Uttara untranslated

Uttara 01. A Thera. He was the son of an eminent Brahmin of Rājagaha (of Sāvatthī, according to the Apadāna). He became proficient in Vedic lore and renowned for his breeding, beauty, wisdom and virtue. The king’s minister, Vassakāra, seeing his attainments, desired to marry him to his daughter; but Uttara, with his heart set on release, declined, and learnt the Dhamma under Sāriputta. Later he entered the Saṅgha and waited on Sāriputta.

One day Sāriputta fell ill and Uttara set out early to find a physician. On the way he set down his bowl by a lake and went down to wash his mouth. A certain thief, pursued by the police, dropped his stolen jewels into the novice’s bowl and fled. Uttara was brought before Vassakāra who, to satisfy his grudge, ordered him to be impaled. The Buddha, seeing the ripeness of his insight, went to him and placing a gentle hand, “like a shower of crimson gold,” on Uttara’s head, spoke to him and encouraged him to reflection. Transported with joy and rapture at the Master’s touch, he attained sixfold abhiññā and became Arahant. Rising from the stake, he stood in mid­air and his wound was healed. Addressing his fellow-celibates, be told them how, when he realised the evils of rebirth, he forgot the lesser evil of present pain (Thag.vv.121-2; Thīg­a.i.240ff).

In the time of Sumedha Buddha, he had been a Vijjādhara. Once, while flying through the air, he saw the Buddha at the foot of a tree in the forest and, being glad, offered him three kaṇikāra flowers.

By the Buddha’s power, the flowers stood above him forming a canopy. The Vijjādhara was later born in Tāvatiṁsa, where his palace was known as Kaṇikāra.

He was king of the gods one hundred and five times, and king of men one hundred and three times.

According to the Apadāna (quoted in Thīg­a.), he became an Arahant at the age of seven. This does not agree with the rest of the story and is probably due to a confusion with some other Uttara.

Uttara is probably to be identified with Tīṇikaṇikārapupphiya of the Apadāna. Ap.ii.441ff. Ras.i.52f.

Uttara 02. A Thera. He was the son of a Brahmin of Sāketa. While on some business at Sāvatthī, he saw the Twin Miracle and, when the Buddha preached the Kāḷakārāmasutta at Sāketa, he entered the Saṅgha. He accompanied the Buddha to Rājagaha and there became an Arahant (Thag.vv.161-2; Thag­a.i.283f).

During the time of Siddhattha Buddha he had been a householder and became a believer in the Buddha. When the Buddha died, he called together his relations and together they paid great honour to the relics.

He is evidently identical with Dhātupūjaka of the Apadāna (ii.425). It is probably this Thera who is mentioned in the Uttarasutta (AN.iv.162ff).

Uttara 03. A Devaputta who visits the Buddha at the Añjanavana in Sāketa. He utters a stanza, and the Buddha, in another stanza, amplifies what he has said. SN.i.54.

Uttara 04. A Thera. At the time of the Vajjī heresy, he was the attendant of the Elder Revata and had been twenty years in the Saṅgha. The Vajjians of Vesālī went to him and, after much persuasion, succeeded in getting him to accept one robe from them.

In return for this he agreed to say before the Saṅgha that the Pācīnaka Bhikkhus held the true Dhamma and that the Pātheyyaka monks did not. Thereafter Uttara went to Revata, but Revata, on hearing what he had done, instantly dismissed him from attendance upon him. When the Vesālī monks were informed of the occurrence, they took the nissaya from Uttara and became his pupils. Vin.ii.302-3; Mhv.iv.30.

Uttara 05. An Arahant. He, with Soṇa, was sent by Asoka, at the conclusion of the Third Council, to convert Suvaṇṇabhūmi. They overcame the female demon and her followers, who had, been in the habit of coming out of the sea to eat the king’s sons, and they then recited the Brahmajālasutta. Sixty thousand people became converts, five hundred noblemen became monks and fifteen hundred women of good family were ordained as nuns.

Thenceforth all princes born in the royal household were called Soṇuttara. Mhv.iv.6; 44-54; Vin-a.i.68f; Mbv.115; The Dīpavaṁsa speaks of Soṇuttara as one person (viii.10).

