Dictionary of Pali Proper Names v2.c30.326

v2.c30.326

1. Bhallika, Bhalliya, Bhalluka Thera.—The younger brother of Tapassu, their father being a caravan leader of Pokkharavatī in Ukkalā.¹ While they were going along with five hundred trading carts, these stopped near the Rājāyatana-tree where the Buddha was sitting, eight weeks after his Enlightenment. When they investigated the cause for their carts thus stopping, a deity, their kinsman in a former life (their mother according to one account),² pointed out to them the Buddha and asked them to give him a meal as he had eaten nothing for seven weeks. Not waiting to cook, the merchants gave the Buddha some butter and honey in a bowl provided by the Four Regent Gods. At the end of the meal the Buddha talked to them. They accepted the Buddha and the Dhamma as their Refuge,³ and obtained from the Buddha a few hairs as an object of worship. Later, when the Buddha was in Rājagaha after the preaching of his First Sermon, the merchants visited him and listened to his preaching. Tapassu became a sotāpanna, and Bhallika entered the Order and became an arahant.