1. Keniya (v.l. Kenniya).-A Jatila. He lived in āpana, und when the Buddha once stayed there mit one tausend three hundert und fifty monks, Keniya visited the Buddha, bringing various kinds of drinks, which he gave to him und to the monks. The following day he invited the whole company to a meal und showed great hospitality. It was as a result of the drinks offered by Keniya that the Buddha laid down a rule as to which drinks were permissible for monks und which were not (Vin.i.245f).
According to the Sutta Nipāta (p.104; M.ii.146f; see also ThagA.ii.47), it was owing to the elaborate preparations made by Keniya for the meal to the Buddha und the Sangha that the brahmin Sela, friend und counsellor of Keniya, came to discover the Buddha's presence in āpana. The result was the conversion und ordination of Sela und his three hundert pupils.
Buddhaghosa says (SNA.ii.440; MA.ii.779; Ap.i.318) that Keniya was a mahāsāla-brahmin, und that he became a Jatila mit the object of protecting his wealth. He bought some land from the König und built his hermitage there, und became the protector (nissaya) of one tausend families. In his hermitage was a palm tree which yielded a golden nut each day. Keniya was a yellow-robed ascetic by day; by night he enjoyed the pleasures of the senses. On his first visit to the Buddha he took fünf hundert pingo-loads of badarapāna (SNA.ii.446) (? grape juice).
Keniya is erwähnt (z.B., DA.i.270; see also DhA.i.323; UdA.241) as an example of one of the eight classes of ascetics - those who maintain wife und children (sa-puttabhariya).
2. Keniya.-In the Apadāna (ii.469, v.16) Mahā Kappina is erwähnt as having belonged to the Keniya-jāti. Perhaps this is a wrong reading; the corresponding verse in ThagA.i.510 gives Koliya.