GuttasÄla, GuttasÄlaka
A village and a district in Rohaṇa. Duá¹á¹hagÄmaṇī lived there before being crowned at MahÄgÄma (Mhv.xxiv.17). GuttasÄla was thirty to thirty-five miles to the north of MahÄgÄma, where the high road crossed the MÄá¹ikagañga, and lay on the main route which spread from MahÄgÄma to Mutiyaá¹…gana, and from there along the MahÄvÄlukagaá¹…gÄ to Pulatthipura; hence its strategic importance. It was the centre of several campaigns at different periods. (e.g., of Mahinda, Cv.li.109, 117; VijayabÄhu I, Cv.lxviii.34; JayabÄhu I, Cv.lxi.12; ParakkamabÄhu I, Cv.lxxiv.165f.; lxxv.15. See Cv.Trs.i.158, n.4).
The AtthasÄlinÄ« (DhsA.398f) records the story of a nun of GuttasÄla; she was an Arahant, and when the village was destroyed by bandits she left it with a young nun carrying her baggage. At the village gate of Nakulanagara she met MahÄnÄga of KÄlavallimandapa, who offered her a meal in his own bowl, as she had none of her own. She ate the meal, washed the bowl and returned it, telling him that from the next day he would get alms without exertion; and so he did.
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