Prince Sattva was one of the previous incarnations of Gautama Buddha, according to a jataka story.
On his walk with his closest disciple, he comes to the edge of a cliff, at the bottom of which is a starving tigress about to eat her newborn cubs in desperation.
He leaps off the cliff to his death, attracting the tigress' attention with his impact, and she eats his body.
His disciple returns, having not found food, and upon discovering what the bodhisattva has done, rejoices in his good deed.
The Chinese pilgrim Faxian reported one of the four great stupas of northern India that commemorates this incarnation's dehadana.