Daughter of Anāthapindika.
At the insistent request of his friend Uggasetthi, and after consultation with the Buddha, Anāthapindika agreed to give her in marriage to Ugga's son. (According to the Anguttara Commentary (ii.482ff), the setthi's name was Kālaka and his city was not Ugga, but Sāketa). But he was an unbeliever, and when Niganthas came to his house on invitation, Subhaddā refused to do obeisance to them. For this she was ordered out of the house by her father-in-law; but she convinced her mother-in-law that the reasons for her behaviour were sound, and at the suggestion of the latter she prepared a meal and invited to it the Buddha and the congregation of monks, by throwing into the air from the top storey of the house eight handfuls of jasmine. The Buddha divined her thoughts and arrived with five hundred arahants. After the meal the Buddha preached the Doctrine and Ugga and his family were converted. As a mark of favour towards Subhaddā the Buddha requested Anuruddha to stay behind at Ugganagara. (DhA.iii.465ff; the story is also given in AA.ii.482ff, but with several variations in detail. There seems to be a comparison between the stories of Mahāsubhaddā and Cūlasubhaddā. See also AA.i.146 and Vsm.390).
Cūlasubhaddā, while still in her father's house, had become a Sotāpanna, and with her sisters, Mahāsubhaddā and Sumanā, she had been entrusted with the distribution of food to the monks.
DhA.i.128; J.i.93; ApA.i.81; see also Mil.383, 387.