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Dictionary of Pāli Proper Names • G.P. Malalasekera


Page last updated on 8 October, 2020

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Mettagū Thera

One of the sixteen disciples of Bāvarī who visited the Buddha. His question to the Buddha was as to how various ills originated in the world, and the Buddha’s answer, that it was through clinging to rebirth (upadhi). At the end of the discourse Mettagū and his thousand followers attained Arahantship (SN.vss.1006, 1049‑60; SNA.ii.592).

According to the Apadāna (ii.342 f), he gave away alms worth six hundred million of gold before joining Bāvarī.

In the time of Sumedha Buddha he was an ascetic living near Mount Asoka in Himavā, in a hermitage built for him by Vissakamma. There the Buddha visited him, and the ascetic gave him a bowl filled with ghee and oil. As a result, he was eighteen times king of the gods and fifty-one times king of men.