Uttara 06. A Brahmin youth (Uttaramāṇava), pupil of Pārāsariya. He once visited the Buddha at Kajaṅgalā in the Mukheluvana and the Buddha preached to him the Indriyabhāvanāsutta (MN.iii.298ff).

Perhaps it is this same māṇava that is mentioned in the Pāyāsisutta. When Pāyāsi Rājañña was converted by Kumāra Kassapa, he instituted almsgiving to all and sundry, but the gifts he gave consisted of such things as gruel and scraps of food and coarse robes. Uttara, who was one of his retainers, spoke sarcastically of Pāyāsi’s generosity, and on being challenged by Pāyāsi to show what should be done, Uttara gave gladly and with his own hands excellent foods and garments. As a result, after death, while Pāyāsi was born only in the empty Serisakavimāna of the Cātummahārājika world, Uttara was born in Tāvatiṁsa. DN.ii.354-7; see also Vv-a.297f. where the details are slightly different.

Uttara 07. A youth of Kosambī, son of a minister of King Udena. When his father died, the youth was appointed by the king to carry out certain works in the city which his father had left unfinished.

One day, while on his way to the forest to fell timber, he saw Mahā Kaccāna and, being pleased with the Thera’s demeanour, went and worshipped him. The Thera preached to him, and the youth invited him and his companions to a meal in his house. At the conclusion of the meal Uttara followed Mahā Kaccāna to the vihāra and asked him to have his meals always at his house. He later became a Sotāpanna and built a vihāra. He persuaded most of his relations to join in his good deeds, but his mother refused to help and abused the monks. As a result she was born in the Peta-world (see Uttaramātā). Pv-a.140ff.

Uttara 08. A Brahmin youth. When Erakapatta, king of the Nāgas, offered his daughter’s hand to anyone who could answer his questions – hoping thereby to hear of a Buddha’s appearance in the world – Uttara was among those who aspired to win her. The Buddha, wishing for the welfare of many beings, met Uttara on his way to the Nāga court and taught him the proper answers to the questions. At the end of the lesson, Uttara became a Sotāpanna. When he repeated the answers before the Nāga maiden, Erakapatta was greatly delighted and accompanied him to the Buddha, who preached to him and to the assembled multitude. Dhp­a.iii.230ff.

Uttara 09. A pupil of Brahmāyu. He was sent by his teacher from Mithilā to Videha, to find out if the Buddha bore the marks of the Superman. Having made sure of the presence of all the thirty-two marks on the Buddha’s person, he dogged the Buddha’s footsteps for seven months, in order to observe his carriage in his every posture. At the end of that period, he returned to Brahmāyu and reported what he had seen (MN.ii.134ff; Snp-a.i.37). Buddhaghosa says (MN­a.ii.765) that Uttara became known as Buddhavīmaṁsakamāṇava on account of his close watch over the Buddha.

Uttara 10. A youth, evidently a personal attendant of Pasenadi. The Buddha taught him a stanza to be recited whenever the king sat down to a meal. The stanza spoke of the merits of moderation in eating. Dhp­a.iv.17; but see SN.i.81-2 for a different version of what is evidently the same incident. There the youth is called Sudassana.

Uttara 11. A royal prince to whom Koṇāgamana Buddha preached at Surindavatī on the full-moon day of Māgha. He later became the Buddha’s Aggasāvaka. Bv.xxiv.22; Bv­a.215; Ja.i.43.

Uttara 12. Younger brother of Vessabhū Buddha. The Buddha preached his first sermon to Uttara and Soṇa at the Aruṇa pleasaunce near Anupama. Later Uttara became the Buddha’s Aggasāvaka. Bv.xxii.23; Bv­a.205; Ja.i.42; DN.ii.4.

Uttara 13. Son of Kakusandha Buddha in his last birth. Bv.xxiii.17.

Uttara 14. The name of the Bodhisatta in the time of Sumedha Buddha. He spent eighty crores in giving alms to the Buddha and the monks and later joined the Saṅgha. Ja.i.37-8; Bv.xii.11.

