Kapimala
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Kapimala
迦毘摩羅・毘羅尊者 (n.d.) (Skt; Jpn Kabimara or Bira-sonja)
A native of Pataliputra in the Indian state of Magadha in the second century. The twelfth of Shakyamuni's twenty-three, or the thirteenth of his twenty-four, successors. Kapimala was originally a teacher of Brahmanism and tried to harass Ashvaghosha with his supernatural powers. Ashvaghosha refuted his tenets, however, and he converted to Buddhism along with his three thousand disciples. Later Kapimala propagated Buddhism in southern and western India and refuted many non-Buddhist teachers in debate.