Once the Bodhisatta was born as a stag, leader of a herd of deer. Ráhula was his sister's son and was entrusted to him, that he might learn the "deer's tricks." The young stag followed his instruction diligently and one day, being caught in a net, he feigned death and so made his escape.
The story was told in reference to Ráhula. Once, at the Aggálavacetiya, the Buddha, noticing that monks were in the habit of sleeping with novices in the preaching-hall after the sermon, he passed a rule making this a pácittiya-offence. As a result, Ráhula could find no lodging and spent the night in the Buddha's jakes, not wishing to transgress the rule. The Buddha, discovering this, assembled the monks and blamed them for their thoughtlessness, for if they thus treated his son, what might they not do to the other novices. The rule about lodgings was thereupon modified. The story was related to show Ráhula's diligence in following rules (J.i.160ff; cp. Vin.iv.16).
The Játaka seems also to have been called the Sikkhákáma Játaka. JA.1876, p.516.