Dictionary of Pali Proper Names v2.c31.2775

v2.c31.2775

Can it be, further, that with the accounts of Māra, as the personification of Evil, came to be mixed legends of an actual devaputta, named Māra, also called Vasavatti, because he was an inhabitant of the Paranimmita-vasavatti deva world? Already in the Aṅguttara Nikāya,²⁶ Māra is described (aggo ādhipateyyānam iddhiyā yasasā jalam) as the head of those enjoying bliss in the Kāmāvacara-worlds and as a dāmarika devaputta (as mentioned earlier). Can it be that ancient legends represented him as looking on with disfavour at the activities of the Buddha? Buddhaghosa says²⁷ that Māradevaputta, having dogged the Buddha's footsteps for seven years, and having found no fault in him, came to him and worshipped him. Is it, then, possible that some of the conversations which the Buddha is reported to have had with Māra—e.g., in the second part of the Padhāna Sutta (see above)—were originally ascribed to a real personage, designated as Māradevaputta, and later confused with the allegorical Māra? This suggestion gains strength from a remark found in the Māratajjaniya Sutta,²⁸ uttered by Moggallāna, that he too had once been a Māra, Dūsī by name; Kāḷā was his sister's name, and the Māra of the present age was his nephew. In the sutta, Dūsī is spoken of as having been responsible for many acts of mischief, similar to those ascribed to the Māra of Gotama's day. According to the sutta, Māradevaputta was evidently regarded as a being of great power, with a strong bent for mischief, especially directed against holy men. This suggestion is, at all events, worthy of further investigation.²⁹