Of Ceylon. He was an eminent Thera and was teacher of Catunikáyika Tissa Thera.
At the time of the great disturbance in the country (mahábhaya, probably the Bráhmanatissamahábhaya) there was only one monk who knew the Mahániddesa, and Mahápitaka asked his colleague, Mahárakkhita, to learn it from him. But the latter refused on the plea of the wickedness of the monk possessing this knowledge; but in the end he acquiesced, on condition that Mahápitaka himself would be present at the lessons. On the day of the last lesson he discovered a woman hidden under the teacher's bed. Sp.iii.695.