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Dakkhiṇāgiri (Vihāra)
Dakkhiṇāgiri v.l. Dakkhiṇagiri.– A district (janapada) in India, the capital of which was Ujjeni, and over which Asoka ruled as Viceroy. It also contained the city of Vedisā (Sp.i.70; Mhv.xiii.5).
Dakkhiṇāgiri lay to the south of Rājagaha, beyond the hills that surrounded the city — hence its name (SNA.i.136; MA.ii.795; SA.i.188). In the district was the brahmin village of Ekanāḷā (SN., p.13). The road from Sāvatthi to Rājagaha lay through Dakkhiṇāgiri, and the Buddha traversed it in the course of his periodical tours through Magadha, residing in the Dakkhiṇāgiri-vihāra in Ekanāḷā (S.i.172; SA.ii.133; Vin.i.80). It was during one of these tours that he converted Kasī-Bhāradvāja and Dhammasava (q.v.) and his father. On another of these occasions the Buddha saw the Magadhakhetta, which gave him the idea of designing the robe of a monk to resemble a field (Vin.i.287). Ānanda is also said to have travelled through Dakkhiṇāgiri, gathering a large number of young men into the Order, who, however, do not appear to have been very serious in their intentions, as their behaviour earned for Ānanda the censure of Mahā-Kassapa (S.ii.217 f). Later, we find Puṇṇa with a large following in Dakkhiṇāgiri refusing to join in the findings of the Rājagaha Council, and preferring to follow the Dhamma according to his own lights (Vin.ii.289).
Dakkhiṇāgiri was the residence of Veḷukaṇṭhakī Nandamātā and she was visited both by Sāriputta and by Mahā-Moggallāna during a tour in the district (A.iv.64). In Dakkhināgiri, Sāriputta heard of the lack of zeal of Dhānañjāni (M.ii.185; see J.i.224 for another incident connected with Sāriputta’s tour). The Arāmadūsa Jātaka (q.v.) was taught in Dakkhiṇāgiri.
The Dakkhiṇāgiri-vihāra was, for a long time, a great monastic centre, and at the foundation of the Mahā Thūpa there were present from there forty thousand monks led by Mahā-Saṅgharakkhita. Mhv.xxix.35.
Dakkhiṇāgiri-vihāra.– A monastery built by Saddhā Tissa in Sri Lanka (Mhv.xxxiii.7). It was restored by Dhātusena (Cv.xxxviii.46), and Kassapa V granted a village for its maintenance (Cv.lii.60). It is probably identical with the Dakkhiṇāgiridaḷha-vihāra, in which Aggabodhi I erected an assembly-hall (Cv.xlii.27). It has sometimes been identified with the present Mulkirigala-vihāra (Cv.Trs.i.33, n.3).
It was once the residence of Appihā-Sāmaṇera (MT.552) and of Kāḷa-Buddharakkhita (MA.i.469).