• Sonuttara

1. Sonuttara Thera. An arahant. He lived in the Pūjā-parivena in the Mahāvihāra and was entrusted by Dutthagāmanī with the task of finding relics for the Mahā Thūpa. In the time of the Buddha he had been the brahmin Nanduttara, and had entertained the Buddha on the occasion on which, at Payāgatittha, Bhaddaji Thera had raised, from the bed of the Ganges, the palace he had occupied as Mahāpanāda. Filled with marvel, Nanduttara wished that he might have the power of procuring relics possessed by others. Sonuttara visited the Mañjerika-nāga-bhavana and asked the Nāga king, Mahākāla, to give him the relics which he had there and which had once been enshrined in Rāmagāma. But Mahākāla, unwilling to part with them, told his nephew, Vāsuladatta, to hide them. Sonuttara knew this, and when Mahākāla told him he might take the relics if he could find them, Sonuttara, by his magic power, took the relic casket from Vāsuladatta, unknown to him, and brought it to Anurādhapura, where the relics were deposited in the Mahā Thūpa. Mhv.xxxi.4-74.

2. Sonuttara. A brahmin of Kajangala, father of Nāgasena Thera. Mil.8.

3. Sonuttara. The name given to the princes of Suvannabhūmi after the visit of Sona and Uttara to that country. Mhv.xii.54.

4. Sonuttara. The horse on which Tissa Buddha left the household life. BuA.189.

5. Sonuttara. Devadatta born as a hunter. See the Chaddanta Jātaka.