UttamÄ
1. UttamÄ.- A therÄ«. She was born in a banker’s family in SÄvatthi and, having heard PatÄcÄrÄ teach, entered the Order. She could not attain the climax of her insight, till PatÄcÄrÄ, seeing the state of her mind, gave her admonition. UttamÄ thereupon became an Arahant (Thig.vv.42-4; ThigA.46ff).
According to the ApadÄna (quoted in ThigA.) she joined the Order at the age of seven and attained Arahantship within a fortnight.
In the time of VipassÄ« Buddha she had been a slave-girl in a house in BandhumatÄ«. At that time King BandhumÄ (Vipassī’s father) kept fast-days, gave alms and attended discourses, and the people followed his pious example. The slave-girl joined in these pious acts, and on account of her thoroughness in the observance of fast-days, she was, after death, reborn in TÄvatiṃsa. She became the chief queen of the king of the devas sixty-four times, and she was a Cakkavatti’s wife in sixty-three births.
She is evidently identical with EkÅ«posathikÄ of the ApadÄna. Ap.ii.522f.
2. UttamÄ.- A therÄ«. She was the daughter of an eminent Brahmin of Kosala. Having heard the Buddha teach during one of his tours, she left the world and soon won Arahantship. She, too, had been a slave girl in BandhumatÄ« in Vipassī’s time. One day, seeing an Arahant seeking alms, she gladly offered him cakes (Thig.vv.45-7; ThigA.49f).
She is probably identical with ModakadÄyikÄ of the ApadÄna (ii.524f).
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