Okkaka, Okkāka: 2 definitions
Introduction:
Okkaka means something in Buddhism, Pali. If you want to know the exact meaning, history, etymology or English translation of this term then check out the descriptions on this page. Add your comment or reference to a book if you want to contribute to this summary article.
Images (photo gallery)
In Buddhism
Theravada (major branch of Buddhism)
Source: Pali Kanon: Pali Proper Names1. Okkaka - A king, ancestor of the Sakyas and the Kolians.
In the Ambattha Sutta (D.i.92) it is stated that Okkaka, being fond of his queen and wishing to transfer the kingdom to her son, banished from the kingdom the elder princes by another wife. These princes were named Okkamukha, Karakanda, Hatthinika, and Sinipura.
The Mahavastu (which confuses Iksvaku with his ancestor Sujata) mentions five sons of Iksvaku: Opura, Ulkamukha, Karandaka, Hastikasirsa and Nipura (i.348). See also Rockhill, p.9ff.
They lived on the slopes of the Himalaya and, consorting with their sisters and their descendants, formed the Sakyan race. The legend, thus briefly given, is enlarged on with great detail in the Commentaries. According to Buddhaghosa, there are three dynasties with a king named Okkaka at the head of each, all of them lineal descendants of the primeval king, Mahasammata, and in the line of succession of Makadeva.
The Okkaka of the third dynasty bad five queens - Bhatta, Citta, Jantu, Jalini and Visakha - each with five hundred female attendants. The eldest queen had four sons - mentioned above - and five daughters - Piya, Suppiya, Ananda, Vijita and Vijitasena. (The Mtu. calls them Suddha, Vimala Vijita, Jala and Jali).
When Bhatta died, after the birth of these nine children, the king married another young and beautiful princess and made her the chief queen. Her son was Jantu, and being pleased with him, the king promised her a boon. She claimed the kingdom for her son, and this was the reason for the exile of the elder children (DA.i.258f; SnA.i.352f).
The Mahavamsa (Mhv.ii.12-16) mentions among Okkakas descendants, Nipuna, Candima, Candamukha, Sivisanjaya, Vessantara, Jali, Sihavahana and Sihassara. The last named had eighty four thousand descendants, the last of whom was Jayasena. His son Sihahanu was the grandfather of the Buddha. The Dipavamsa (iii.41-5) list resembles this very closely.
Okkaka had a slave girl called Disa, who gave birth to a black baby named, accordingly, Kanha. He was the ancestor of the Kanhayanas, of which race the Ambattha clan was an offshoot. Later, Kanha became a mighty sage and, by his magic power, won in marriage Maddarupi, another daughter of Okkaka (D.i.93, 96).
According to the Brahmana Dhammika Sutta (Sn.p.52ff; AA.ii.737), it was during the time of Okkaka that the brahmins started their practice of slaughtering animals for sacrifice. Till then there had been only three diseases in the world - desire, hunger and old age; but from this time onwards the enraged devas afflicted humans with various kinds of suffering.
It is said (DA.i.258) that the name Okkaka was given to the king because when he spoke light issued from his mouth like a torch (kathanakale ukka viya mukhato pabha niccharati).
Theravāda is a major branch of Buddhism having the the Pali canon (tipitaka) as their canonical literature, which includes the vinaya-pitaka (monastic rules), the sutta-pitaka (Buddhist sermons) and the abhidhamma-pitaka (philosophy and psychology).
General definition (in Buddhism)
Source: Wisdom Library: Buddhism1) Okkāka (ओक्काक) is the name of an ancient king from the Solar dynasty (sūryavaṃśa) and a descendant of Mahāsaṃmata, according to the Dīpavaṃśa and the Mahāvaṃśa. Okkāka is known as Ikṣvāku according to the Mahāvastu of the Mahāsaṃghikas (and the Lokottaravāda school). Ikṣvāku is also mentioned in the Dulva (the Tibetan translation of the Vinaya of the Sarvāstivādins).
2) Okkāka (ओक्काक) is the son of Sujātā: another king from the Solar dynasty (sūryavaṃśa), according to the Mahābuddhavaṃsa or Maha Buddhavamsa (the great chronicle of Buddhas) Anudīpanī chapter 1, compiled by Ven. Mingun Sayadaw. Ambaraṃsī’s son was King Sujātā. Sujātā’s son was King Okkāka. These sixteen kings continued to reign in Bārāṇasī. There were 252,556 descendants from Mahāsammata, the Bodhisatta of the earliest aeon, down to King Okkāka.
The King was called Okkāka because when he spoke there emanated from his mouth the light as if from a shooting star, so explains the exposition of the Ambaṭṭha Sutta. [...] The wives of King Okkāka, the last of the 252,556 kings, were five: Hatthā, Cittā, Jantu, Jālinī, and Visākhā. Each of them had five hundred ladies-in-waiting.
Notes: Since the exposition of the Ambaṭṭha Sutta in the Sīlakkandha Atthakathā and that of the Muni Sutta in the Sutta Nipāta Aṭṭhakathā state that “after the eighty-four thousand kings belonging to the lineage of Māgha-Deva, there occurred three successive rulers, all bearing the name Okkāka” and that “the third Okkāka had five queens, each with five hundred lady attendants”, it should be taken that the Sakyan princes were the descendants of Okkāka III, and that the last of the 252,556 kings was this very person, Okkāka III.
See also (Relevant definitions)
Ends with: Mokkaka.
Full-text (+25): Jantu, Hatthinika, Hattha, Jalini, Sinisura, Ikshvaku, Maddarupi, Candamukha, Okkamukha, Disha, Citta, Vishakha, Sinipura, Karakanda, Nipura, Ambattha Vijja, Karakandu, Jayampati, Sujata, Sahasamalla.
Relevant text
Search found 8 books and stories containing Okkaka, Okkāka; (plurals include: Okkakas, Okkākas). You can also click to the full overview containing English textual excerpts. Below are direct links for the most relevant articles:
Mahavamsa (by Wilhelm Geiger)
The Buddha and His Disciples (by Venerable S. Dhammika)
The Great Chronicle of Buddhas (by Ven. Mingun Sayadaw)
Part 7 - A Brief History of the Royal Lineage of the Bodhisatta < [Chapter 1 - The Story of Sataketu Deva, The Future Buddha]
Part 10 - Story of Pokkharasāti Brahmin and Ambaṭṭha < [Chapter 35 - Story of Māra]
Part 3 - Delivery of the Rahulovada Sutta to Rāhula < [Chapter 31 - The Monk Sudinna, the Son of the Kalanda Merchant]
The Gospel of Buddha (by Paul Carus)
The Jataka tales [English], Volume 1-6 (by Robert Chalmers)
Jataka 294: Jambu-Khādaka-jātaka < [Book III - Tika-Nipāta]
Jataka 531: Kusa-jātaka < [Volume 5]
The Buddha and His Teachings (by Narada Thera)