151 Jataka Tales

Once, there was a Naga king. He was married to a beautiful Naga princess. They lived happily together. But after some time, the Naga king was tired of his luxurious life and left his wife to meditate in the forest. While he was deep in meditation, a snake charmer caught him. He took him to […]

A king was sitting near his window when he saw a very shabbily dressed woman on the road. She had a small bag of eatables in her hand. After some time, the king saw an old beggar near the woman who seemed to be thirsty and looking for water. Suddenly, the beggar fainted. The shabbily

A group of iguanas lived in a forest. The iguana king’s son was very friendly with a chameleon. The king did not like this and warned his son, “Chameleons are lowly creatures and cannot be trusted. They will bring trouble. Keep away from them.” But the son ignored his warning. The king warned him repeatedly

An army of ants lived in an anthill near a stream. Once it rained so heavily that the stream crossed its danger mark. The ants became worried that their anthill would get destroyed. So, they decided to leave the anthill. They took their food and started marching out of the anthill. But they came to

Once, a great spirit resided in the form of a lizard. An ascetic built his hut where the lizard lived. The lizard, seeing the ascetic, went and paid its respects to the ascetic every day. But this ascetic was a rogue. He loved eating an animal’s flesh. His weakness was a lizard’s flesh. When he

A royal horse was taken to a pool to be washed. Now, just before the arrival of the royal horse, a filthy horse had been washed there. The royal horse sniffed the air and knew that the pool was dirty and stinking. He turned up his nose in disgust and refused to get washed. The

Once, there was a great disciple of Lord Buddha. One night, he was in deep meditation under a tree. His bald head shone in the bright moonlight. A spirit saw this shining bald head and mischief struck him. He thought, ‘I will break this monk’s concentration by hitting him hard on the head.’ So, it

Once, a teacher had many disciples. Among them was a foolish disciple. The teacher thought, ‘Every being can learn. I am sure I can make this disciple a learned man.’ One day, the teacher saw a snake and said to the foolish disciple, “Look! This snake looks like a long rope.” The teacher made this

A man once had special powers. He could read footprints. The king was impressed with his powers and made him his minister. One day, the king himself committed a crime. He and his priest stole the public money and hid it in a safe place. People were upset when they found the money missing. There

Once an ascetic found a baby elephant and reared it as his own. The elephant started growing up over the years. The other ascetics were scared of keeping a wild elephant in their premises. The ascetic’s teacher advised him, “As long as the elephant was a baby, it was okay to keep it in the

Once, a king wished for a palace supported on only one column unlike the other palaces that were supported by many columns. The builders spotted a strong sal tree in the royal garden whose trunk could be used as a column. But this tree was a sacred tree and worshipped by people. A spirit lived

Once, an ascetic heard that the holiest people were those who endured sufferings and tortured their bodies. The ascetic decided to test this theory. Thus, he went to live in the darkest of the forests to be away from any human contact. He ate dirt and ashes. In the summer season, he spent his days

A mother placed her baby on a mat and bathed in the river. A demon wanted to eat the baby. He disguised himself as a woman and asked the mother, “Can I take your baby for a stroll?” The mother agreed. But after some time, the mother saw the woman running. She ran after the

Once, there was a king and a queen. One day, they yet saw a beggar woman at the palace gates. Though the beggar woman was in a poor state yet she had a contented smile on her face. The queen noticed this smile and was attracted to the beggar woman. She took some food for