Vāseṭṭhī
1. Vāseṭṭhī.– A brahnninee, wife of King Esukārī’s chaplain. She was the mother of Hatthipāla (the Bodhisatta), and is identified with Mahāmāyā. J.iv.483, 491.
2. Vāseṭṭhī Therī.– She was born in Vesāli, and after being happily married bore a son. The child died very young, and his mother was mad with grief.¹ One day she ran away from home, and, in the course of her wanderings, came to Mithilā, where she saw the Buddha, who calmed her grief. He taught her the Doctrine and had her ordained at her own request. She soon after became an Arahant.
It is said ² that the brahmin Sujāta, father of Sundarī (q.v.), met Vāseṭṭhī (probably in Bārāṇasī), and, hearing her story, himself sought the Buddha at Mithilā where he joined the Order, becoming an Arahant at the end of three days.
¹ The story of her child’s death and her subsequent history, are contained in Thig.vs.133‑8; see also ThigA.124 f.
² Thig. 312‑24; ThigA.228 f; according to Thig.312 Vāseṭṭhī would seem to have lost “seven children,” but the Commentary explains this as a rhetorical phrase.