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Bahuputta , Bahuputtaka cetiya
A shrine in the neighbourhood of
Vesāli, to the north of
that city (D.iii.9). The Buddha is said to have stayed there (D.ii.118;,
Ud.vi.1; S. v.259). It was a pre Buddhist shrine and, according to the
Commentaries (E.g., UdA.323; SA.ii.128, etc.), was a many branched nigrodha tree
where persons prayed for sons to the deva of the tree. Hence its name.
Mahā Kassapa says that while yet a "learner" he paid
homage to the Buddha at a Bahuputtaka-nigrodha where
the Buddha had gone to meet him. The Buddha taught him of the training to be
followed and, profiting by the lesson, eight days later Mahā Kassapa became an
arahant. This nigrodha, however, was on the road from
Rājagaha to
Nālandā and was three leagues from Rājagaha*. It cannot, therefore, have
been identical with the tree, which gave its name to the Bahuputta cetiya.
* S. ii.220; see Mahā Kassapa. It was here that
the Buddha exchanged his robe for that of Kassapa, SA.ii.128; ThagA.ii.145;
AA.i.102; Mtu.iii.50.

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