A Jaṭila. He lived in Āpaṇa, and when the Buddha once stayed there with one thousand three hundred and fifty monks, Keniya visited the Buddha, bringing various kinds of drinks, which he gave to him and to the monks. The following day he invited the whole company to a meal and showed great hospitality. It was as a result of the drinks offered by Keniya that the Buddha laid down a rule as to which drinks were permissible for monks and which were not (Vin.i.245 f).

According to the Suttanipāta (p.104; M.ii.146 f; see also ThagA.ii.47), it was owing to the elaborate preparations made by Keniya for the meal to the Buddha and the Saṅgha that the brahmin Sela, friend and counsellor of Keniya, came to discover the Buddha’s presence in Āpaṇa. The result was the conversion and ordination of Sela and his three hundred pupils.

Buddhaghosa says (SNA.ii.440; MA.ii.779; Ap.i.318) that Keniya was a Mahāsāla-brahmin, and that he became a Jaṭila with the object of protecting his wealth. He bought some land from the king and built his hermitage there, and became the protector (nissaya) of one thousand families. In his hermitage was a palm tree which yielded a golden nut each day. Keniya was a yellow-robed ascetic by day; by night he enjoyed the pleasures of the senses. On his first visit to the Buddha he took five hundred pingo-loads of badarapāna (SNA.ii.446) (? grape juice).

Keniya is mentioned (e.g., DA.i.270; see also DhA.i.323; UdA.241) as an example of one of the eight classes of ascetics — those who maintain wife and children (sa-puttabhariya).