He belonged to a brahmin family and studied under Bávarí as an ascetic. He was one of the sixteen pupils sent by Bávarí to the Buddha. When Mogharája had asked his question of the Buddha and had received the answer, he attained arahantship. He then attained distinction by wearing rough cloth which had been thrown away by caravaners, tailors, and dyers, and the Buddha declared him foremost among wearers of rough clothing (See also A.i.25). Later, through want of care and former kamma, pimples and the like broke out over his body. Judging that his lodging was infected, he spread a couch of straw in the Magadha field and lived there even during the winter. When the Buddha asked him how he fared in the cold, he replied that he was extremely happy (Thag.207f).
In the time of Padumuttara Buddha, Mogharája first resolved to win the eminence which was his. In the time of Atthadassí Buddha he was a brahmin teacher, and one day, while teaching his students, he saw the Buddha, and having worshipped him with great solemnity, he uttered six verses in his praise and offered him a gift of honey. Later, after sojourn in the deva worlds, he became a minister of King Katthaváhana, and was sent by him, with one thousand others, to visit Kassapa Buddha. He heard the Buddha preach, entered the order, and lived the life of a monk for twenty thousand years (ThagA.i.181ff.; SN. vs. 1006). The Samyutta Nikáya contains a stanza spoken by Mogharája and the Buddha's answer thereto (S.i.23).
Buddhaghosa explains (SA.i.49f) that Mogharája was present during the discussion of Pasuraparibbájaka (q.v.) with Sáriputta. At the end of Sáriputta's explanation, Mogharája wished to settle the matter and uttered this stanza.
Mogharája is given as an example of one who attained arahantship by the development of investigation (vimámsam dhuram katvá) (SA.iii.201).
The Apadána contains two sets of verses in reference to Mogharája. They seem to be parts of the same Apadána which have become separated. The first set (Ap.i.87f ) gives an account of the meeting of Mogharája with Atthadassí Buddha (see above) and includes the verses uttered by Mogharája in praise of the Buddha. The second set (Ap.ii.486f) contains an account of his meeting with Padumuttara Buddha and the resolves he made before him. It further mentions that, for one thousand years, in a later birth, Mogharája suffered in hell, and that for five hundred births he suffered from skin diseases. This was because he had lighted a fire in the Buddha's cloister and had made the floor black. In his last birth, too, he suffered from a kuttharoga and could not sleep at night, hence his name (mogharajjasukham yasmá Mogharájá tato aham). These verses also include the Mogharájamánava pucchá.
In the Milinda-Pańha (p. 412) appears a stanza attributed to Mogharája, but not found in the stanzas mentioned in connection with him either in the Sutta Nipáta or in the Theragáthá. See also Moghará-jamánava-pucchá.