An arahant. He belonged to a Sákiyan family in Kapilavatthu and entered the Order after hearing the preaching of the Madhupindika Sutta.
In the time of Padumuttara Buddha he was a Brahmin, named Nárada, and uttered three stanzas in praise of the Buddha. He was once a king named Sumitta (Thag.vs.86; ThagA.i.183f). He is probably identical with Atthasandassaka of the Apadána (Ap.i.169).
For some time the personal attendant of the Buddha (D.i.151; DA.i.310; A.iii.31, 341; iv.341; J.iv.95, etc.). He was the maternal uncle of the novice Síha, who is said to have addressed him by the name of Kassapa, his gotta name. He was fat and, therefore, lazy; he got most of his work done by Síha.
A thera of Ceylon, author of the Saddasáratthajálini. Gv.p.74; Svd.vs.1249.
Once, when the Buddha went to Icchánangala, the brahmin householders there came, in large numbers, to pay him their respects and made great uproar outside. When Nágita, the Buddha's personal attendant at the time, told him the cause of the clamour, the Buddha replied that he had nothing to do with homage; his concern was with renunciation. He went on to state five inevitable things: whosoever eats and drinks must answer the calls of nature; whosoever loves is destined to sorrow and despair; whosoever dwells on the asubha must feel disgust for the subha; whosoever sees impermanence in the six spheres of contact feels disgust for contact; whosoever sees the rise and fall in the five kinds of attachment, must feel disgust for attachment. A.iii.31ff.
The circumstances are the same as those of No. 1. The Buddha tells Nágita that he is pleased with monks who do not live in the village, but who seek the forest and stave off gains and flattery, but to him the best is to walk on the highway unattached. A.iii.341ff.; cp. ibid., iv.341ff.