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Uttara

1. Uttara.– A thera. He was the son of an eminent brahmin of Rājagaha (of Sāvatthi, 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 Doctrine under Sāriputta. Later he entered the Order 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 higher knowledge (abhiññā) and became an Arahant. Rising from the stake, he stood in mid-air 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; ThigA.i.240 ff).

In the time of Sumedha Buddha, he bad been a sorcerer (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 sorcerer was later born in Tāvatiṃsa, 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 ThigA.), 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 Tīṇikapikārapupphiya of the Apadāna. Ap.ii.441 ff. Ras.i.52 f.

2. Uttara.– A thera. He was the son of a brahmin of Sāketa. While on some business at Sāvatthi, he saw the Twin Miracle and, when the Buddha taught the Kāḷakārāma Sutta at Sāketa, he entered the Order. He accompanied the Buddha to Rājagaha and there became an Arahant (Thag.vv.161‑2; ThagA.i.283 f).

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 Uttara Sutta (A.iv.162 ff).

3. Uttara.– 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. S.i.54.

4. Uttara.– A thera. At the time of the Vajjian heresy, he was the attendant of the elder Revata and had been twenty years in the Order. The Vajjī  of Vesāli 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 Doctrine 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 Vesāli monks were informed of the occurrence, they took dependence (nissaya) from Uttara and became his pupils. Vin.ii.302‑3; Mhv.iv.30.

5. Uttara.– 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 Brahmajāla Sutta. 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; Sp.i.68 f; Mbv.115; The Dipavaṃsa speaks of Soṇuttara as one person (viii.10).

6. Uttara.– A brahmin youth (Uttara-māṇava), pupil of Pārāsariya. He once visited the Buddha at Kajaṅgalā in the Mukheluvana and the Buddha taught him the Indriyabhāvanā Sutta (M.iii.298 ff).

Perhaps it is this same māṇava that is mentioned in the Pāyāsi Sutta. 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 Serīsaka-vimāna of the Cātummahārājika world, Uttara was born in Tāvatiṃsa. D.ii.354‑7; see also VvA.297 f. where the details are slightly different.

7. Uttara.– 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 taught 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 Stream-winner 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). PvA.140 ff.

8. Uttara.– A brahmin youth. When Erakapatta, king of the Nāgā, 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 Stream-winner. When he repeated the answers before the Nāga maiden, Erakapatta was greatly delighted and accompanied him to the Buddha, who taught him and to the assembled multitude. DhA.iii.230 ff.

9. Uttara.– A pupil of Brahmāyu. He was sent by his teacher from Mithilā to Videha, to find out if the Buddha bore the thirty-two marks of a Great Man. 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 deportment in his every posture. At the end of that period, he returned to Brahmāyu and reported what he had seen (M.ii.134 ff; SnA.i.37). Buddhaghosa says (MA.ii.765) that Uttara became known as Buddhavīmaṃsaka-māṇava on account of his close watch over the Buddha.

10. Uttara.– 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. DhA.iv.17; but see S.i.81‑2 for a different version of what is evidently the same incident. There the youth is called Sudassana.

11. Uttara.– A royal prince to whom Koṇāgamana Buddha taught at Surindavatī on the full-moon day of Māgha. He later became the Buddha’s leading disciple (aggasāvaka). Bu.xxiv.22; BuA.215; J.i.43.

12. Uttara.– Younger brother of Vessabhū Buddha. The Buddha taught his first discourse to Uttara and Sona at the Aruṇa pleasance near Anupama. Later Uttara became the Buddha’s leading disciple. Bu.xxii.23; BuA.205; J.i.42; D.ii.4.

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

14. Uttara.– The name of the Bodhisatta in the time of Sumedha Buddha. He spent eight hundred million in giving alms to the Buddha and the monks and later joined the Order. J.i.37‑8; Bu.xii.11.

15. Uttara.– A warrior (khattiya), father of Maṅgala Buddha. Bu.iv.22; J.i.34.

16. Uttara.– Son of Padumuttara Buddha in his last birth (Bu.xi.21). He was the Bodhisatta. SA.ii.67; DA.ii.488; but see J.i.37 and Bu.xi.11, where the Bodhisatta’s name is given as the Jatiḷa Ratthika.

17. Uttara.– Nephew of King Khallātanāga of Sri Lanka. He conspired with his brothers to kill the king, and when the plot was discovered committed suicide by jumping on to a pyre. MT.612.

18. Uttara.– A banker, a very rich man of Sāvatthi. He had a son, designated as Uttara-seṭṭhiputta, whose story is given in the Vaṭṭaka Jātaka. J.i.432 ff.

19. Uttara.– The city in which Maṅgala Buddha was born. Bu.iv.22; J.i.34.

20. Uttara.– The city of King Arindama. Revata Buddha taught there to the king and the assembled multitude. BuA.133.

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

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

23. Uttara.– A township of the Koliyā. Once, when the Buddha was staying there, he was visited by the headman Pātaliya. v.l. Uttaraka. S.iv.340.

24. Uttara.– A nunnery built by King Mahāsena. Mhv.xxxvii.43.

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

26. Uttara.– A meditation hall (padhānaghara) built by Uttara (25).

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

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

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

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

31. Uttara.– See Bherapāsāna-vihāra.