Dictionary of Pali Proper Names v1.c6.2521

v1.c6.2521

Ambaṭṭha-gotta.—The clan to which Ambaṭṭha-mānava belonged. The Kaṇhāyana-gotta was probably one of its chief sections, or, perhaps, the family of its original ancestors. In the Buddha’s time the clan was evidently considered very aristocratic, at least by its own members, for they looked down upon even the Sākyans as scourings from their kinsmen’s feet, though the Sakyans themselves seem to have laughed at the pretensions of the Ambaṭṭhas.¹ Nor were the Ambaṭṭhas brahmins by birth; some of them were farmers and traders and some even sold their daughters for gold.²