Dictionary of Pali Proper Names v1.c12.314

v1.c12.314

1. **Kaṭṭhavāhana.**—A king. A previous birth of Bāvari. Kaṭṭhavāhana had been a very clever carpenter of Benares, having under him sixteen thousand and sixteen assistants. They paid periodical visits to the Himālaya forests, felled trees, and having prepared the timber which was suitable for building purposes, brought it down the Ganges and erected houses for the king and for the people. Growing tired of this work, these carpenters made flying machines of light wood, and going northwards from Benares to Himavā, established by conquest a kingdom, the chief carpenter becoming the king. He came to be called Kaṭṭhavāhana, the capital was named Kaṭṭhavāhananagara and the country Kaṭṭhavāhanaraṭṭha. The king was righteous and the people very happy and the country prospered greatly. Later Kaṭṭhavāhana and the king of Benares became sincere friends, and free trade, exempt from all taxes, was established between the two countries. The kings sent each other very costly and magnificent gifts. Once Kaṭṭhavāhana sent to the king of Benares eight priceless rugs in eight caskets of lacquered ivory, each rug being sixteen cubits long and eight cubits wide and of unsurpassed splendour. The Benares king, wondering how he could adequately return the courtesy, decided to let his friend learn the great news of the appearance in the world of the Buddha (Kassapa), the Dhamma and the Saṅgha. This message was written on a gold leaf and the leaf enclosed in many caskets, one inside the other, the innermost casket being made of the seven kinds of jewels and the outermost of costly wood. The caskets were placed on a splendid palanquin and sent on the back of a royal elephant, accompanied by all the insignia of royalty. All along the route the honours due to a king were paid to the casket, and Kaṭṭhavāhana himself escorted the elephant from the frontiers of his kingdom to the capital. When Kaṭṭhavāhana discovered the message, he was overjoyed, and sent his nephew with sixteen of his ministers and sixteen thousand followers to investigate the matter and convey his greetings to the Buddha. The envoys arrived at Benares only after the Buddha’s death, but hearing from the Buddha’s disciples of the Doctrine he had proclaimed to the world, the ministers and their followers entered the Order, while Kaṭṭhavāhana’s nephew was sent back to report the news to the king, taking with him the Buddha’s water-pot, a branch of the Bodhi tree and a monk versed in the Doctrine. The king, having learnt the Doctrine, engaged in various works of piety till his death, after which he was born among the Kāmāvacara devas.¹