Dictionary of Pali Proper Names v2.c35.61

v2.c35.61

Vaṅgīsa Thera.—He belonged to a brahmin family and was proficient in the Vedas. He gained repute by tapping on skulls with his finger-nail and telling thereby where the owners of the skull were reborn. During three years he thus gained much money. Then, in spite of the protests of his colleagues, he went to see the Buddha,¹ who gave him the skull of an arahant. Vaṅgīsa could make nothing of this and joined the Order to learn its secret. He was ordained by Nigrodhakappa, and, meditating on the thirty-two constituents of the body, he won arahantship. He then visited the Buddha again and praised him in various verses, full of similes and metaphors. This brought him reputation as a poet (*Kāvya-citta* or *Kāveyyamatta*). Later the Buddha declared him foremost among those pre-eminent in ready expression (*paṭibhānavantānaṃ*). His resolve to attain to this position was made in the time of Padumuttara Buddha.²