Dictionary of Pali Proper Names v2.c31.2375

v2.c31.2375

1. Mahinda Thera.—Son of Asoka and brother of Saṅghamittā. He was fourteen at the time of the coronation of his father and was ordained at the age of twenty, his perceptor being Moggaliputtatissa. The ordination was performed by Mahādeva, while Majjhantika recited the *kammavācā*. Mahinda became an arahant on the day of his ordination.¹ He spent three years in study of the Doctrine under his preceptor, and, later, when the latter retired to Ahogaṅgā, he left his one thousand disciples for seven years under the care of Mahinda.² When the Third Council was held, Mahinda had been for twelve years a monk and was charged with the mission of converting Ceylon. But he delayed for six months, until Devānaṃpiyatissa became king. He then went to Dakkhiṇāgiri and from there to his birthplace, Vedisagiri, staying in Vedisagiri-vihāra and visiting his mother, the queen Devī. Still one more month he tarried, teaching the Doctrine to Bhaṇḍuka, and then, on the full-moon day of Jeṭṭha, at the request of Sakka, he went, in company with Iṭṭhiya, Uttiya, Sambala, Bhaddasāla, Sumanasāmaṇera and Bhaṇḍuka, to Ceylon, where he converted Devānaṃpiyatissa by preaching to him the Cūlahatthipadopama Sutta. Later, on the same day, he preached the Samacitta Sutta. The next day, at the request of the king, he visited Anurādhapura, travelling through the air and alighting on the site of the (later) Paṭhamacetiya. After a meal at the palace he preached the Petavatthu, the Vimānavatthu and the Sacca Saṃyutta, and Anulā and her five hundred companions became sotāpannas. Later, in the elephant-stables, he preached the Devadūta Sutta to the assembled people, and, in the evening, the Bāḷapaṇḍita Sutta, in Nandanavana. The night he spent in Mahāmeghavana, and on the next day the king gave the park to Mahinda, on behalf of the Order.