The name of a country and its people (Maddá). In the Kusa Játaka (q.v.), Kusa, son of Okkáka, king of Kusávatí in the Malla country, is mentioned as having married Pabhávatí, daughter of the king of Madda, and the capital of the Madda king was Ságala (J.v.283ff.; Kusávati was one hundred leagues from Ságala (J.v.290), cp. Mtu.ii.441f).
In the similar story of Anitthigandha, a prince of Benares contracts a marriage with a daughter of the king of Ságala his name being Maddava; but the girl dies on the way to her husband. (SNA.i.68f.; cp. DhA.iii.281, about the other Anitthigandha of Sávatthi of the Buddha's days, who also married a Madda princess).
The Chaddanta Játaka also mentions a matrimonial alliance between the royal houses of Benares and Ságala, while in the Kálingabodhi Játaka (J.iv.230f ) the Madda king’s daughter marries a prince of Kálinga while both are in exile.
J.v.39f.; so also in the Múgapakkha Játaka (J.vi.1), the wife of the Kási king was the daughter of the king of Madda, Candadevi by name; while Phusatí, wife of Sańjaya of Jetuttara in the Sivi kingdom and mother of Vessantara, was also a Madda princess (J.vi.480); likewise Maddí, wife of Vessantara.
Cúlani, son of Talatá, also married a princess of Madda (J.vi.471). According to the Mahávamsa (Mhv.viii.7; this probably refers to Madras and not to the Madda country, whose capital was Ságala), Sumitta, son of Síhabáhu and king of Síhapura, married the daughter of the Madda king and had three sons by him, the youngest of whom, Panduvásudeva, became king of Ceylon.
Bhaddá Kápilání wife of Pippalimánava (Mahá Kassapa), was the daughter of a Kosiyagotta brahmin of Ságala in the Madda country. Men went there in search of a wife for him because it was famed for the beauty of its women (Maddarattham náma itthágáro) (ThagA.ii.142; ThigA.68). Anojá, wife of Mahá Kappina of Kukkutavatí, also came from the royal household of Madda (DhA.ii.116), as did Khemá, wife of Bimbisára (ThigA.127).
The wife of a Cakkavattí comes either from Uttarakuru or from the royal family of Madda (MA.ii.950; DA.ii.626; KhA.173).
For the identification of Madda see Ságala.