King of Sri Lanka for twenty-nine years (between 362 and 409 A.C.) He was the son of Jeṭṭhatissa and led a very pious life. He was renowned as a great physician, and various miraculous cures are attributed to him, even snakes seeking his assistance. A jewel, which he received from a snake in gratitude for a cure, he placed in the stone image in the Abhayagiri-vihāra.

A medical work, the Sāratthasaṅgaha, in Sanskrit, is ascribed to him (but see Cv. Trs. 13, n. 7). It is said that he appointed a royal physician for every ten villages, and established hospitals for the crippled and for the dumb and also for animals. He appointed teachers to look after the people’s spiritual welfare.

Among religious buildings erected by him was the Mayūra-pariveṇa. He extended his patronage to a holy monk, named Mahādhammakathī, who translated the suttas into Singhalese.

Buddhadāsa had eighty sons, named after the Buddha’s eminent disciples, the eldest being Upatissa I who succeeded him. Cv.xxxvii.105 ff.