Bhaddavāggiyā
A group of thirty young men, converted by the Buddha.
They had gone picnicking with their wives in a forest glade between Bārāṇasi and Uruvelā. One of them had no wife, and for him they found a courtesan; but she awaited the opportunity and ran away with their goods.
While seeking for her, they saw the Buddha and enquired if he had seen a woman. However, he answered, should they not rather seek the “self” than a woman. They all agreed thereto, and he taught them. At the end of the discourse they realised the Truth and were ordained (Vin.i.23 f; DhA.ii.33 f).
Their conversion was one of the subjects sculptured in the Relic Chamber of the Mahā Thūpa. Mhv.xxx.79.
According to the Extended Mahāvaṃsa (i.298) they were the step-