Kaccāyana untranslated

Kaccāyana 01. Kaccāyana Thera. Author of the Kaccāyanavyākaraṇa, the oldest of the Pāli grammars extant. Orthodox tradition identifies him with Mahā Kaccāna.

He was probably a South Indian and belonged to the Avanti school founded by Mahā Kaccāna (PLC.179ff; Gv.66; Svd.1233f). He was, perhaps, also the author of the Nettippakaraṇa.

Kaccāyana probably belongs to the fifth or sixth century CE

The Gandhavaṁsa (p.59) ascribes to Kaccāyana the authorship of the

• Kaccāyanagandha,
• Mahā Niruttigandha,
• Cūḷaniruttigandha,
• Peṭakopadesagandha,
• Nettigandha and
• Vaṇṇanītigandha.

Kaccāyana 02. Kaccāyana Thera. An Arahant. He was a disciple of Padumuttara Buddha, and was declared by him to be chief among those who could expound in detail what the Buddha stated in brief. It was this declaration made in the presence of Mahā Kaccāna, which made the latter, in that birth an ascetic in Himavā, wish for a like proficiency for himself under a future Buddha. Ap.ii.464; Thag­a.i.484.

Kaccāyana 03. In the Vidhurapaṇḍitajātaka (Ja 545), the Yakkha Puṇṇaka calls himself and is addressed as Kaccāyana (Ja.vi.273), Kaccāna (Ja.vi.283, 286, 301, 327) and Kātiyāna (Ja.vi.299, 306, 308). The scholiast seems to offer no explanation.

Kaccāyana 04. See also Kaccāna.