There were once three friends, a partridge (tittira), a monkey and an elephant. Discovering that the partridge was the oldest of them, they honoured him as their teacher and he gave them counsel. Their conduct came to be called the Tittiriya-brahmacariya. The Bodhisatta was the partridge, Mahā-Moggallāna the elephant, and Sāriputta the monkey.

The story was related in reference to the failure of the Chabbaggiyā to show due respect to Sāriputta. Once, when he visited them in company with the Buddha, they refused to provide him with lodging, and he had to sleep under a tree. J.i.217 ff; cp. Vin.ii.161; Avadāna S.ii.17.