• Kukkutārāma

1. Kukkutārāma. A monastery in Kosambī, built by the setthi Kukkuta. DA.i.318, etc.

2. Kukkutārāma. A pleasance in Pātaliputta. It was evidently the residence of monks from very early times, probably, for some time, of the Buddha himself. The Mahāvagga (Vin.i.300) mentions the names of several Theras who lived there: Nilavāsi, Sānavāsi, Gopaka, Bhagu, Phalikasandana. The Samyutta Nikāya (S.v.15f; 171f) records several discussions which took place there between Ananda and Bhadda. It may have been a favourite resort of Ananda, for we find the householder Dasama of Atthakanagara going there to enquire as to his whereabouts (A.v.342; M.i.349). It was also (probably at a later date) the residence of Nārada who converted King Munda (A.iii.57f), and afterwards of Sonaka, the upajjhāya of Siggava, and of Candavajji, the teacher Mogaliputta-Tissa (Mhv.v.122). Buddhaghosa mentions (MA.ii.571; AA.ii.866) that the Kukkutarāma was made by Kukkuta Setthi, but gives no further particulars. Here there is probably some confusion with the Ārāma of the same name at Kosambī. Hiouen Thsang (Beal.: op. cit.ii, 95) says that the Kukkutārāma was to the southeast of the old city of Pātaliputta and was built by Asoka when he first became a convert to the Buddha's religion. "It was a sort of first-fruit and a pattern of majestic construction." Only the foundation of the building was left at the time of Hiouen Thsang's visit. It is probable that this account refers to the Asokārāma which Asoka built as the first of his Buddhist structures, and that the Asokārāma was constructed on the site of the old Kukkutārāma. It is significant that the Pāli books, in recording Asoka's doings, make no mention of a Kukkutārāma existing in his time, though the Sanskrit texts, the Divyāvadāna (E.g., pp.381f, 430ff; see also Smith: Asoka, 183, 193f), for instance, makes frequent reference to it. If the conjecture made above, namely that the Asokārāma replaced the Kukkutārāma, be correct, it may have been that the place was known by both names in Asoka's time.

3. Kukkutārāma. See Kukkutagiri-parivena.