Velukandakiya was a

lay Lay or LAY may refer to: Places *Lay Range, a subrange of mountains in British Columbia, Canada * Lay, Loire, a French commune *Lay (river), France * Lay, Iran, a village * Lay, Kansas, United States, an unincorporated community * Lay Dam, Alaba ...

female An organism's sex is female ( symbol: ♀) if it produces the ovum (egg cell), the type of gamete (sex cell) that fuses with the male gamete (sperm cell) during sexual reproduction. A female has larger gametes than a male. Females and ...

disciple A disciple is a follower and student of a mentor, teacher, or other figure. It can refer to: Religion * Disciple (Christianity), a student of Jesus Christ * Twelve Apostles of Jesus, sometimes called the Twelve Disciples * Seventy disciples in t ...

of 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 ...

. Velukandakiya is also known as Uttara and Nandamata (, not to be confused with the stepbrother of Buddha with the same name). She is praised as the standard-bearer lay female disciple in Samyutta Nikaya 17.24, Only daughter. :''"Dear, you should become like Khujjuttara the lay follower and Velukandakiya Nanda's mother – for this is the standard and criterion for my female disciples who are lay followers, that is Khujjuttara the lay follower and Velukandakiya, Nanda's mother."'' The other important female disciple was

Khujjuttara Khujjuttarā was one of the Buddha's foremost (Sanskrit: agra, Pali: ''agga'') female lay disciples (Pali: '' upasika'', '' savaka''). According to commentaries of the Pāli Canon, Khujjuttarā was a servant to one of the queens of King Uden ...

References

Disciples of Gautama Buddha Buddhism and women {{India-reli-bio-stub