Dakkhināgiri (Vihara)

Dakkhināgiri (v.l. Dakkhinagiri)

A janapada (district) in India, the capital of which was Ujjeni, and over which Asoka ruled as Viceroy. It also contained the city of Vedisā (Sp.i.70; Mhv.xiii.5).

Dakkhināgiri lay to the south of Rājagaha, beyond the hills that surrounded the city - hence its name (SNA.i.136; MA.ii.795; SA.i.188).

In the district was the brahmin village of Ekanālā (SN., p.13). The road from Sāvatthi to Rājagaha lay through Dakkhināgiri, and the Buddha traversed it in the course of his periodical tours through Magadha, residing in the Dakkhināgiri-vihāra in Ekanālā (S.i.172; SA.ii.133; Vin.i.80). It was during one of these tours that he converted Kasī-Bhāradvāja and Dhammasava and his father. On another of these occasions the Buddha saw the Magadhakhetta, which gave him the idea of designing the robe of a monk to resemble a field (Vin.i.287). Ananda is also said to have travelled through Dakkhināgiri, gathering a large number of young men into the Order, who, however, do not appear to have been very serious in their intentions, as their behaviour earned for Ananda the censure of Mahā Kassapa (S.ii.217f). Later, we find Punna with a large following in Dakkhināgiri refusing to join in the findings of the Rājagaha Council, and preferring to follow the Dhamma according to his own lights (Vin.ii.289).

Dakkhināgiri was the residence of Nandamātā of Velukantaka and she was visited both by Sāriputta and by Moggallāna during a tour in the district (A.iv.64). In Dakkhināgiri, Sāriputta heard of the lack of zeal of Dhānañjāni (M.ii.185; see J.i.224 for another incident connected with Sāriputta's tour). The Arāmadūsa Jātaka (q.v.) was preached in Dakkhināgiri.

The Dakkhināgiri-vihāra was, for a long time, a great monastic centre, and at the foundation of the Mahā Thūpa there were present from there forty thousand monks led by Mahā Sangharakkhita. Mhv.xxix.35.

Dictionary of Pali Proper Names, G P Malalasekera (1899-1973), which is available as printed version from