Gayā
Gayā:One of the three Kassapa brothers,the Tebhātika-Jatilā (q.v.).On leaving the world with his brothers and becoming an ascetic,he gathered round him a company of two hundred other ascetics.They all lived at Gayāsīsa,hence his name (Gayāsīse pabbajito ti Gayā Kassapo nāma jāto).When Uruvela-Kassapa was converted,Gayā-Kassapa,with his followers,joined the Order,and at the conclusion of the Adittapariyāya Sutta they all became arahants (Vin.i.33f.; AA.i.165).Gayā-Kassapa is reported (Thag.v.345f) to have said that he used to bathe three times a day at Gayātittha,in order to wash away his sins during the festival of Gayāphaggu.
In the time of Sikhī Buddha he was a householder,and later became a forest-dwelling hermit.One day he saw the Buddha walking alone in the forest and offered him a kola-fruit (ThagA.i.417f).
He is evidently identical with Koladāyaka of the Apadāna.Ap.ii.379; see also ii.483.