Dictionary of Pali Proper Names v1.c7.181

v1.c7.181

1. **Ādiccabandhu.**—An often-used epithet of the Buddha.¹ The *Vimanavatthu Commentary*² says that Ādicca (the Sun) belonged to the **Gota-magotta**, as did also the Buddha, hence his epithet Ādiccabandhu; other explanations are given in the same context: the Buddha is born in the same *ariyā jāti* and is the descendant of the Sun (*tam paṭicca tassa ariyāya jātiya jātattā*), or the Sun is the Buddha’s kinsman because the Sun is the Buddha’s *orasaputta* (breast-born son) inasmuch as the Sun is the Buddha’s disciple. It is in this sense that in the *Saṃyutta Nikāya*³ the Buddha speaks of the sun as “*mama pajā*,” which Buddhaghosa⁴ explains as meaning disciple and spiritual son. Ādicca is described as *tapatam mukham* (chief of heat-producing things).⁵