The name of a tribe and a country, the capital of which was Sumsumáragiri (q.v.).
The Buddha went there several times in the course of his wanderings (e.g., A.ii.61, A.iv.85, etc.; Vin.ii.127; iv. 115, 198) and three rules for the monks were laid down there (Vin.v.145).
Bodhirájakumára (q.v. 1), son of Udena of Kosambi, lived there, apparently as his father's viceroy, in which case the Bhaggá were subject to Kosambí. The C.H.I. (i.175) says that the Bhaggá were members of the Vajjian confederacy.
The Bhagga country lay between Vesáli and Sávatthi.
It was while sojourning in the Bhagga country that Moggallána was attacked by Mára entering into his stomach (M.i.332), and it was there that he preached the Anumána Sutta (M.i.95). Sirimanda and the parents of Nakula were inhabitants of the Bhagga country, and Sigálapitá (ThagA.i.70) went there in order to meditate; there he became an arahant.
In the Apadána (Ap.ii.359) the Bhaggá are mentioned with the Kárusá.