Dictionary of Pali Proper Names v2.c27.257

v2.c27.257

No really satisfactory explanation is found in the Commentaries of Pañcasikha's name. Buddhaghosa says⁷ Pañcasikho ti pañcacūḷo, pañcakuṇḍaliko, and goes on to say that Pañcasikha was born once as a human being, and, while yet a boy wearing his hair in five knots⁸ (pañcacūḷadāraka-kāle), he became chief of those who tended the calves. Together with other lads he engaged in works of public utility, such as repairing roads, digging wells, building rest-houses, etc., and he died while young. He was reborn in the Cātummahārājika world, destined to live for ninety thousand years, his body three gāvutas in height. He wore on his person one hundred cartloads of ornaments and rubbed nine pots of perfume on his body. He wore red robes, and on his head a chaplet of red gold, round which his hair was arranged in five locks (*kuntalikehi*), which fell back as in the case of a young boy (*pañcacūli-kadārakaparihāren’eva*).