Uttara 15. A Khattiya, father of Maṅgala Buddha. Bv.iv.22; Ja.i.34.

Uttara 16. Son of Padumuttara Buddha in his last birth (Bv.xi.21). He was the Bodhisatta. SN­a.ii.67; DN­a.ii.488; but see Ja.i.37 and Bv.xi.11, where the Bodhisatta’s name is given as the Jaṭila Raṭṭhika.

Uttara 17. Nephew of King Khallaṭanāga of Ceylon. He conspired with his brothers to kill the king, and when the plot was discovered committed suicide by jumping on to a pyre. Mhv­ṭ.612.

Uttara 18. A banker, a very rich man of Sāvatthī. He had a son, designated as Uttaraseṭṭhiputta, whose story is given in the Vaṭṭakajātaka. Ja.i.432ff.

Uttara 19. The city in which Maṅgala Buddha was born. Bv.iv.22; Ja.i.34.

Uttara 20. The city of King Arindama. Revata Buddha preached there to the king and the assembled multitude. Bv­a.133.

Uttara 21. A township (nigama), near which Revata Buddha spent seven days, wrapt in meditation. At the conclusion of his meditation, the Buddha preached to the assembled multitude on the virtues of nirodhasamāpatti. Bv­a.133-4. This may be the same as No. 20.

Uttara 22. One of the palaces occupied by Paduma Buddha before his Renunciation. Bv.ix.17.

Uttara 23. v.l. Uttaraka. A township of the Koḷiyans. Once, when the Buddha was staying there, he was visited by the headman Pāṭaliya. SN.iv.340.

Uttara 24. A nunnery built by King Mahā Sena. Mhv.xxxvii.43.

Uttara 25. A general of Moggallāna I. Cv.xxxix.58.

Uttara 26. A padhānaghara built by Uttara (25).

Uttara 27. A minister of Sena I. He built in the Abhayuttaravihāra a dwelling-house called Uttarasena. Cv.l.83.

Uttara 28. A Thera who, with sixty thousand others, came from the Vattaniya hermitage in the Vindhyā forest to be present at the foundation ceremony of the Mahā Thūpa in Anurādhapura. Mhv.xxix.40; Dpv.xix.6.

Uttara 29. A banker of Uttaragāma, father of Uttarā (13). Bv­a.116.

Uttara 30. An Ājīvaka who offered eight handfuls of grass to Maṅgala Buddha for his seat. Bv­a.116.

Uttara 31. See Bherapāsāṇavihāra.

Uttarā 01. A Therī. She was born in Kapilavatthu in a Sākyan family. She became a lady of the Bodhisatta’s court and later renounced the world with Pajāpatī Gotamī. When she was developing insight, the Buddha appeared before her to encourage her and she became an Arahant. Thīg.v.15; Thīg­a.21f.

Uttarā 02. She was the daughter of a clansman’s family in Sāvatthī. Having heard Paṭācārā preach, she entered the Saṅgha and became an Arahant.

The Therīgāthā contains seven verses uttered by her after becoming an Arahant, the result of her determination not to leave the sitting posture till she had won emancipation. Later she repeated these verses to Paṭācārā. Thīg.vv.175-81; Thīg­a.161-2.

Uttarā 03. In the Theragāthā two verses (Thag.vv.1020-1) are attributed to Ānanda, as having been spoken by him in admonition to an upāsikā named Uttarā, who was filled with the idea of her own beauty. Some say, however, that these verses were spoken in admonition to those who lost their heads at the sight of Ambapālī. Thag­a.ii.129.

Uttarā 04. Uttarā Nandamātā. Chief of the lay-women disciples who waited on the Buddha (Bv.xxvi.20). In the Aṅguttaranikāya (i.26), she is described as the best of women disciples in meditative power (jhāyīnaṁ), but this may refer to another Uttarā. She is again mentioned (AN.iv.347; AN­a.ii.791) in a list of eminent lay-women disciples, who observed the fast (uposatha) of the eight precepts.

