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Araka

The Bodhisatta, born as a brahmin teacher. His story is told in the Araka Jātaka. He is referred to also in the Dhammaddhaja Jātaka (J.ii.195), where the Bodhisatta relates how, as Araka, he had developed thoughts of loving-kindness and practised the sublime abidings (brahmavihārā) for seven years and then was born in the Brahma-world.

His name appears again in the Aṅguttaranikāya (A.iv.136‑8) in a list of teachers, and we are told that among Araka’s pupils those who followed his teachings were born in the Brahma-world, while the others were born in various purgatories. In the Aṅguttaranikāya no special mention is made of his having taught the brahma-vihāras.