Traditionally, the meaning of Jātaka is the Gotama Buddha who practised the bodhisatta's deeds not only in this life time, but also in previous innumerable eons, and shows the signifitance of spiritual cultivations. However, in the Pāli Jātaka, we have found that the previous lives of the Gotama Buddha was not only reborn as a heavenly god, king, nāga, but also reborn in the lower class, such as a gambler, or a thief. The present paper tries to analyze some Jātaka tales which is familiar, or not familiar to us from the literary aspects instead of the traditional religious point of view. This paper divides into seven sections: Section one and two are the preface and the introduction of Pāli Jātaka; Section three is the analysis of the characters appeared in the Jātaka; Section four examines some negative characters of Gotama's previous lives appeared in the Jātaka; Section five delineates some misbehaviors of Gotama's previous lives appeared in the Jātaka; Section six explains the legends according to the Indian culture; Section seven is the conclusion. The conclusion mentions that it will be improper when we take the Jātaka as a purely religious text. It would be suitable when we consider the Jātaka is a literary work as well, then we can appreciate the richness and varieties within it.
