• Gaggarā (Sutta)

1. Gaggarā. A lotus-pond at Campā.

The Buddha is several times mentioned as staying on the banks of the pond. On one such occasion Pessa and Kandaraka visited him, and he preached to them the Kandaraka Sutta (M.i.339).

Among others who visited him there are mentioned Bāhuna (A.v.151), Vajjiyamāhita (A.v.189), and Kassapagotta (Vin.i.312). On one occasion, when the Buddha was staying there, Sāriputta approached him with a large number of the inhabitants of Campà and asked him questions concerning the efficacy of giving alms (A.iv.59ff).

On another such occasion Sāriputta assembled the monks and preached to them the Dasuttara Sutta (D.iii.272ff). It was on the banks of the Gaggarā that the Buddha preached the Karandava Sutta on the necessity of getting rid of evil-minded members of the Sangha lest they should corrupt the whole Order (A.iv.168f), and the pond-bank was also the scene of the preaching of the well-known Sonadanda Sutta (D.i.111f). Once, when the Buddha was at this spot with a large number of monks and lay-followers, Vangīsa came up to him and praised him in a song, pointing out how the Buddha outshone them all (S.i.195; Thag.v.1252; ThagA.ii.210).

The pond was called Gaggarā because it owed its origin to a queen of that name. On its bank was a Campaka-grove where the Buddha stayed during his visits (MA.ii.565; DA.i.279f). Nearby was a monastery of titthiyas. (See A.v.189). The pond, together with that at Jetavana, is given as an example of a very beautiful lotus pond (E g., AA.i.264). Monks found it a convenient spot for meditation (SnA..i.17).

2. Gaggarā. The queen for whom the lotus pond Gaggarā (above) was made.

Gaggarā Sutta. Records the incident of Vangīsa singing the praises of the Buddha on the banks of the Gaggarā pond (S.i.195; cf. Thag.v.1252).