Bhallika
Mon · mortal · Mon traditional religion; continuing · Recorded classification
Bhallika is the second of the merchant brothers who became the Buddha's first lay followers and carried away the eight hairs he gave them. Named always beside Tapussa, he shares in the alms-offering that opened the lay Buddhist community and in the legend that brings the relics to the Shwedagon in King Okkalapa's reign. A separate tradition holds that Bhallika later renounced the world and became a monk, while Tapussa remained a lay devotee.
Domains
- merit and patronage
Powers
- bear the hair relics to the Golden Land
Epithets
- Paṭhama-upāsaka — The first lay discipleThe Vinaya Piṭaka, Mahāvagga I (Sacred Books of the East, 1881) (primary)
Relations
- sibling: TapussaThe two are always named as merchant brothers.The Vinaya Piṭaka, Mahāvagga I (Sacred Books of the East, 1881) (primary)
- ally: OkkalapaDelivered the relics enshrined in Okkalapa's reign.Donald M. Stadtner, Sacred Sites of Burma (Bangkok: River Books, 2011) (secondary)
Sources
- Bhallika, brother of Tapussa, shares the honour of the first alms and the bearing of the Buddha's hairs to Lower Burma.: The Vinaya Piṭaka, Mahāvagga I (Sacred Books of the East, 1881) (primary); Donald M. Stadtner, Sacred Sites of Burma (Bangkok: River Books, 2011) (secondary)