Sujata, also Sujātā, or Nandabala , was a farmer's wife, who is said to have fed

Gautama Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha (),* * * was a śramaṇa, wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist lege ...

a bowl of

kheer Kheer, khir or payasam is a pudding or porridge popular in the Indian subcontinent, usually made by boiling milk, sugar or jaggery, and rice. It can be additionally flavoured with dried fruits, nuts, cardamom and saffron. Instead of rice, ...

, a milk-rice pudding, ending his six years of

asceticism Asceticism is a lifestyle characterized by abstinence from worldly pleasures through self-discipline, self-imposed poverty, and simple living, often for the purpose of pursuing Spirituality, spiritual goals. Ascetics may withdraw from the world ...

. Such was his emaciated appearance that she wrongly believed him to be a tree-spirit nature deity that had granted her wish of having a child. The gift provided him enough strength to cultivate the

Middle Way The Middle Way (; ) as well as "teaching the Dharma by the middle" (''majjhena dhammaṃ deseti'') are common Buddhist terms used to refer to two major aspects of the Dharma, that is, the teaching of the Buddha. The first phrasing, the Middle ...

, develop jhana, and attain

Bodhi The English term ''enlightenment'' is the Western translation of various Buddhist terms, most notably ''bodhi'' and ''vimutti''. The abstract noun ''bodhi'' (; Sanskrit: बोधि; Pali: ''bodhi'') means the knowledge or wisdom, or awakene ...

, thereafter becoming known as the

Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha (),* * * was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist legends, he was ...

. In a previous life, she is said to have met Padumuttara Buddha, who predicted that one day she would be the first lay disciple of a Buddha of the future.Mingun Sayadaw. The Great chronicles of Buddhas, p.1447- 48.
The village of Bakraur near

Bodh Gaya Bodh Gayā is a religious site and place of pilgrimage associated with the Mahabodhi Temple complex, situated in the Gaya district in the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Bihar. It is famous for being the place where Gautam ...

is believed to be her home. The Sujata Stupa was dedicated to her there in the 2nd century BCE There is also the Sujata Temple, which today is a place of pilgrimage and a popular tourist site.

Story

*The main sources used by the authors mentioned below are the ''

Lalitavistara Sūtra The ''Lalitavistara Sūtra'' is a Sanskrit Mahayana sutras, Mahayana Buddhist sutra that tells the story of Gautama Buddha from the time of his descent from Tushita until his first sermon in the Deer Park at Sarnath near Varanasi. The term ''La ...

, Chapter 18'', and

Aśvaghoṣa , also Devanagari transliteration, transliterated Ashvaghosha (, ; lit. "Having a Horse-Voice"; ; ) ( Common Era, CE), was a Buddhist philosopher, dramatist, poet, musician, and orator from India. He was born in Saketa, today known as Ayodhya. ...

, which, in his poem Buddhacharita, Canto 12, mentions Sujata under the name Nandabala. Sujata, sometimes called Nandabala, was the daughter of a wealthy landowner named Seniya, from the village of Sanani (now called Bakraur), near the forest of Uruvela (now called

), which is situated by the bank of the Lilajan River. Single, she wanted to find a good husband and have a child. The villagers told her that inside the

banyan A banyan, also spelled banian ( ), is a fig that develops accessory trunks from adjacent prop roots, allowing the tree to spread outwards indefinitely. This distinguishes banyans from other trees with a strangler habit that begin life as ...

tree was a god who could grant her wish. So she began to make a daily offering, imploring the Deva to fulfil her double wish. Finally, she married and gave birth to a son. Every year since then, on the full moon day of the

Vaisakha Vaisakha (, ) is a month of the Hindu calendar that corresponds to April/May in the Gregorian Calendar. In the Indian national calendar, Vaisakha is the second month of the year. It is the first month of the Vikram Samvat calendar, Odia calen ...

month, she has placed a bowl of payasa (or

rice pudding Rice pudding is a dish made from rice mixed with water or milk and commonly other ingredients such as sweeteners, spices, flavourings and sometimes eggs. Variants are used for either desserts or dinners. When used as a dessert, it is commonly c ...

