Mahanama in the Pali Literature
By B. Siddhartha
Summary
This paper examines four figures called Mahānāma who appear in different strata of Pali literature. The first is Mahānāma the Sakya, a cousin of the Buddha and elder brother of the arahant Anuruddha. He was an early convert whose inquiries prompted the Buddha to explain the stages of spiritual attainment, and he is frequently mentioned in the Saṃyutta‑nikāya as an exemplary lay disciple. The second Mahānāma is an arahant who appears in the Theragāthā; little is known of him aside from verses attributed to him. The third is Mahānāma the lay disciple of Kāsi who occurs in the Jātakas, where he is portrayed as a householder noted for generosity and wisdom. Finally the article discusses Mahānāma the chronicler, traditionally credited with compiling the Mahāvaṃsa and the Dīpavaṃsa in fifth‑century Sri Lanka. The author distinguishes these individuals by collating references from the suttas, commentaries and later chronicles. He shows that attempts by some scholars to identify the chronicler with the Buddha’s cousin are chronologically impossible, and he argues that confusion has arisen because later commentators projected the fame of the Mahāvaṃsa’s author back onto earlier texts. The paper provides context for each figure by discussing the historical milieu in which he lived and assesses his role in Buddhist doctrinal development.
Conclusion
By disentangling references to multiple individuals of the same name, the article clarifies several points of confusion in Theravāda historiography. The author concludes that the compiler of the Mahāvaṃsa was a distinct figure from the Sakya cousin of the Buddha and that each Mahānāma must be understood within his own historical and textual context. This differentiation improves our understanding of the formation of Pali literature and cautions against uncritical identification of similarly named individuals.