A monk who lived in Dakkhināgiri. It is said that when he visited Rājagaha after the holding of the First Council, he was asked to give his approval to the "findings" of the same. His answer was that he preferred to remember what he himself had heard and learnt from the Buddha. Vin.ii.189f.
A chamberlain (thapati ? equerry) of Pasenadi. He was the brother of Isidatta and the father of Migasālā. In his later years he lived the life of a celibate and was reborn in Tusita as a sakadāgāmī. A.iii.348 ff.;v.138 ff. The SA (iii.215), however, says that Purāna was a sotāpanna.
A conversation he had with the Buddha, in the company of Isidatta, at Sādhuka, is recorded in the Samyutta Nikāya (S.v.349 ff). In the Dhammacetiya Sutta (M.ii.123) Pasenadi speaks of the great loyalty of these two men towards the Buddha. After discussing the Doctrine till late at night, they would sleep with their heads towards the spot where the Buddha was staying and their feet towards the king.
Purāna is mentioned (E.g., A.iii.451) as an ideal layman.