CūḷasubhaddÄ
Daughter of AnÄthapiṇá¸ika. At the insistent request of his friend Uggaseá¹á¹hi, and after consultation with the Buddha, AnÄthapiṇá¸ika agreed to give her in marriage to Ugga’s son. (According to the Aá¹…guttara Commentary (ii.482ff), the seá¹á¹hi’s name was KÄlaka and his city was not Ugga, but SÄketa). However, he was an unbeliever, and when Nigaṇá¹has came to his house on invitation, SubhaddÄ refused to do obeisance to them. For this she was ordered out of the house by her father-in-law; but she convinced her mother-in-law that the reasons for her behaviour were sound, and at the suggestion of the latter she prepared a meal and invited to it the Buddha and the congregation of monks, by throwing into the air from the top storey of the house eight handfuls of jasmine. The Buddha divined her thoughts and arrived with five hundred Arahants. After the meal the Buddha taught the Doctrine and Ugga and his family were converted. As a mark of favour towards SubhaddÄ the Buddha requested Anuruddha to stay behind at Ugganagara. (DhA.iii.465ff; the story is also given in AA.ii.482ff, but with several variations in detail. There seems to be a comparison between the stories of MahÄsubhaddÄ and CūḷasubhaddÄ. See also AA.i.146 and Vsm.390).
CūḷasubhaddÄ, while still in her father’s house, had become a SotÄpanna, and with her sisters, MahÄsubhaddÄ and SumanÄ, she had been entrusted with the distribution of food to the monks. DhA.i.128; J.i.93; ApA.i.81; see also Mil.383, 387.
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