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Cūḷasubhaddā

Daughter of Anāthapiṇḍika. At the insistent request of his friend Uggaseṭṭhi, and after consultation with the Buddha, Anāthapiṇḍika agreed to give her in marriage to Ugga’s son. (According to the Aṅguttaranikāya Commentary (ii.482 ff), the millionaire’s name was Kāḷaka and his city was not Ugga, but Sāketa). However, he was an unbeliever, and when the naked ascetics (Nigaṇṭhā) came to his house on invitation, Subhaddā refused to pay homage to them. For this she was ordered out of the house by her father-in-law; but she convinced her mother-in-law that the reasons for her behaviour were sound, and at the suggestion of the latter she prepared a meal and invited to it the Buddha and the congregation of monks, by throwing into the air from the top storey of the house eight handfuls of jasmine. The Buddha divined her thoughts and arrived with five hundred Arahants. After the meal the Buddha taught the Dhamma and Ugga and his family were converted. As a mark of favour towards Subhaddā the Buddha requested Anuruddha to stay behind at Ugganagara. (DhA.iii.465 ff; the story is also given in AA.ii.482 ff, but with several variations in detail. There seems to be a comparison between the stories of Mahāsubhaddā and Cūḷasubhaddā. See also AA.i.146 and Vism.390).

Cūḷasubhaddā, while still in her father’s house, had become a Stream-winner, and with her sisters, Mahāsubhaddā and Sumanā, she had been entrusted with the distribution of food to the monks. DhA.i.128; J.i.93; ApA.i.81; see also Mil.383, 387.