Jataka Tales - The Monkey Brothers

In one of his earlier births, Buddha was born as a monkey. His name was Nandaka. 

Nandaka lived with his troop in the forests of Himalayas. He was the ruler of monkeys. He had a younger brother named Chullanandaka . They had no father and their mother was blind.

Nandaka and his brother together had a troop of over eighty four thousand monkeys. They were kind rulers and were loved by their subjects. Their kingdom was prosperous and peaceful.

One day the monkey brothers went far in search of food. They found an orchard where there were abundant fruits. The monkey brothers settled there. But they remembered their old mother and everyday collected and send food for her before they themselves ate it.

But the carrier monkeys were wicked and ignored. They shared the fruits amongst themselves and took some of them for their friends and family. The food hardly ever reached the blind old monkey mother. Starved and stuck by old age, her condition became bad. She became sick and very weak.

One day the monkeys gathered for festival celebrations. So the monkey brothers thought of seeing their mother and ask her to join the celebration.

When the monkey brothers reached their mother they were greatly moved to see her pitiable condition. They came to know that no food reached her and how she was ignored by the other monkeys. The monkey brother were shocked  and angry.
They decided to leave their kingdom, abandon their band and lead a reclusive life with their mother to serve her dedicatedly.

The monkey brothers with their mother went in search of home. They found a large banyan tree deep in the forest. They decided to live there.

Days passed by.

One day, a learned Brahmin from the Takshila came to the forest. He had abandoned all his moral leanings and went around in search of prey.  When he saw the monkey's mother he aimed his arrow towards her. Seeing this, Nandaka rushed to him and begged him not to kill his mother. He offered the Brahmin his own life.

The wicked Brahmin killed Nandaka. He again aimed his arrow towards the monkey's mother. Seeing this, Chullanandaka jumped before him and pleaded him not to kill his old mother. Like this noble brother, Chullanadaka offered his own life to the Brahmin.

The Brahmin killed Chullanadaka. He was evil headed and killed the monkey mother after killing her sons.

The Brahmin was very happy. He collected the corpses and started walking back to his towards home in the village. All the while he walked, he jested thinking how happy his wife and kids will be to see the abundant amount of flesh they had for feasting.

When the Brahmin reached the village, he saw his house was burnt down. The villagers gathered around him and told him how his house was stuck by lightening killing his wife and kids. The brahmin was devastated. He soon realized how wrong he was in killing the monkey family and breaching the trust the monkeys brothers had put in him to save their mother's life.

Moral : When one treats others with cruelty fate punishes with cruelty.