151 Jataka Tales

A king was famous for his wickedness. He tortured his people and used power to control them. The people of his kingdom were very unhappy. One day, as he lay fast asleep, a spirit came to him. It said, “O king! How can you sleep peacefully when the people of your kingdom are unhappy? Your […]

Once, fishermen set traps for fish in rivers. One day, in a certain river, many fish got caught in a trap. A snake, seeing the fish trapped in the net, went into the trap himself with the aim of eating the fish. But he was in for a surprise as the fish got united and

Once, a Brahmin had two parrots – a male and a female. The Brahmin took great care of them. But the Brahmin’s wife was very wicked and immoral. One day, the Brahmin had to go out of town. He told the parrots to keep an eye on his wife. Now, as soon as the Brahmin

A king loved his wife very much. He loved her to the extent of being jealous and possessive about her. After a few years, the queen bore a son. The son had a god-like beauty about him. The queen loved her son and spent most of her time with him. The king realised this. He

The Bodhisattva was once born as an ascetic. A monster used to come to listen to the Bodhisattva’s teachings but never followed them.One day, a beautiful lady was going to her parents’ house through the forest. The monster liked her and locked her in a box, fearing she might run away. He would swallow the

There was a rich wise merchant. Once, he set off with his servants and carts of goods to sell them. After travelling a great distance, they reached a forest. The merchant had heard a lot about this forest. He called his servants and warned them, “Do not eat anything of this jungle as a demon

Long ago, in a jungle, there lived a stag. The stag was very wise and the leader of his herd. In that herd, was the wise stag’s nephew as well. The wise stag taught the nephew all that was needed to survive in the jungle. The nephew was a good learner and followed his uncle’s

Once, there were two brothers. They were monks. Now, while the elder brother was very intelligent, the younger one was dim-witted. The elder brother could memorise everything their master taught but the younger one could not. One day, the elder brother, noting his brother’s inability to learn, told him, “It is better for you to

A king had five advisors. But these advisors gave wrong advice to the king for their personal gains. One day, a learned Brahmin came to the king’s court. At that time, the advisors were discussing a case. The Brahmin quickly solved the case. The king was very impressed by him and kept him as his

A king and a queen had a son. He was very intelligent. He succeeded his father as a king when he grew up. He proved to be a very able ruler. His name spread far and wide. Even the gods heard about him. Now, when the rain-god heard about him, he got jealous. He thought,

Long ago, there lived a family of hawks on a tree in a forest. They made friends with a lion, a kingfisher and a turtle. One day, some hunters came to the forest. They saw the baby hawks and wanted to eat them. They burnt a huge fire for the same. The mother hawk saw

A priest knew a special magic spell which could be used only once a year, when the planets were lined up in a certain way. Then he had only to clap his hands, and a shower of precious gems came down on him. One day, the priest and his student were travelling when they were

Long ago, a sage and his disciples lived high in the mountains. Once, it rained a lot. The disciples decided to go to the nearest village and seek alms. The sage sat deep in meditation while the disciples left. Upon reaching the village, they started seeking alms. Now, the king of that province was on

Once, a barber and a scholar were friends. They travelled a lot. One day, while travelling, their ship sank. The two floated on a wooden plank and reached an island. On the island, the barber hunted a wild animal and roasted it. He offered the roasted meat to the scholar but the scholar refused. Instead,

Once, a quail lived in a nest with its siblings. Now, this quail was different from its siblings. Unlike the other quails, it never ate worms or insects. It relied only on twigs. As a result, it became weak. One day, while the other quails were away looking for food, a fierce fire broke out