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Uttiya

1. Uttiya, Uttika.– He was the son of a brahmin of Sāvatthi. When he came of age, he left the world, seeking “the Deathless,” and became a wanderer (paribbājaka). One day, on his travels, he came to the place where the Buddha was teaching and entered the Order, but because of the impurity of his morals he could not win his goal. Seeing other bhikkhus who had achieved their object, he asked the Buddha for a lesson in brief. The Buddha gave him a short lesson, which he used for his meditations. During these meditations he fell ill, but in his anxiety he put forth every effort and became an Arahant (Thag.v.30; ThagA.i.89 f).

In the time of Siddhattha Buddha he was a crocodile in the river Candabhāgā. One day, seeing the Buddha’s desire to cross to the other bank, the crocodile offered him its back to sit on and took him across.

Seven times he was king of the devas, and three times ruler of men (Ap.i.79‑80). This Uttiya is evidently identical with the thera of the same name mentioned in the Saṃyuttanikāya. In one sutta (S.v.22) the Buddha explains to him, in answer to his question, the character of the five sensual elements and the necessity for their abandonment. Elsewhere (S.v.166) he is represented as asking the Buddha for a lesson in brief, which the Buddha gives him. Dwelling in solitude, he meditates on this and becomes an Arahant.

Perhaps he is also identical with Uttiya Paribbājaka, who is represented in the Aṅguttaranikāya (A.v.193 ff) as asking the Buddha various questions on the duration of the world, etc., and as being helped by Ānanda to understand the real import of the Buddha’s answers.

2. Uttiya Thera.– He was one of four companions — the others being Godhika, Subāhu, and Valliya — who were born at Pāvā as the sons of four Malla-rājās. They were great friends, and once went together on some embassy to Kapilavatthu. There they saw the Buddha’s Twin Miracle, and, entering the Order, they soon became Arahants. When they went to Rājagaha, Bimbisāra invited them to spend the rainy season there and built for each of them a hut, carelessly omitting, however, to have the huts roofed. So the elders dwelt in the huts unsheltered. For a long time there was no rain and the king, wondering thereat, remembered his neglect and had the huts thatched, plastered and painted. He then held a dedication festival and gave alms to the Order. The Elders went inside the huts and entered into a meditation of love. Forthwith the sky darkened in the west and rains fell.

In the time of Siddhattha Buddha the four were householders and friends; one of them gave to the Buddha a ladleful of food, another fell prostrate before the Buddha and worshipped him, the third gave him a handful of flowers, while the fourth paid him homage with sumana-flowers.

In the time of Kassapa Buddha, too, they were friends and entered the Order together. Thag.vv.51‑4; ThagA.i.123‑6.

3. Uttiya Thera.– He was a Sakyan of Kapilavatthu. When the Buddha visited his kinsmen and showed them his power, Uttiya was converted and entered the Order. One day, while begging in the village, he heard a woman singing and his mind was disturbed. Checking himself, he entered the vihāra much agitated and spent the siesta, seated, striving with such earnestness that he won Arahantship (Thag.v.99; ThagA.i.202‑3).

In the time of Sumedha Buddha he was a householder and gave to the Buddha a bed, complete with canopy and rug.

Twenty world-cycles ago he was three times king under the name of Suvannābha.

He is probably identical with Pallaṅkadāyaka of the Apadāna (Ap.i.175).

4. Uttiya.– In the Kathāvatthu (i.268) mention is made of a householder Uttiya, together with Yasa-Kulaputta and Setu-māṇava, as having attained Arahantship while living amid the circumstances of a layman’s life.

5. Uttiya.– One of the elders who accompanied Mahinda on his mission to Sri Lanka (Mhv.xii.8; Dpv.xii.12; Sp.i.70; Mbv.116). King Sirimeghavaṇṇa had an image of Uttiya made and placed in the image house which he built at the south-eastern corner of his palace. Cv.xxxvii.87.

6. Uttiya.– King of Sri Lanka for ten years (207‑197 B.C.) (Dpv.xii.75; Mhv.xx.57). He was the fourth son of Muṭasīva and succeeded Devānampiyatissa. In the eighth year of his reign died Mahinda (Mhv.xx.33), and in the ninth, Saṅghamittā (Mhv.xx.49). He held great celebrations in honour of these two illustrious dead and built thūpas in various places over their ashes. The Mahāvaṃsa Ṭīkā (p.253) adds that Uttiya built a cetiya at the Somanassa-mālaka.

7. Uttiya.– One of the seven warriors of King Vaṭṭagāmaṇī. He built the Dakkhiṇa-vihāra to the south of Anurādhapura. Mhv.xxxiii.88.

8. Uttiya.– See Ayya-Uttiya.