Of Milk and Motherhood
The Kacangala Avadana Read in a Brahmanical Light
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/rosa.v3i1.111Keywords:
avadana, Avadanasataka, Daṇḍin, Daśakumāracarita, Kacangala, Kajaṅgalā mother, MulasarvāstivādaAbstract
When the story of Kacangali is borrowed from the Mulasarvastivadavinaya to the Avadanasataka, a small but interesting Brahmanical literary trope is incorporated. That trope, which appears multiple times in parallel situations in Dandin’s Dasakumaracarita, seems designed to bolster the claim that Kacangala, despite her present humble life, had been the mother of the being who would become Sakyamuni Buddha in 500 previous lives. This story is unknown in the southern Pali sources, although a nun named Kajangala is mentioned in several places therein.
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