He was the son of King Bimbisāra and of Padumavatī, the belle of Ujjeni.
When the boy was seven years old, his mother sent him to the king and he grew up with the boys of the court.He first came under the influence of the Nigantha Nātaputta, who taught him a dilemma to set the "Samana Gotama." In the Buddha's reply, the prince recognised the defeat of the Nigantha and the supreme Enlightenment of the Exalted One, whose disciple he then became.
Later, when the king died, Abhaya was disturbed in mind, and entered the Order.
On the occasion of the preaching of the Tālacchiggalūpama Sutta (probably the same as S.v.455 and M.iii.169), he became a Stream-enterer and afterwards attained arahantship (Thag.26; ThagA.i.83-4 also ThagA.39. In ThagA. his mother's name does not appear).
The Abhayarājakumāra Sutta (M.i.392ff ) contains the dilemma episode. It also mentions that at the time the prince had a little son of whom he was evidently very fond.
In the Samyutta Nikāya (S.v.126-8) he is stated as having visited the Buddha at Gijjhakūta and discussed with him the views of Pūrana Kassapa. The Buddha teaches him about the seven bojjhangas.
---In the Vinaya (i.269), Abhaya is mentioned as having discovered Jīvaka Komārabhacca lying on a dung-heap (cast there by the orders of his mother, the courtesan Sālāvatī), and having brought him up.
The Anguttara Commentary (i.216), on the other hand, says that Abhaya was Jīvaka's natural father.
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As a reward for quelling a disturbance on the frontier, Abhaya was given a skilled nautch girl by his father, Bimbisāra. For seven days he enjoyed her company to the exclusion of all else, but on the seventh day she died. Disconsolate, he sought comfort from the Buddha, who assuaged his grief (DhA.iii.166-67; cf. the story of Santati).
The Apadāna (ii.502-4) gives the story of his past. He had been a brahmin of Hamsavatī, skilled in the Vedas; having heard the Buddha Padumuttara preach, he was converted and joined the Order, where he spent his time singing the greatness of the Buddha.
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It contains the episode of Prince Abhaya visiting the Buddha at Rājagaha and setting him the questions suggested by Nigantha Nātaputta:
Would a Tathāgatha say anything unpleasant or disagreeable to others?
If he did, how would he differ from ordinary men?
If he did not, how was it that the Buddha spoke of Devadatta as a reprobate, a child of perdition, etc. - words which angered and upset Devadatta?
The Buddha answered that the question needed qualification and, noticing that the prince was nursing his little boy, who lay in his lap, asked him what he would do if a pebble or a stick got into his mouth. "I should pull it out even if the blood flowed." "Just so would a Buddha state unpleasant truths in due season if necessary and profitable."
At the end of the discourse Abhaya accepts the Buddha as his Teacher (M.i.391ff).
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A Therī. She was a courtesan named Padumavatī, the belle of Ujjenī. King Bimbisāra, having heard of her beauty, expressed to his purohita a wish to see her. The purohita, by the power of his spells, enlisted the assistance of a Yakkha, Kumbhīra, who took the king to Ujjeni.
She bore to the king a son, Abhayarājakumāra, who later joined the Order and became an arahant. It was on his account that Padumavatī came to be called Abhayamātā. She heard Abhayarājakumāra preach and leaving the world herself became an arahant (ThigA.31-2).
Two verses attributed to her are found in the Therigatha (33,34).
In the time of the Buddha Tissa, seeing him going round for alms, with glad heart she gave him a spoonful of food. As a result, she was thirty-six times queen among the gods and was chief queen of fifty cakkavattis (ThigA.32).
She is evidently identical with Katacchubhikkhadāyikā of the Apadāna (ii.516-7).
PadmāvatīPadmāvatī was a courtesan of Ujjain and the mother of Abhaya. She was ordained by the Buddha as a nun and through her serious practice of meditation, she became an arahat. Padmāvatī imparts these words:
Evaṃ viharamānāya—Thus, following the teaching of the Buddha,
Sabbo rāgo samūhato—Uprooting all the craving for sensual pleasure,
Pariḷāho samucchinno—Extinguishing the burning of passion,
Sītibhūtamhi nibbutāti—(I have) attained nibbāna to become transcendently cool and peaceful.
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