1. Kosiya.– The name of a brahmin clan (gotta). In the Vinaya Pācittiya it is given as one of the lower clans. (Vin.iv.8; but it is also Sakka’s clan, and is therefore generally regarded as a high one; see e.g., Thag.415; ThagA.i.452).
Among those mentioned as belonging to this clan are the brahmin Kevaṭṭa (J.vi.418 f), the brahmin who was the father of Soṇa Kumāra (the Bodhisatta) (J.v.319 ff), Bhaddā-
Kātiyāna’s father was a Kosiyan, but he married a woman of the Kātiyāna family (ThagA.i.452).
The Bhūridatta Jātaka (J.vi.181; Mtu.ii.49) mentions a sage Kosiya, who taught Alambāyana the Nāga-
The Sālikedāra Jātaka (J.iv.278 f) mentions a brahmin of Sālindiya, called Kosiya-
The Kosiya Jātaka (J.i.465 f) speaks of a Kosiya-
The name means “belonging to the Kusika family.” It is once used of Indra in the Ṛg Veda, in what exact sense is not known. Rhys Davids suggests (Dial.ii.296 f; see also Dvy.632; Mtu.iii.200, 202, 315, 403) that perhaps we have here a survival from the time when Indra was only the god of a Kusika clan.
The word Kosiya (e.g., J.ii.208) means “Owl” and is probably one of the several clan names which are also names of animals (cf. Vaccha).
2. Kosiya.– See Macchari-
3. Kosiya Thera.– An Arahant. He belonged to a brahmin family in Magadha and was called by his clan-
He is probably identical with Ucchukandika of the Apadāna. Ap.ii.393.