Dictionary of Pali Proper Names v2.c30.414

v2.c30.414

5. Bhāradvāja.—The name of a brahmin clan; about twenty individuals belonging to this clan are mentioned in the Piṭakas. In one family, living at Rājagaha, the eldest was married to a Dhanañjāni brahminee and later became an arahant. (See above, No. 3.) His brothers, Akkosaka-Bhāradvāja, Asurindaka-Bhāradvāja, Bilaṅgika-Bhāradvāja and Saṅgārava-Bhāradvāja, followed him.¹ Several other Bhāradvājas living at Sāvatthi visited the Buddha there, and joined the Order and became arahants; viz., Ahiṃsaka-Bhāradvāja, Jaṭā-° and Suddhika-; Aggika-° joined the Order at Veḷuvana, Sundarika-° on the banks of the Sundarikā, and Bahudhītika-° in a forest tract in Kosala. Kasī-Bhāradvāja, Kaṭṭhahāra-° and Navakammaki-° became lay disciples.² The Elder Piṇḍola (q.v.) also belonged to the Bhāradvājagotta; so did Kāpathika.³ The gotta was evidently considered to be very ancient. Mention is made in the books of a Bhāradvāja-isi among the authors of the runes of the brāhmaṇas.⁴ The Kāliṅgabodhi Jātaka (q.v.) speaks of a Kāliṅgabhāradvāja brahmin, while the brahmin carpenter in the Phandana Jātaka (q.v.) belongs to the same clan. The purohita Sucīrata, of Dhanañjaya Koravya (in the Sambhava Jātaka, q.v.), is a Bhāradvāja, as is also Jūjaka of the Vessantara Jātaka (q.v.). In a Vinaya passage⁵ the Bhāradvājagotta is mentioned together with the Kosiya as a low clan (hīnagotta).