), at the foot of the tree as an offering to thank the deity. More than twenty years passed during which Sujata never forgot to make her annual thank-you offering. At the same time, she addressed another prayer to the eight hundred

Brahmin Brahmin (; ) is a ''Varna (Hinduism), varna'' (theoretical social classes) within Hindu society. The other three varnas are the ''Kshatriya'' (rulers and warriors), ''Vaishya'' (traders, merchants, and farmers), and ''Shudra'' (labourers). Th ...

s, asking them : One night, Sujata dreamt that a Deva was saying to her : A few days later, on the day of the full moon in May, she dreamt of the Deva again. She understood then that the day she had been waiting for so long had arrived. She got up straight away and went to her father's herd. Making her offerings of payasa for so many years, she knew how to get the best milk: first, take the milk of 1000 cows, with which she fed another 500, repeating the same operation several times, with 250, then 125, etc., until she had the food to feed the last 8 cows whose milk was used to prepare the offering cakes. She called this operation « working the milk in and in ». She sent her maid, named Punna, to the foot of the tree to make preparations for the ritual. When the girl saw a skeletal-looking man sitting in a meditation posture, she thought he was the tree Deva. She quickly ran to inform Sujata who arrived immediately. She was delighted to see who she assumed to be the guardian spirit of the tree. Bowing, she handed him the golden bowl containing the offering and said: Siddhartha accepted, got up and walked to the river, taking the bowl with him.After bathing, he divided the rice cake into 49 pieces and ate them. When he had finished, he took the golden bowl and threw it into the river, saying: The golden bowl went upstream, remaining in the middle of the river, before sinking to the bottom. Siddhartha understood and returned to sit at the foot of the tree until he reached enlightenment. Sujata occupies a special place in the history of Buddhism, as she was both the last person to speak with the future Buddha and the first to speak to him after his Enlightenment. One day, when Buddha Gautama was talking about the main female lay disciples, he told the monks :

Sujata previous life

At the time of Padumuttara Buddha, the future Sujata was the daughter of a rich man from the town of Hamsavati. As she listened to the holy man speak, she saw the first female lay disciple take

Three refuges In Buddhism, refuge or taking refuge refers to a religious practice which often includes a prayer or recitation performed at the beginning of the day or of a practice session. Its object is typically the Three Jewels (also known as the Triple ...

. She told herself that one day she too would do the same. She made an offering to Padumuttara, and expressed her wish to him. He predicted that one day, she too would become the first disciple of a Buddha to come. Thousands of years passed and the young girl was reborn. She was Sujata, and her wish would be granted by Buddha Gautama.

Sujata Stupa and Temple in Bakraur

A Stupa and a Temple dedicated to Sujata have been built in Bakraur, a village on the other side of the river about 2 km from

. The Sujata Stupa was built in the 2nd century BCE, as confirmed by finds of black polished wares and punch-marked coins in the attending monastery. It was built on the supposed site of her house, which was located on the other side of the river, opposite the Mahabodhi temple. The Temple is of more recent construction (dating from the 19th/20th centuries). It is both a place of pilgrimage and a tourist attraction.Sujata Temple & Stupa, Bodhgaya.
File:Sujata Garh.JPG, File:Sujata Stupa in the village of Senanigrama (Bakraur) located east of Bodh Gaya in the state of Bihar 13.jpg, File:Sujata temple, Gaya (Senani).jpg, File:Sujata temple, Gaya (Senani) 1.jpg,

Gallery

File:Sujata in Bhutan Temple.jpg, File:092 Cave 11, Buddha with Sujata from Side (33438497684).jpg, File:084a Sujata presents food to the Bodhisattva in her Home (28143370033).jpg, File:036 Sujata Offers Milk-Rice (9014432852).jpg, File:Sujata in Wat Pho.jpg, File:037 Sujata offers Milk-Rice to the Bodhisatta who later floats the Bowl up the River (9273571152).jpg, File:Sujata and the Buddha.jpg, File:La vie de Bouddha (montagne de marbre, Danang) (4414171866).jpg,

Notes

References

Bibliography

*. *. This is a translation from Burmese into English by U Ko Lay and U Tin Lwin. Each of the 6 volumes is in 2 parts, making a total of 12 books. The original Burmese text is the work of the Venerable Mingun Sayadaw, who wrote it from 1956 to 1969. . A more recent digital edition (2008) is available online (see details in the "External links" section).

External links

Ven. Mingun Sayadaw, The Great chronicles of Buddhas, 1744 p, 2008, Singapore Edition.
. This is a compilation of the 6 volumes published in 1991-1998 (the paper version mentioned above).
Sujata Temple in Bakraur, (duration 2min 52s).
{{Portal, India, Religion Buddhism and women Foremost disciples of Gautama Buddha Women farmers