One of the three chief consorts of King Udena.
She was the daughter of the setthi Bhaddavatiya of Bhaddavatí, who was a friend of Ghosaka of Kosambí. When plague broke out in Bhaddavatí, she and her parents fled to Kosambí, and there obtained food from the alms hall provided by Ghosaka. On the first day Sámávatí asked for three portions, on the second two, on the third only one. For her father had died after the meal on the first day, her mother on the second. When, on the third day, she asked for only one portion, Mitta who was distributing alms, teased her, saying: "Today you know the capacity of your belly." She asked what he meant, and when he explained his words, she told him what had happened. Mitta pitied her and adopted her as his daughter.
One day, when she arrived at the refectory, she found a great uproar going on, people rushing everywhere to get alms. She asked to be allowed to bring order into this chaos, and had a fence erected round the refectory with separate doors for entrance and exit. This put an end to the disturbances. Ghosaka, hearing no noise in the refectory as before, inquired the reason, and, finding out what Sámávatí had done, adopted her as his own child. Sámávatí's original name was Sámá, but after building the fence (vati) round the refectory she was called Sámávatí.
On a festival day Udena saw Sámávatí going to the river to bathe, and, falling in love with her, asked Ghosaka to send her to the palace. But Ghosaka refused, and the king turned him and his wife out of doors and sealed up his house. When Sámávatí discovered this, she made Ghosaka send her to the palace, and Udena made her his chief consort. Some time afterwards Udena took Mágandiyá also as consort.
When the Buddha visited Kosambí at the request of Ghosaka, Kukkuta and Páváriya, Khujjutará, the servant woman of Sámávatí, heard him preach and became a Sotápanna. She had been on her way to the gardener, Sumana, to buy flowers for Sámávatí, with the eight pieces of money given to her daily by the king for this purpose. On Sumana's invitation, she had gone to hear the Buddha at his house. On other days she had spent only half the money on flowers, appropriating the rest for herself; but this day, having become a Sotápanna, she bought flowers with the whole amount and took them to Sámávatí, to whom she confessed her story. At Sámávatí's request, Khujjuttará repeated to her and her companions the sermon she had heard from the Buddha. After this, she visited the Buddha daily, repeating his sermon to Sámávatí and her friends. Having learnt that the Buddha passed along the street in which the palace stood, Sámávatí had holes made in the walls so that she and her friends might see the Buddha and do obeisance to him. Mágandiyá heard of this during a visit to Sámávatí's quarters, and, because of her hatred for the Buddha, she determined to have Sámávatí punished. For details see Mágandiyá.
At first her plots miscarried, and Udena, convinced of Sámávatí's goodness, gave her a boon, and she chose that the Buddha be invited to visit the palace daily and to preach to her and her friends. But the Buddha sent Ananda instead, and they provided him with food every day and listened to the Law. One day they presented him with five hundred robes given to them by the king, who, at first, was very angry; but on hearing from Ananda that nothing given to the monks was lost, he gave another five hundred robes himself.
In the end, Mágandiyá's plot succeeded, and Sámávatí and her companions were burned to death in their own house. Udena was in his park, and, on his arrival, he found them all dead. When the Buddha was asked, he said that sonic of the women had attained to the First Fruit of the Path, others to the second, yet others to the third. It is said that in a previous birth Sámávatí and her friends had belonged to the harem of the king of Benares. One day they went bathing with the king, and, feeling cold when they came out of the water, they set fire to a tangle of grass, near by. When the grass burned down, they found a Pacceka Buddha seated in the tangle, and fearing that they had burnt him to death, they pulled more grass, which they placed round his body, and, after pouring oil on it, set fire to it so that all traces of their crime might be destroyed. The Pacceka Buddha was in samádhi and nothing could therefore harm him, but it was this act which brought retribution to Sámávatí and her companions.
The story of Sámávatí is included in the story cycle of Udena. For details see especially DhA.i.187 91, 205 225; the story also appears, with certain variations in detail, in AA.i.232 4, 236ff., and is given very briefly in UdA.382f., omitting the account of the reason for Sámávatí's death which is given at length in an explanation of an Udána (Ud.vii.10) dealing with the incident. Cf. Dvy.575f. According to the Visuddhi Magga (p.380f), Mágandiyá's desire to kill Sámávatí arose from her desire to be herself chief queen.
The two Therí's named Sámá were friends of Sámávatí, and were so filled with grief over her death that they left home and joined the Order.
Sámávatí is reckoned among the moist eminent of the lay women who were followers of the Buddha, and was declared by him foremost among those who lived in kindliness (aggam mettávihárinam) (A.i.26; cf. iv.348).
Her iddhi, in warding off the arrow shot at her by Udena, is often referred to. E.g. BuA.24; ItA.23; PSA.498; AA.ii.791.