Dictionary of Pali Proper Names v1.c23.1098

v1.c23.1098

1. Doṇa.—A brahmin. He was at Kusinārā at the time of the Buddha’s death, and it was his intervention which prevented a quarrel among the kings who assembled there to claim the Buddha’s relics. He pointed out to them the impropriety of a quarrel over anything connected with the Buddha, the teacher of Peace. The claimants thereupon asked Doṇa to undertake the distribution of the relics. He divided them into eight parts, one of which he gave to each king. He himself kept the vessel used for collecting and dividing the relics, and over it he built a thūpa, celebrating a feast in its honour.¹