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Uttamā

1. Uttamā.– A therī. She was born in a banker’s family in Sāvatthi and, having heard Paṭācārā teach, entered the Order. She could not attain the climax of her insight, until Paṭācārā, seeing the state of her mind, gave her admonition. Uttamā thereupon became an Arahant (Thig.vv.42‑4; ThigA.46 ff).

According to the Apadāna (quoted in ThigA.) she joined the Order at the age of seven and attained Arahantship within a fortnight.

In the time of Vipassī Buddha she had been a slave-girl in a house in Bandhumatī. At that time King Bandhumā (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 Tāvatiṃsa. 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 Ekūposathikā of the Apadāna. Ap.ii.522 f.

2. Uttamā.– A therī. 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 Bandhumatī in Vipassī’s time. One day, seeing an Arahant seeking alms, she gladly offered him cakes (Thig.vv.45‑7; ThigA.49 f).

She is probably identical with Modakadāyikā of the Apadāna (ii.524 f).