Dictionary of Pali Proper Names v2.c27.2022

v2.c27.2022

Buddhaghosa, however, says of this Theri³ that she was a slave-girl of Anāthapiṇḍika. On one occasion, when the Buddha was about to set out on a tour, Anāthapiṇḍika and the other chief patrons of the Buddha, loth to lose him for several months, begged him to remain with them. But the Buddha declined this request, and Puṇṇā, seeing Anāthapiṇḍika very dejected and learning the reason, offered to persuade the Buddha to stay. So she approached him and said that she would take the Three Refuges with the Five Precepts if he would postpone his tour. The Buddha at once agreed, and Puṇṇā was freed and adopted as Anāthapiṇḍika’s daughter. She later joined the Order, and became an arahant after listening to an admonition⁴ of the Buddha, who appeared before her in a ray of glory. Here we undoubtedly have a confusion of legends. See Puṇṇā (2).