈妻. By tracing shifts in narrative detail and emphasis, this study shows how Buddhist storytelling engaged with secular cultural values, reflecting medieval ideals of elite sociability and gendered norms.
Keywords
mixed-gender gatherings; guangzuo chengqi (inviting one’s wife to greet and entertain guests); localized translation; Dunhuang manuscripts; stipulated fines
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