Dictionary of Pali Proper Names v1.c13.165

v1.c13.165

Khara.—A yakkha, friend of Suciloma. He was passing through Gayā with Suciloma when the latter questioned the Buddha on his doctrine, as recorded in the Suciloma Sutta.¹ Khara had been a monk in a previous birth, and had once rubbed on his body oil belonging to the Saṅgha without asking the permission of the monks. As a result his body was ugly, and his skin coarse and rough and like a “tiled roof.” Whenever he wished to frighten anybody his skin would stand up like tiles on a roof. At the end of the recitation of the Suciloma Sutta, Khara became a sotāpanna, and his skin became beautiful and golden-hued.²