The third sutta of the Uraga Vagga of the Sutta Nipāta (SN.vv.35-75), consisting of forty-one stanzas, each of which ends with the refrain: "eko care khaggavisānakappo."
The Commentary (SNA.i.46ff) divides the sutta into four vaggas and gives each a separate name (except the first), the name being generally derived from the first word of the stanza. It is said that the Buddha preached the Khaggavisāna Sutta in response to a question asked of him by Ananda regarding the attainment of Enlightenment by Pacceka Buddhas; the Buddha gave details of their abhinīhara and patthanā, and illustrated them by reciting to Ananda stanzas which had been uttered by Pacceka Buddhas of old on various occasions and at different periods as their paeans of joy (udāna).
Buddhaghosa gives the life-story of each of the Pacceka Buddhas whose stanzas are included in this sutta. It is, however, only in the case of a few Pacceka Buddhas that the actual names are given - e.g.,
The rest are described as "the king of Benares," or "the son of the king," etc.
The sutta is commented on in the Culla-Niddesa (pp.56ff), in addition to those of the Parāyanavagga, an evidence of the fact that, when the Culla-Niddesa was composed, this was probably regarded as an independent sutta, not belonging to any particular group such as the Uragavagga, and that the comments on it were written at a time prior to the composition of the Sutta Nipāta as an anthology in its present form. This view is further strengthened by the fact that its mixed Sanskrit version in the Mahāvastu (i.357f) is not placed in any definite group. According to the Mahāvastu, the Pratyeka Buddhas, five hundred in number, were living in Rsipatana near Benares, and when they heard from the Suddhāvāsa devas of the approach of the Buddha in twelve years, they disappeared from Rsipatana, each repeating one of the verses of the sutta.
The Apadāna (i.7ff) includes the stanzas of the Khaggavisāna Sutta in its chapter called the Pacceka-buddhāpadāna and prefaces them with several introductory stanzas. A few stanzas are also added at the end by way of conclusion. In its exegesis the Apadāna Commentary (ApA.i.106f) gives the names of several Pacceka Buddhas. They are, however, different from those given by Buddhaghosa, and correspond more nearly to those mentioned in the Isigili Sutta.