A river. After the Enlightenment, the Buddha lived under the Ajapála Nigrodha (q.v.) at Uruvelá, on the banks of this river. There Mára tempted him, and, later, Brahmá persuaded him to preach the Dhamma.
Vin.i.1ff.; SN.vs.425ff.; cp. Mtu.ii.238; Lal.327 (261); S.i.103f; 122, 136ff.; v.167, 185, 232; Ud.i.1 4; ii.1; iii.10; A.ii.20f; D.ii.267.
The Commentaries say (E.g., J.i.68ff.; DhA.i.71; BuA.238) that when the Buddha, having realized the futility of austerities, left the Pañcavaggiyas, he retired to Uruvelá, on the banks of the Nerañjará, and there, just before the Enlightenment, Sujátá gave him a meal of milk rice, taking him to be a god. Before eating the food, he bathed in the ford called Suppatittha. Under the bed of the river lay the abode of the Nága king, Kála. There was a sála grove on the banks, where the Buddha spent the afternoon previous to the night of the Enlightenment.
Three explanations are given of the name: (1) Its waters are pleasant (nelam jalam assá ti = nelañjalá, the r being substituted for the l); (2) it has blue water (níla jaláyá ti vattabbe Nerañjaráyá ti vuttam); (3) it is just simply the name of the river. UdA.26f.
Nadí Kassapa's hermitage was on the bank of the Nerañjará (ThagA.i.45).
Nerañjará is identified with the modern Nílájaná, with its source in Hazaribagh, which, together with the Mohaná, unites to form the river Phalgu. CAGL 524.
A channel that branched northwards from the Punnavaddhana tank. Cv.lxxix.49.