A class of devas, living in the highest of the five Suddhávasá (Pure Mansions) (D.iii.237).
In the Mahápadána Sutta (D.ii.52f) the Buddha mentions that he visited their abode and conversed with beings who were born there as a result of the holy lives they had lived under various Buddhas.
In the Sakkapañha Sutta (D.ii.286) Sakka speaks of them as the highest devas, and expresses his satisfaction that he, too, will be born among them in his last life.
Buddhaghosa says they are so called because of their supremacy in virtue and in happiness, and because there are no juniors among them (sabbeh'eva sagunehi ca bhavasampattiyá ca jetthá n'atth'ettha kanittháti akanitthá). DA.ii.480. VbhA.521 [áyuná ca paññaya ca Akanitthá jetthaká sabba-devehi panítatará devá (=DA.iii.739)].
In the Visuddhi Magga (p. 634) their world is spoken of as a Brahma loka where Anágámís are born and enter complete Nibbána (p. 710) (also ItA.40; DA.iii.740). The duration of life among these devas is 16,000 Kalpas (Kvu.207). Sometimes Anágámí are born among the Avihá devas and finish their existence, in a subsequent birth, among the Akanitthás. These are called "Uddhamsotá." (DhA.iii.289f.; see also S.v.201).
The Akanittha-bhavana is the upper limit of the rúpvacara-bhúmi (Ps.i.84); it is also spoken of as the highest point of the universe, Avíci being the lowest. Thus the quarrel among the Kosambí monks spread even up to the Akanitthá devá (J.iii.487), as did the shouts of the assembly at the severing of the branch of the Bodhi tree (Mbv. 150-1; see also Mil. 284).