page_title: Visakha
section_title: Early life
hierarchical_section_title: Visakha / Biography / Early life
caption_attribution_description: STupa with the remains of Visakha, the most outstanding Buddhist laywomen-supporter of Gautama Buddha. She lived in Sravasti (Savatthi). Her stupa is located in Sravasti, very close to the stupa of the 'Twin Miracle' and the stupas of Sariputta and Moggallana. Some mudbrick building is (newly) built on top of it. The stupa is part of a small hindu temple.
context_page_description: Visakha, also known as Migāramāta, was a wealthy aristocratic woman who lived during the time of Gautama Buddha. She is considered to have been the chief female patron of the Buddha. Visakha founded the temple Migāramātupāsāda in Savatthi, considered one of the two most important temples in the time of the historic Buddha, the other being Jetavana Monastery.
  Visakha was born into a prominent and wealthy family in what was then the kingdom of Magadha. She met the Buddha at the age of seven when he was visiting her hometown and attained sotapanna, a stage of enlightenment, after hearing him preach. Visakha and her family later moved to the city of Saketa in the kingdom of Kosala. Visakha married her husband Punnavaddhana when she was sixteen and then moved to Savatthi to live with his family. She famously converted her father-in-law, a wealthy treasurer named Migāra, to Buddhism, giving her the nickname Migāramāta, literally "Migāra's mother".
  As chief patron, Visakha generously supported the Buddha and his monastic community throughout her life, as well as served as one of his primary aides in dealing with the general public.
context_section_description: Visakha was born into a wealthy family, in the city of Bhaddiya in Anga, which at the time was part of the kingdom of Magadha. Her father was named Dhanañjaya, and her mother was named Sumanā. According to Buddhist tradition, Visakha's family possessed special merit from her grandfather, Mendaka, having given his last meal to a Pacceka Buddha in a previous life, an act of merit the whole family partook in. Visakha met Gautama Buddha at the age of seven, when he was visiting her home town. When the Buddha taught her she achieved sotāpanna, a stage of enlightenment. Over the next two weeks, Mendaka invited the Buddha and his monks to eat at his house daily.
  Visakha moved later in life when King Pasenadi of Kosala heard about this family of special merit. King Pasenadi requested that his brother in law, King Bimbasara, send him some of the people of special merit in his kingdom so his subjects could see their example. King Bimbasara obliged and had Visakha and her father and mother moved to the city of Saketa (present day Ayodhya), near the Kosalan capital of Savatthi.
caption: Stupa of Visakha, where her ashes were interred, in Sravasti
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