He belonged to a rich family of Sāvatthi. In the past he had smeared the Gandhakuṭi of Kassapa Buddha with costly sandalwood paste and had desired that he might be reborn with a fragrant body: therefore he, on the day of his birth, and his mother, while she carried him, filled the house with fragrance hence his name. When he grew up, he heard Mahāsela Thera teach and entered the Order, attaining Arahantship in seven days.

In the time of Tissa Buddha he was a hunter. Tissa Buddha saw him, and, out of compassion for him, left his footprint where the hunter might see it. The hunter recognised the footprint as that of a Great Being and offered to it karandaka flowers (Thag.vs.24; ThagA.i.80 f).

He is probably identical with Karandapupphiya Thera of the Apadāna. Ap.ii.434; the same verses occur at Ap.ii.383; cf. ThagA.i.270; i.405, where they are found under Subhūti.