• Vediya, Vediyaka

A mountain to the north of Ambasandā, in which was the Indasālaguhā, where the Buddha stayed. The mountain was bathed in radiance when Sakka visited the Buddha on the occasion of the preaching of the Sakkapañha Sutta (D.ii.263, 264).

Buddhaghosa says (DA.iii.697) that the mountain was so called because its base was covered with a forest belt, which looked like a jewel railing (manivedikā).

On the mountain lived an owl, who would accompany the Buddha half way to the village when he went for alms, and return with him. One day the owl stood with lowered wings, its claws clasped together. The Buddha smiled when he saw it, and, in reply to Ananda’s question, said that the owl, after spending one hundred thousand kappas among gods and men, would become a Pacceka Buddha named Somanassa.

MA.i.255 f; cp. KhpA.151, where the mountain is called Vedisaka.