1. Selá. A princess, younger sister of Candakumára (J.vi.143). She is identified with Uppalavanná. J.vi.157.
2. Selá Therí. She was born in Alavi as daughter of the king: therefore she was also called Alaviká. When she was still unmarried the Buddha visited Alaví with Alavaka, whom he had converted, carrying his begging bowl and robe. On that occasion Sela went with her father to hear the Buddha preach. She became a lay disciple, but later, agitated in mind, she joined the Order and became an arahant. After that she lived in Sávatthi. One day, as she was enjoying her siesta in the Andhavana under a tree, Mára, in the guise of a stranger, approached her and tried to tempt her. But she refuted his statements regarding the attractions of lay life, and Mára had to retire discomfited (S.i.134; Thig.vss.57-9).
In the time of Padumuttara Buddha Selá was born in the family of a clansman of Hamsavatí and was given in marriage. After her husband's death she devoted herself to the quest of good, and went from áráma to áráma and vihára to vihára, teaching the Dhamma to followers of the religion. One day she came to the Bodhi tree of the Buddha and sat down there thinking, "If a Buddha be peerless among men, may this tree show the miracle of Enlightenment." Immediately the tree blazed forth, the branches appeared golden, and the sky was all shining. Inspired by the sight, she fell down and worshipped the tree, and sat there for seven days. On the seventh day she performed a great feast of offering and worship to the Buddha (ThigA.61f). Her Apadána verses, quoted in the Therígáthá Commentary, are, in the Apadána itself, attributed to a Therí called Pańcadípiká, and are twice repeated in these verses (Ap.ii.519, repeated at 527f), however, she is mentioned as having attained arahantship at the age of seven, and there is no reference to her life as daughter of the king of Alaví. See also Selá (3).
3. Selá Therí. An arahant. In the time of Kassapa Buddha she belonged to a lay disciple's family in Sávatthi. She heard the Buddha preach and learnt the Doctrine. She was born after death in Távatimsa. In her last life she was the daughter of a setthi, and hearing the Buddha preach, she entered the Order and attained arahantship. Ap.ii.614f.