An arahant. Once, in the past, he was a Jatila named Nārada, with fourteen thousand followers, living near the rock called Samanga. He erected, on the bank of the Amarikā, a thūpa of sand as an object of worship for himself.
In his last birth he was of parents who were devout followers of the Buddha and worshipped at a shrine erected in the Buddha's name. When the boy was seven years old he saw the shrine and, recalling his past, became an arahant (Ap.ii.437 ff).
He is perhaps to be identified with Vasabha Thera (q.v.). Thag.A.i.258f.