Nerañjarā untranslated

Nerañjarā 01. A river. After the Awakening, the Buddha lived under the Ajapāla Nigrodha (q.v.) at Uruvelā, on the banks of this river. There Māra tempted him, and, later, Brahma persuaded him to preach the Dhamma. Vin.i.1ff.; Snp.vs.425ff.; cp. Mvu.ii.238; Lal.327 (261); SN.i.103f; 122, 136ff.; v.167, 185, 232; Ud.i.1-4; ii.1; iii.10; AN.ii.20f; DN.ii.267.

The Commentaries say that when the Buddha, having realized the futility of austerities, left the Pañcavaggiyas, he retired to Uruvelā, on the banks of the Nerañjarā, and there, just before the Awakening, Sujātā gave him a meal of milk-rice, taking him to be a god (e.g., Ja.i.68ff.; Dhp­a.i.71; Bv­a.238). Before eating the food, he bathed in the ford called Suppatiṭṭha. Under the bed of the river lay the abode of the Nāga king, Kāḷa. There was a sāla grove on the banks, where the Buddha spent the afternoon previous to the night of the Awakening.

Three explanations are given of the name: (1) Its waters are pleasant (nelaṁ jalaṁ assā ti nelañjalā, the r being substituted for the l); (2) it has blue water (nīla jalāyā ti vattabbe Nerañjarāyā ti vuttaṁ); (3) it is just simply the name of the river. Ud­a.26f.

Nadī Kassapa’s hermitage was on the bank of the Nerañjarā (Thag­a.i.45).

Nerañjarā is identified with the modern Nīlājanā, with its source in Hazaribagh, which, together with the Mohanā, unites to form the river Phalgu. CAGL 524.

Nerañjarā 02. A channel that branched northwards from the Puṇṇavaḍḍhana tank. Cv.lxxix.49.