The Tittira Jataka: Wisdom, Justice, and the Consequences of Evil

In the Tittira Jataka, the Bodhisatta was born as a partridge. He lived inside a leaf hut belonging to a world-renowned teacher who instructed his five hundred students in the sacred texts. The teacher’s home was not only shared by the students but also by various animals, including a lizard and her two children, a dairy cow and her calf, and even a lion and tiger who were friendly with the teacher and lived nearby in the forest.

When the teacher passed away, his students performed the customary funeral rites and built a mound over his ashes. They were uncertain about how to proceed with their studies without their teacher. The Bodhisatta, being exceptionally wise and having learned the three Vedas by listening to the teacher’s lessons, decided to take over the responsibility of teaching. His wisdom and eloquence were so impressive that his explanations flowed effortlessly like a stream, and the students were thrilled with his teachings. As a mark of respect, they built him a golden cage and provided him with honey and parched grains to eat.

However, when the students left to celebrate a festival with their families, a wicked ascetic wandering through the region arrived at the school. Not recognizing his malevolent nature, the lizard invited the ascetic to stay and gave him directions to food sources like rice and oil. She then left to find food for herself. While she was gone, the wicked ascetic committed a dreadful act: he killed and ate the Bodhisatta, the lizard’s young, and the dairy cow and her calf. Afterward, he fell asleep beside the remains of his victims.

When the lizard returned, she was horrified to discover the scene of carnage and frantically searched for her children. A tree fairy, who had witnessed the ascetic’s deeds, appeared and told the lizard what had happened, advising her to bite the ascetic on the neck and kill him in revenge. However, the lizard was too fearful that the ascetic would wake up and eat her, so she fled into the forest instead.

Later, the tiger—a close friend of the Bodhisatta—visited the school and was disturbed by the sight of the ascetic sleeping with feathers stuck in his hair and bones scattered around him. Suspecting something was terribly wrong, the tiger woke the ascetic with a kick and asked him if he had killed the creatures. In an attempt to save himself, the ascetic admitted to killing the lizards and cows but denied having harmed the Bodhisatta. The tiger, not believing him, marched the ascetic off to see the lion, and when the ascetic was confronted by the lion, he confessed his crime in full.

The lion, though compassionate, was willing to let the ascetic go, but the tiger, convinced that the ascetic deserved to face the consequences of his actions, killed him on the spot, tearing him apart.

In the Lifetime of the Buddha: The Wicked Ascetic and Devadatta

In the Buddha’s time, when Devadatta, the Buddha’s nephew and disciple, became his enemy and attempted to kill him on three separate occasions, the Buddha shared this story with his disciples. He explained that Devadatta had also attempted to kill him in previous lives, just as the wicked ascetic in the story had killed the Bodhisatta.

Through this tale, the Buddha emphasized that evil deeds, such as murder or malice, would always result in severe consequences. Devadatta’s attempts on the Buddha’s life were just one instance of his ongoing karmic cycle of negative actions, which had manifested in numerous previous births.

The teacher, lizard, tiger, and lion in the story were also recognized as earlier births of four of the Buddha’s top disciples: Maha Kassapa, Kisagotami, Moggallana, and Sariputta, respectively. These disciples were instrumental in helping the Buddha spread his teachings, and their roles in the Jataka story symbolized their deep wisdom, loyalty, and commitment to the Buddha’s mission.

Moral of the Story:

The Tittira Jataka serves as a powerful lesson about wisdom, justice, and the consequences of evil actions. The Bodhisatta, in his partridge form, was not only a wise teacher but also a symbol of the pure heart and good deeds that lead to spiritual elevation. In contrast, the wicked ascetic personified greed, deceit, and violence, all of which ultimately led to his destruction.

The actions of the tiger and the lion demonstrate that, although compassion and forgiveness are important virtues, justice must prevail when dealing with those who commit evil. The tiger’s insistence on punishing the ascetic for his misdeeds underscores the Buddhist principle that wrongdoers must face the consequences of their actions, no matter how much compassion may be extended to them.

For the Buddha’s disciples, the story also highlighted the importance of avoiding evil deeds and focusing on the path of righteousness, for even in past lives, wrongdoers like Devadatta had committed similar harmful actions that had led to negative karmic outcomes.