Dictionary of Pali Proper Names v1.c6.3067

v1.c6.3067

Alāta.—A minister and general of Aṅgati, King of Videha. He is described as wise, smiling, a father of sons and full of experience. When Aṅgati consulted his ministers as to ways and means of finding diversion for himself and his subjects, Alāta’s counsel was that they should set out to battle with a countless host of men. The suggestion of another minister, Vijaya, was that the king should visit some *samaṇa* or brahmin, and this idea it was that won the king’s approval. Thereupon Alāta persuaded Aṅgati to visit the Ājīvika Guṇa of the Kassapa family, who evidently enjoyed Alāta’s patronage. When Guṇa preached his doctrine that good and evil actions were alike fruitless, he was supported by Alāta, who stated that in a previous birth he had been Piṅgala, a cow-killing huntsman in Benares, and that he had committed many sins for which, however, he had never suffered any evil consequences.