Dictionary of Pali Proper Names v2.c29.302

v2.c29.302

In the time of Kassapa Buddha Bāvarī was King Kaṭṭhavāhana (q.v.). Hearing of the Buddha from his friend, the king of Benares, he sent messengers, including his nephew, to find out about the Buddha and to report to him. But the nephew returned with the news of the Buddha’s death which had taken place before their arrival at Benares. Thereupon, Kaṭṭhavāhana, having accepted the Buddha’s teaching, engaged in various good deeds and was reborn after death in the Kāmāvacara-deva-world. From there he was born in the family of Pasenadi’s chaplain and was the teacher of Pasenadi’s boyhood. Unwilling to remain longer in the court, he took leave of the king and lived in the royal park as an ascetic. Then, wishing for greater peace, he retired to an island (antaradīpa) in the Godhāvarī where the two kings Assaka and Aḷaka gave him a tract of land, five leagues in extent, the residence of the sages of old. It was from there that he sent his disciples to the Buddha.⁶ At that time he was one hundred and twenty years old. Bāvarī was the name of his gotta. He bore on his body three of the marks of a Great Being.⁷