1. Upaka
An Ájivaka whom the Buddha met on his way between Gayá and the Bodhi Tree, after he set out from Isipatana for the preaching of the First Sermon. Upaka questioned the Buddha on his attainments, and when the Buddha told him what he had accomplished he asked the Buddha if he were "Anantajina." When the Buddha acknowledged it, Upaka shook his bead saying, "It may be so, friend," and went along by another road (J.i.81; Vin.i.8; M.i.170-1; DhA.iv.71-2). It is said (DA.ii.471) that the Buddha walked all the way from the Bodhi Tree to Isipatana - instead of flying through the air, as is the custom of Buddhas - because he wished to meet Upaka.
After this meeting Upaka went to the Vankahára country and there, having fallen desperately in love with Cápá, the daughter of a huntsman who looked after him, starved for seven days and in the end persuaded the huntsman to give her to him in marriage. For a living, Upaka hawked about the flesh brought by the huntsman. In due course Cápá bore him a son, Subhadda. When the baby cried, Cápá sang to him saying, "Upaka's son, ascetic's son, game-dealer's boy, don't cry," thus mocking her husband. In exasperation he told her of his friend Anantajina, but she did not stop teasing him. One day, in spite of her attempts to keep him, he left her and went to the Buddha at Sávatthi. The Buddha, seeing him coming, gave orders that anyone asking for Anantajina should be brought to him. Having learnt from Upaka his story, the Buddha had him admitted to the Order. As a result of his meditation, Upaka became an anágámí and was reborn in the Avihá heaven (ThigA.220ff; MA.i.388f. Upaka's story is also given in SnA.i.258ff, with several variations in detail). The Samyutta Nikáya (i.35, 60) records a visit paid to the Buddha by Upaka and six other beings born in Avihá. According to the Majjhima Commentary (i.389), Upaka became an arahant as soon as he was born in Avihá.
In the Therígáthá he is also called Kála (v.309. This may have been a term of affection used because of his dark colour) and his birth-place is given as Nála, a village near the Bodhi Tree, where he is said to have been living with his wife at the time he left her (ThigA.225).
Later, Cápá, too, left the world and became an arahant Therí.
The Divyávadana (p.393) calls Upaka Upagana.
The enumeration of the Buddha's virtues which was made to Upaka is not regarded as a real dhammadesaná because it took place before the preaching of the first sermon. It produced only a vásaná-bhágiya result, not sekha- or ribaddha-bhágiya (UdA.54).
The words of the Buddha's speech to Upaka are often quoted (E.g., Kvu.289).
2. Upaka Mandikáputta.-He once visited the Buddha at Gijjhakúta and stated before him his view that whoever starts abusive talk of another, without being able to make good his case, is blameworthy. The Buddha agrees and says that Upaka himself has been guilty of this offence. The Commentary (AA.ii.554) explains that Upaka was a supporter of Devadatta. Upaka protests against being caught in a big noose of words, like a fish caught as soon as he pops up his head. The Buddha explains that it is necessary for him to teach with endless variations of words and similes. Upaka is pleased with the Buddha's talk and reports the conversation to Ajátasattu. The king shows his anger at the man's presumption in having remonstrated with the Buddha (A.ii.181f), and the Commentary adds that he had him seized by the neck and cast out.
Buddhaghosa says (AA.ii.554-5) that Upaka went to visit the Buddha in order to find out whether the Buddha would blame him for being a supporter of Devadatta. According to others, he came to abuse the Buddha because he had heard that the Buddha had consigned Devadatta to hell. He was apparently of low caste, and Ajátasattu addresses him as "salt-worker's boy" (lonakárakadáraka) (A.ii.182).