Dictionary of Pali Proper Names v2.c36.4686

v2.c36.4686

Suvaṇṇabhūmi.—A country. At the end of the Third Council, the theras Soṇa and Uttara visited this country in order to convert it to Buddhism. At that time a female deity of the sea was in the habit of eating every heir born to the king. The arrival of the theras coincided with the birth of a prince. At first the people thought that the monks were the friends of the demon, but later the monks, being told the story, drove away the demon by their *iddhi*-power and erected a bulwark round the country by reciting the **Brahmajāla Sutta**. Sixty thousand people embraced the new faith, while three thousand five hundred young men and fifteen hundred girls of noble family entered the Order. Thenceforth all princes born into the royal family were called **Soṇuttara**.¹