Dictionary of Pali Proper Names v2.c36.2241

v2.c36.2241

In the end, Māgandiyā’s plot succeeded, and Sāmāvatī and her companions were burned to death in their own house. Udena was in his park, and, on his arrival, he found them all dead. When the Buddha was asked, he said that some of the women had attained to the First Fruit of the Path, others to the second, yet others to the third. It is said that in a previous birth Sāmāvatī and her friends had belonged to the harem of the king of Benares. One day they went bathing with the king, and, feeling cold when they came out of the water, they set fire to a tangle of grass near by. When the grass burned down, they found a Pacceka Buddha seated in the tangle, and fearing that they had burnt him to death, they pulled more grass, which they placed round his body, and, after pouring oil on it, set fire to it so that all traces of their crime might be destroyed. The Pacceka Buddha was in samādhi and nothing could therefore harm him, but it was this act which brought retribution to Sāmāvatī and her companions.²