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Kukkuṭārāma

1. Kukkuṭārāma.– A monastery in Kosambī, built by the millionaire Kukkuṭa (q.v.) DA.i.318, etc.

2. Kukkuṭārāma.– A pleasance in Pāṭaliputta. It was evidently the residence of monks from very early times, probably, for some time, of the Buddha himself. The Mahā Vagga (Vin.i.300) mentions the names of several elders who lived there: Nilavāsi, Sānavāsi, Gopaka, Bhagu, Phalikasandāna. The Saṃyuttanikāya (S.v.15 f; 171 f) records several discussions that took place there between Ānanda and Bhadda.

It may have been a favourite resort of Ānanda, for we find the householder Dasama of Aṭṭhakanagara going there to enquire as to his whereabouts (A.v.342; M.i.349). It was also (probably at a later date) the residence of Nārada who converted King Muṇḍa (A.iii.57 f), and afterwards of Soṇaka, the preceptor (upajjhāya) of Siggava, and of Caṇḍavajjī, the teacher of Moggaliputta-Tissa (Mhv.v.122).

Buddhaghosa mentions (MA.ii.571; AA.ii.866) that the Kukkuṭārāma was made by Kukkuṭa Seṭṭhi, but gives no further particulars. Here there is probably some confusion with the ārāma of the same name at Kosambī. Hiouen Thsang (Beal: op.cit.ii, 95) says that the Kukkuṭārāma was to the southeast of the old city of Pāṭaliputta and was built by Asoka when he first became a convert to the Buddha’s religion. “It was a sort of first-fruit and a pattern of majestic construction.”

Only the foundation of the building was left at the time of Hiouen Thsang’s visit. It is probable that this account refers to the Asokārāma, which Asoka built as the first of his Buddhist structures, and that the Asokārāma was constructed on the site of the old Kukkuṭārāma. It is significant that the Pāḷi books, in recording Asoka’s doings, make no mention of a Kukkuṭārāma existing in his time, though the Sanskrit texts, the Divyāvadāna (e.g., pp.381 f, 430 ff; see also Smith: Asoka, 183, 193 f), for instance, makes frequent reference to it. If the conjecture made above, namely that the Asokārāma replaced the Kukkuṭārāma, be correct, it may have been that the place was known by both names in Asoka’s time.

3. Kukkuṭārāma.– See Kukkuṭagiri-pariveṇa.