Devadatta

Devadatta (flourished 6th century bce, India) was a Buddhist monk who sought to reform the sangha (monastic community) by imposing upon it a stricter code of life. He was a cousin of the Buddha.

Devadatta is said to have joined the sangha along with Ananda, who was possibly his brother, in the 20th year of the Buddha’s ministry. Fifteen years later, strengthened by his friendship with the crown prince of Magadha, Ajatashatru, Devadatta proposed formally at a meeting of the sangha that the Buddha retire and hand over the leadership to him. This proposal was rejected, and Devadatta is said to have successfully instigated Ajatashatru to execute Bimbisara, his aged father and the king of Magadha. He is also said to have made three abortive attempts to bring about the Buddha’s death: by hiring assassins, by rolling a rock off a mountainside at him, and by arranging for a mad elephant to be let loose in the road at the time of the collection of alms.

Sensing popular approval, Devadatta proposed stricter ascetic rules for the sangha. When these were refused, he persuaded some 500 of the Buddha’s followers to join in a secession. Nothing further is known about Devadatta’s movement, but it may possibly be referred to under the name of the Gotamakas in the Anguttara Nikaya (a canonical text), for Devadatta’s family name was Gotama (Sanskrit Gautama). The Chinese pilgrim Xuanzang recorded that in the 7th century ce monks of a monastery in Bengal were following a certain regulation of Devadatta’s.