• Andhakā

1. Andhakā.Mentioned in a list of tribes that came to pay homage to Jatukannika Thera when he was born as a banker in Hamsavatī (Ap.ii.359). The Andhakarattha was on the banks of the Godhāvarī and near where Bāvarī lived. Assaka and Alaka, mentioned in the Vatthugāthā of the Parāyanavagga (Sn.977), are described in the Sutta Nipāta Commentary as Andhaka kings.

SnA.ii.581; Vincent Smith places them originally in Eastern India between the Krsna and Godāvarī rivers (Z.D.M.G. 56, 657ff.); see also Burgess: Arch. Reports on W. India, ii.132 and iii.54. Cunningham: 603-607.

In the Aitareya Brahmana (vii.18) the Andhakas are mentioned together with the Pulindas, etc., as an outcast tribe. They again appear associated in the time of Asoka (Vincent Smith: Z.D.M.G. 56, 652f). The Mahābhārata (xii.207, 42) places the Pulindas, the Andhas and the Sabaras in the Daksinapatha.

2. Andhakā.An important group of monks that seceded from the Theravāda. They included as minor sects Pubbaseliyas, Aparaseliyas, Rājagirikas and Siddhatthikas (Points of Controversy, p. 104, extract from Kathāvatthu Cy.).

They were still powerful in Buddhaghosa's time (Ibid., xxxiv). The Andhakas are not mentioned as a special sect either in the Mahāvamsa or in the Dīpavamsa, though in the Mahāvamsa the sects spoken of above as offshoots of the Andhakas (Rājagiriyā, Siddhatthikā, Pubba- and Apara-seliyā) are given. (Mhv.v.12f.; also the Mbv.97) For a very valuable account of the different schools and their relation to each other, see Points of Controversy, pp. xxxv-xlv. About the Andhakas see particularly pp. xliii.ff.

There were various doctrines held by all the Andhakas either in common with other sects or alone, and various other doctrines held only by some of the minor groups of Andhakas. For a summary of these see Points of Controversy, pp. xx-xxiv.