Dictionary of Pali Proper Names v2.c31.2522

v2.c31.2522

1. Māgandiya.—A brahmin of the Kuru country. He had a very beautiful daughter, called Māgandiyā. Many men of high station sought her hand, but the brahmin did not consider them worthy. The Buddha, one day, became aware that both Māgandiya and his wife were ready for conversion, so he visited their village. Māgandiya saw him, and, noting the auspicious marks on his body, told him of his daughter and begged him to wait till she could be brought. The Buddha said nothing, and Māgandiya went home and returned with his wife and daughter arrayed in all splendour. On arriving, they found the Buddha had gone, but his footprint was visible, and Māgandiya’s wife, skilled in such matters, said that the owner of such a footprint was free from all passion. But Māgandiya paid no attention, and, going a little way, saw the Buddha and offered him his daughter. The Buddha thereupon told them of his past life, his renunciation of the world, his conquest of Māra, and the unsuccessful attempts of Māra’s very beautiful daughters to tempt him. Compared with them, Māgandiyā was, he said, a corpse, filled with thirty-two impurities, an impure vessel painted without; he would not touch her with his foot. At the end of the discourse, Māgandiya and his wife became anāgāmins.¹ It is said that they gave their daughter into the charge of her uncle, Culla-Māgandiya, retired from the world, and became arahants.²