1. Valliya Thera. He was the son of a Malla chieftain of Pāvā and joined the Order with his companions, Godhika, Subāhu and Uttiya, when they went on some embassy to Kapilavatthu and saw the Yamakapātihāriya in Nigrodhārāma. Bimbisāra later built huts for them, but he forgot to roof them, and so there was no rain till the roofs were added.
In the time of Siddhattha Buddha, Valliya offered him a handful of flowers. ThagA.i.123; his verse is included in the Thag. (vs. 53).
2. Valliya Thera. He was the son of an eminent brahmin of Sāvatthi, and, owing to his good friends, he met the Buddha and joined the Order, soon after attaining arahantship. Thirty one kappas ago he saw the Pacceka Buddha Nārada at the foot of a tree, and built for him a hut of reeds, which he thatched with grass, together with a cloistered walk strewn with sand. He was seventy one times king of the devas and thirty four times king of men. ThagA.i.247; two verses in the Thag. (125-6) are attributed to him.
He is probably identical with Nalāgārika of the Apadāna. Ap.i.278f.
3. Valliya Thera. He belonged to a brahmin family of Vesāli, and was named Gandimitta (v.l. Kanhamitta). Much struck by the Buddha when he came to Vesāli, he joined the Order under Mahā Kaccāyana. Because he was dull of insight and depended too much on his colleagues, he was called Valliya (creeper), like the ivy which must lean on something in order to grow. Later, following the advice of Venudatta Thera, he developed insight.
In the time of Sumedha Buddha he was a rich brahmin, well versed in learning. Later, he renounced eighty crores of wealth, and, after becoming an ascetic, lived on a river bank. There the Buddha visited him, and, seated on an antelope skin, preached the Doctrine. The ascetic paid him great honour and gave him mangoes and perfume and flowers.
In the Apadāna verses, quoted in ThagA., it is said that Valliya was born in the city of Vebhāra, built by Vissakamma, and that he left the household at the age of five. ThagA.i.292f.; two verses addressed by him to Venudatta are included in the Thag. (167-8).
He is probably identical with Candanamāliya of the Apadāna. Ap.ii.423f.