A

B

C

D

E

G

H

I

J

K

L

M

N

O

P

R

S

T

U

V

Y

?

Home page Up (parent) Next (right) Previous (left) Abbreviations


Page last updated on 8 October, 2020

Association for Insight Meditation Home Page

Uttarapañcāla

A city. When Apacara (Upacara), king of Ceti, was swallowed up by the fires of Avīci, because of his falsehood, his five sons came to the brahmin Kapila and sought his protection. He advised them to build new cities. The city built by the fourth son was called Uttarapañcāla. It was founded in the north of Ceti, on the spot where the prince saw a wheel-frame (cakkapañjara) entirely made of jewels (J.iii.461).

According to the scholiast to the Kāmanīta Jātaka (J.ii.214), however, and also according to the Kumbhakāra Jātaka (J.iii.379 ff), Pañcāla or Uttarapañcāla is the name of a country (rattha) whose capital was Kampilla, while in the Brahmadatta Jātaka (iii.79) also in the scholiast of the Citta-Sambhūta Jātaka (iv.396), Uttarapañcāla is given as the name of the city and Kampilla as that of the country and we are told that a king Pañcāla reigned there.

Pañcāla was also the name of the king of Uttarapañcāla in the Sattigumba Jātaka (iv.430), the Jayaddisa Jātaka (v.21), and the Gandatinduka Jātaka (v.98). In all these Uttarapañcāla is spoken of as a city in Kampilla. In the Umaṅga Jātaka (vi.391 ff), Cūḷani-Brahmadatta is the king of Uttarapañcāla.

In the Somanassa Jātaka (J.iv.444), mention is made of a city named Uttarapañcāla in the Kuru country, with Reṇu as its king. Whether the reference is to a different city it is not possible to say. See also Pañcāla.