He woke with the sword in his hand

Vindhya hills · c. 1070 (compiled)

And she gave Indívarasena a sword in a dream, and appearing to him, thus addressed him—“By the power of this sword thou shalt conquer enemies hard to overcome, and whatever thou shalt think of thou shalt obtain” … When the goddess had said that, she disappeared, and Indívarasena, waking up, beheld that sword in his hand.

Original text — The Kathá Sarit Ságara, or Ocean of the Streams of Story (Tawney trans.), Somadeva; trans. C. H. Tawney

Open this dream in the galaxy →

Source: The Kathá Sarit Ságara, or Ocean of the Streams of Story (Tawney trans.) — Somadeva; trans. C. H. Tawney, c. 1070 / 1880–84 (trans.). Ch. XLII
Rights: Public domain (author died 100+ years ago)
Record type: Literary dream
Place: Vindhya hills · Indian
Date: c. 1070 (compiled)
Uncertainty: High — From the Kathāsaritsāgara, Somadeva’s 11th-century Sanskrit story collection (C. H. Tawney trans., 1880–84); a story-dream, not a personal report.
Imagery: War · Mountain · Temple
Feelings: Awe · Joy

Another way to look at this dream

Notes on the images in this dream from psychology, myth, folklore and semiotics. Each names its source.

War

In the war, were you a soldier, someone fleeing, or watching from outside? Was there a particular enemy?

Homeric epic Classical text

Zeus sends Agamemnon a deliberately false dream promising that Troy will fall at once. The epic itself treats a war dream as something that can mislead.

Homer, Iliad II

Song-dynasty poetry Literature

Lu You and Xin Qiji, both kept from the frontier they longed to recover, kept dreaming of battle; their war dreams are read today as poems of unfulfilled duty.

Lu You; Xin Qiji

All perspectives on war →

Mountain

Were you climbing it, looking at it, or already on top? What would reaching the summit mean to you?

Japanese custom Folk saying

An Edo-period saying ranks the luckiest images for the first dream of the New Year (hatsuyume): “first Fuji, second a hawk, third an aubergine”.

Edo-period saying on hatsuyume

Chinese poetry Literature

Li Bai climbs Mount Tianmu in a dream, sees a whole immortal world open up, then wakes on his pillow — and decides not to bow to the powerful.

Li Bai, “Dreaming of Tianmu” (c. 745)

All perspectives on mountain →

Exploration notes, not a diagnosis, a prediction, or evidence of real events.

Dreams that share its images

Throwing thunderbolts upon Sparta Sparta, Greece · 272 BCE
Ptah forbids the king to fight Egypt · c. 1208 BCE
Osiris came in his own essence Rome, Italy · c. 170 CE (novel)
An olive wreath that covered the earth Susa, Persia · 481 BCE (as told)
Only those Isis invites in dreams Tithorea, Phocis, Greece · c. 150 CE
Build a city under the plane-tree Mount Pagus, Smyrna (İzmir) · 334 BCE (as told)