A lady of Velukanta (Velukanda). She is mentioned as an exemplary lay woman (A.i.88; ii.164). She founded, for the Order headed by Sáriputta and Moggallána an offering which the Buddha praised, because it was endowed with the six requisite qualities. See Dána Sutta (1).
Once she rose before dawn and sang the Paráyana. Vessavana happened to be passing over her house on his way from north to south (to see the Buddha, says SNA.i.369), and hearing the song, stopped at her window to praise it and to reveal his identity. She greeted him cordially, and in return for her greeting he announced to her that Sáriputta and Moggallána were on their way to Velukanta. She, delighted with the news, made all preparations and sent word to the monastery, inviting the monks to the house. After the meal, she informed the Elders that Vessavana had told her of their arrival. When they expressed their amazement, she told them of several other virtues possessed by her. Her only son Nanda was seized by the king's men and killed before her eyes, but she experienced no disquiet, nor did she when her husband, after his death, having been born as a Yakkha (Bhummadevatá says the Commentary), revealed himself to her. She was guilty of no transgression of the precepts, could enter into the four jhánas at will, and had cast off the five lower fetters. The monks expressed their great admiration and Sáriputta preached to her (A.iv.63ff).
Buddhaghosa says (AA.ii.718; cf. SNA.i.370) that she was an anágámí, and that, when she promised to share with Vessavana the merits she would gain by entertaining the monks, headed by the two Chief Disciples, Vessavana, to show his gratitude, filled her stores with rice, and these stores remained always full throughout her life. They thus became proverbial.
The Sutta Nipáta Commentary (SNA.i.370) states that she kept a daily fast and knew the Pitakas by heart. It also says that, at the end of her recital of the Paráyana, Vessavana offered her a boon, and she asked that, as her servants were weary of carrying the harvest home from the fields, Vessavana should allow his Yakkhas to do the work for them. To this he agreed, and his followers filled for her one thousand two hundred and fifty store houses. Vessavana then went to the Buddha and told him of what had happened.
The Dhammapada Commentary (DhA.i.340) mentions Velukantakí Nandamátá and Khujjattará as the chief lay women disciples of the Buddha. But in the Anguttara list' of eminent lay women, while Velukantakí Nandamátá's name does not occur, Khujjatará is mentioned. Mention is made of a Nandamátá, eminent in meditation, but she is called Uttará.
A.i.26; cf. S.ii.236, where the same two are mentioned; Mrs. Rhys Davids thinks that Velukantakí Nandamátá is probably identical with Uttará Nandamátá (Brethren 4, n.1). This identification does not seem to be correct. See Uttará Nandamátá; see also Nanda-Kumáputta.