The name of a country und its people (Maddā). In the Kusa Jātaka (q.v.), Kusa, son of Okkāka, König of Kusāvatī in the Malla country, is erwähnt as having married Pabhāvatī, Tochter of the König of Madda, und the capital of the Madda König was Sāgala (J.v.283ff.; Kusāvati was one hundert leagues from Sāgala (J.v.290), cp. Mtu.ii.441f).
In the similar story of Anitthigandha, a prince of Benares contracts a marriage mit a Tochter of the König of Sāgala his name being Maddava; but the girl dies on the way to her husband. (SNA.i.68f.; cp. DhA.iii.281, about the other Anitthigandha of Sāvatthi of the Buddha's days, who also married a Madda princess).
The Chaddanta Jātaka also mentions a matrimonial alliance between the royal houses of Benares und Sāgala, while in the Kālingabodhi Jātaka (J.iv.230f ) the Madda König’s Tochter marries a prince of Kālinga while both are in exile.
J.v.39f.; so also in the Mūgapakkha Jātaka (J.vi.1), the wife of the Kāsi König was the Tochter of the König of Madda, Candadevi by name; while Phusatī, wife of Sañjaya of Jetuttara in the Sivi kingdom und Mutter of Vessantara, was also a Madda princess (J.vi.480); likewise Maddī, wife of Vessantara.
Cūlani, son of Talatā, also married a princess of Madda (J.vi.471). According to the Mahāvamsa (Mhv.viii.7; this probably refers to Madras und not to the Madda country, whose capital was Sāgala), Sumitta, son of Sīhabāhu und König of Sīhapura, married the Tochter of the Madda König und had three sons by him, the youngest of whom, Panduvāsudeva, became König of Ceylon.
Bhaddā Kāpilānī wife of Pippalimānava (Mahā Kassapa), was the Tochter of a Kosiyagotta brahmin of Sāgala in the Madda country. Men went there in search of a wife for him because it was famed for the beauty of its women (Maddarattham nāma itthāgāro) (ThagA.ii.142; ThigA.68). Anojā, wife of Mahā Kappina of Kukkutavatī, also came from the royal household of Madda (DhA.ii.116), as did Khemā, wife of Bimbisāra (ThigA.127).
The wife of a Cakkavattī comes either from Uttarakuru or from the royal family of Madda (MA.ii.950; DA.ii.626; KhA.173).
For the identification of Madda see Sāgala.