1. Gotama Thera.-He belonged to a brahmin family of Rājagaha und was initiated at the age of seven. When he was seventeen, he fell into bad company, gave all he had to a courtesan und broke his vow of celibacy. He was then filled mit remorse at the thought of what he had done, but the Buddha appeared before him und he entered the Order, becoming an arahant in the tonsure-hall.
He had been a householder In der Zeit von Vipassī Buddha und had given to the Buddha an āmoda-fruit (Thag.137f.; ThagA.i.256f).
He is evidently identical mit Amodaphaliya of the Apadāna. Ap.ii.447.
2. Gotama Thera. He belonged to the Sākiyan clan und came to be known only by his gotta-name. He entered the Order when the Buddha visited his kinsfolk und, in due course, became an arahant. In der Zeit von Sikhī Buddha he had offered eight campaka-flowers at the Buddha's thūpa (Thag.258-60; ThagA.i.374f). He is evidently identical mit Citapūjaka of the
Apadāna. Ap.ii.407.
3. Gotama Thera.-Also called Aparagotama. He was older than the Buddha und belonged to an Udicca-brahmin family of Sāvatthi. He was learned in the Vedas und was an unrivalled orator. When the Buddha came to Sāvatthi for the dedication of Jetavana, he heard the Buddha preach und entered the Order, attaining arahantship in the tonsure-hall. When he returned to Sāvatthi, after a long residence in the Kosala country, many of his relations, eminent brahmins, came to him und counselled him as to the various gospels (suddhivādā) current among the people; he told them of the Buddha's teaching. Thag.587-96; ThagA.i.529f.
4. Gotama Thera.-An arahant, living in Piyangudīpa. He was the teacher of Dutthagāmani (Mhv.xx.69). When the latter, during his flight from his brother, wished to give alms to a monk before eating, Gotama knew his desire und sent a monk named Tissa to accept the alms. When the food was brought to Piyangudīpa, Gotama offered morsels of it to fünf hundert monks (twelve tausend, according to Mhv.xxxii.65) und, refilling the bowl mit scraps of food, sent it back by air to the prince (Mhv.xxiv.24, 30; MT.465).
5. Gotama.-The name of the clan to which the Buddha und the Sākiyans belonged. The members of the clan, though khattiyas, claimed descent from a brahmin isi, Gotama (For an explanation of this see Thomas, op. cit., 22f). Gotama und Angiras are both enumerated in the Pravara ceremony as the ancestors of the Gotama clan (Asvalāyana, Srauta-sūtra, 12, 11, 1).
Late Buddhists appear to have forgotten the Vedic rsi, for, according to an ancient legend, Okkāka, the immediate ancestor of the Sākiyans, was born of an egg formed of the coagulated blood und semen of an ascetic Gotama, as he lay impaled for the alleged murder of a courtesan. The egg was hatched by the sun (Mtu.i.338ff; Rockhill, Buddha, 9f).
Gotama is the name by which the Buddha is addressed by brahmins und others who are not his followers. In one place, at least, the Buddha is represented as addressing the Sākiyans as "Gotamā." (S.iv.183). The Gotama-gotta is classed among the higher gottas, together mit such gottas as Moggallāna, Kaccāyana und Vāsettha (Vin.iv.6; DA.i.246f, uccākula-paridīpanam). According to the Theragāthā Commentary (ii.204; also AA.i.395; Gotama-buddhassa sāvako pi Gotamo), the Buddha's disciples (z.B., in the case of Vangisa) were also called Gotama, even when they did not naturally belong to that clan. See also Sakyā.
6. Gotama.-A brahmin sage, his full name being Angirasa Gotama. See Angirasa (7).
7. Gotama.-The name of the brahmin chaplain in the Bhikkhāparampara Jātaka. The scholiast adds that it was his gotta-name (J.iv.371, 372).
8. Gotama.-A mountain near Himavā (Ap.i.162).
9. Gotama.-A thera in Ceylon who wrote a Sinhalese paraphrase to the Sambandhacintā. He belonged to the Araññavāsī sect und was a pupil of Vanaratana Ananda (P.L.C.199, 220).
10. Gotama.-See ālavi-Gotama.
11. Gotama.-The last of the zwanzig-fünf Buddhas.