Sutta Piṭaka · Khuddaka Nikāya

Viṭaṭūbha

PaliViṭaṭūbha
Roleprince of Kosala; son of King Pasenadi by a Sakyan slave-woman falsely presented as a Sakyan noblewoman; later king; figure in the vatthu for Dhp 47
Alternate names(none canonical)
English · sourceSinhala translation · pending
Page details
Type
person
Stub
pilot — created to support pending-link resolution from dhammapada 04 pupphavagga (Dhp 47 vatthu); to be expanded when SN 3 and Dhammapada-aṭṭhakathā (TD-007) are ingested
Selected refs
the vatthu attribution itself is commentarial (Dhp-a on Dhp 47 — not canonical; see TD-007); Pasenadi's reign is widely attested across the Sutta-piṭaka (SN 3 Kosala-saṁyutta (cited; not yet ingested))
Last updated
2026-04-14

Summary: Viṭaṭūbha is traditionally presented (via Dhammapada-aṭṭhakathā) as the son of King Pasenadi of Kosala by a woman the Sakyans passed off as a noblewoman but who was actually a slave. On discovering the deception in adulthood, Viṭaṭūbha later marched on the Sakyans and carried out a massacre; the Dhp-a narrative ties his own subsequent death by drowning to Dhp 47 (the flood-sweeps-away-the-heedless-villager simile). The canonical suttas mention him only obliquely; the full story is commentarial. (commentary — not canonical)

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