According to the Aṅguttara Commentary (i.240ff), she was the daughter of Puṇṇasīha (Puṇṇaka) (q.v.), a servitor of Sumana seṭṭhi of Rājagaha. Later, when Puṇṇasīha was made dhana-seṭṭhi because of the immense wealth he gained by virtue of a meal given to Sāriputta, he held an almsgiving for the Buddha and his monks for seven days. On the seventh day, at the end of the Buddha’s sermon of thanksgiving, Puṇṇasīha, his wife and daughter, all became Sotāpanna.

When Sumana seṭṭhi asked for Uttarā’s hand for his son, his request was refused because Sumana’s family did not belong to the Buddha’s faith. Puṇṇa sent word to Sumana that Uttarā was the Buddha’s disciple and daily offered flowers to the Buddha, costing a kahāpaṇa. Later, however, when Sumana promised that Uttarā should be given flowers worth two kahāpaṇas, Puṇṇa agreed and Uttarā was married. After several unsuccessful attempts to obtain her husband’s permission to keep the fast, as she had done in her parents’ house, she got from her father fifteen thousand kahāpaṇas and with these she purchased the services of a prostitute named Sirimā, to look after her husband for a fortnight, and with his consent she entered on a fortnight’s uposatha. On the last day of the fast, while Uttarā was busy preparing alms for the Buddha, her husband, walking along with Sirimā, saw her working hard and smiled, thinking what a fool she was not to enjoy her wealth. Uttarā, seeing him, smiled at the thought of his folly in not making proper use of his wealth. Sirimā, thinking that husband and wife were smiling at each other, regardless of her presence, flew into a fury and, seizing a pot of boiling oil, threw it at Uttarā’s head. But Uttarā was at that time full of compassion for Sirimā, and the oil, therefore, did not hurt her at all. Sirimā, realising her grievous folly, begged forgiveness of Uttarā, who took her to the Buddha and related the whole story, asking that he should forgive her. The Buddha preached to Sirimā and she became a Sotāpanna.

The Vimānavatthu Commentary (pp.631ff; Vv.11f) and the Dhammapada Commentary (Dhp-a.iii.302ff; see also iii.104) give the above story with several variations in detail. According to these versions, at the end of the Buddha’s sermon to Sirimā, Uttarā became a Sakadāgāmī and her husband and father-in-law Sotāpannas.

After death Uttarā was born in Tāvatiṁsa in a vimāna. Moggallāna saw her in one of his visits to Tāvatiṁsa and, having learnt her story, repeated it to the Buddha.

It is curious that Nanda is not mentioned in either account. It has been suggested (e.g., Brethren, 41, n.1) that Uttarā Nandamātā may be identical with Veḷukaṇṭakī Nandamātā, but I do not think that the identification is justified. Uttarā’s story is given in the Visuddhimagga (p.313) to prove that fire cannot burn the body of a person who lives in love, and again (p.380-1; also Paṭis.ii.212; Paṭis-a.497), as an instance of psychic power being diffused by concentration.

Uttarā 05. Wife of Puṇṇasīha (Puṇṇaka) and mother of Uttarā (4). (Vv-a.63; Dhp­a.iii.302). For her story see Puṇṇasīha.

Uttarā 06. Daughter of Nandaka, general of Piṅgala, king of Suraṭṭha (Pv-a.241f). For her story see Nandaka.

Uttarā 07. A little Yakkhinī, sister of Punabbasu. For her story see Uttaramātā (2).

Uttarā 08. Mother of Maṅgala Buddha. Bv.iv.18; Ja.i.34.

Uttarā 09. A Brahmin lady, mother of Koṇāgamana Buddha, and also his Aggasāvikā. Ja.i.43; DN.ii.7; Bv.xxiv.17, 23.

Uttarā 10. Aggasāvikā of Nārada Buddha. Ja.i.37; Bv.x.24.

Uttarā 11. Wife of Paduma Buddha in his last lay life. Bv.ix.18.

Uttarā 12. One of the chief women supporters of Vipassī Buddha. Bv.xx.30.

Uttarā 13. Daughter of the banker Uttara. She gave a meal of milk-rice to Maṅgala Buddha just before his Awakening (Bv­a.116).