The third sutta of the Uraga Vagga of the Sutta Nipáta (SN.vv.35-75), consisting of forty-one stanzas, each of which ends with the refrain: "eko care khaggavisánakappo."
The Commentary (SNA.i.46ff) divides the sutta into four vaggas and gives each a separate name (except the first), the name being generally derived from the first word of the stanza. It is said that the Buddha preached the Khaggavisána Sutta in response to a question asked of him by Ananda regarding the attainment of Enlightenment by Pacceka Buddhas; the Buddha gave details of their abhiníhara and patthaná, and illustrated them by reciting to Ananda stanzas which had been uttered by Pacceka Buddhas of old on various occasions and at different periods as their paeans of joy (udána).
Buddhaghosa gives the life-story of each of the Pacceka Buddhas whose stanzas are included in this sutta. It is, however, only in the case of a few Pacceka Buddhas that the actual names are given - e.g.,
The rest are described as "the king of Benares," or "the son of the king," etc.
The sutta is commented on in the Culla-Niddesa (pp.56ff), in addition to those of the Paráyanavagga, an evidence of the fact that, when the Culla-Niddesa was composed, this was probably regarded as an independent sutta, not belonging to any particular group such as the Uragavagga, and that the comments on it were written at a time prior to the composition of the Sutta Nipáta as an anthology in its present form. This view is further strengthened by the fact that its mixed Sanskrit version in the Mahávastu (i.357f) is not placed in any definite group. According to the Mahávastu, the Pratyeka Buddhas, five hundred in number, were living in Rsipatana near Benares, and when they heard from the Suddhávása devas of the approach of the Buddha in twelve years, they disappeared from Rsipatana, each repeating one of the verses of the sutta.
The Apadána (i.7ff) includes the stanzas of the Khaggavisána Sutta in its chapter called the Pacceka-buddhápadána and prefaces them with several introductory stanzas. A few stanzas are also added at the end by way of conclusion. In its exegesis the Apadána Commentary (ApA.i.106f) gives the names of several Pacceka Buddhas. They are, however, different from those given by Buddhaghosa, and correspond more nearly to those mentioned in the Isigili Sutta.