Dictionary of Pali Proper Names v1.c12.55

v1.c12.55

According to the Ceylonese chronicles,⁶ Kakusandha paid a visit to Ceylon. The island was then known as Ojadīpa and its capital was Abhayanagara, where reigned King Abhaya. The Mahāmeghavana was called Mahātittha. The Buddha came, with forty thousand disciples, to rid the island of a pestilence caused by yakkhas and stood on the Devakūṭa mountain from where, by virtue of his own desire, all inhabitants of the country could see him. The Buddha and his disciples were invited to a meal by the king, and after the meal the Mahātittha garden was presented to the Order; there the Buddha sat, in meditation, in order to consecrate various spots connected with the religion. At the Buddha’s wish, the nun Rucānandā brought to the island a branch of the sacred bodhi-tree. The Buddha gave to the people his own drinking-vessel as an object of worship, and returned to Jambudīpa, leaving behind his disciples Mahādeva and Rucānandā to look after the spiritual welfare of the new converts to the faith.