• Māgha

1. Māgha. A sage of old. J. vi.99.

2. Māgha. A youth of Rājagaha. He visited the Buddha at Gijjhakūta and asked if he would gain greatly by the gifts he made to various people, gifts which were rightly obtained. The Buddha answered that his gifts would bear great fruit. At the end of the Buddha's discourse, Māgha became his follower. Sn. pp. 86ff.; SnA.ii.413ff.

3. Māgha. See Sakka and Magha.

4. Māgha. A usurper from Kālinga who came to Ceylon with a band of Kerala warriors in about 1215 A.C., deposed the reigning king, Parakkamapandu II., blinded him, and occupied the throne at Pulatthipura. Being a bigoted Hindu, he destroyed the Buddhist religious buildings and burnt their books. He persecuted the people in various ways and distributed their land among his warriors. He ruled for twenty one years, and seems to have been succeeded at Pulatthipura by Jayabāhu (q.v.) (Cv.lxxx.58ff). During part of his reign, Vijayabāhu III. (q.v.) ruled over a portion of Ceylon. Cv.lxxxi.10ff.