He belonged to a brahmin family of Sāvatthi and, after hearing the Buddha teach, entered the Order, attaining Arahantship. Later the Buddha declared him foremost among those who could remember former births (pubbenīvāsānussarantānaṃ).

He had resolved to win this eminence in the time of Padumuttara Buddha, when he was a householder in Haṃsavatī.

In the time of Sumedha Buddha he was a brahmin, expert in the Vedas. Later he left household life and lived in a hermitage near Himavā.

Having heard of the appearance of a Buddha in the world, he went to Bandhumatī with all possible speed and uttered the Buddha’s praises in six stanzas (A.i.25; Thag.vss.165, 166; AA.i.172; ThagA.i.288 f).

He is evidently identical with Ñāṇatthavika of the Apadāna (Ap.ii.421 f). He was once accused of claiming to possess superior human states (uttarimanussadhamma), but was exonerated by the Buddha (Vin.iii.109). He was evidently an exponent of the Abhidhamma (see DhSA., p.32).