Sivaly God of Abundance, Fertility and Success
Sivaly
Once there was a righteous King and Queen named Koliya and Suppavasa. However, they are unable to conceive a child. The queen grew heavy with child but when the natural time for the birth arrived, she failed to deliver the baby. She grew uneasy as time passed by with still no signs of the birth, and asked the King to invite the Buddha and His retinue of monks for a meal. After the meal the Buddha blessed the queen by saying:
“May Suppavasa, daughter of the Koliya clan,Be happy and healthy and give birth to a healthy son.”
After receiving the Buddha’s blessings, Queen Suppavasa soon conceived a child. The unborn child brought great fortune to the kingdom. Not only did the queen receive many gifts from friends and relatives, the whole kingdom became prosperous. Crops grew in abundance and everyone was well-fed and healthy. As a mark of respect for the Buddha, who had eased the queen’s heavy burden with His blessings, invited the Buddha and his retinue to receive alms at the palace for seven days. They named the prince Sivaly, as from the time of his conception; the people’s hardships were alleviated through an abundance of rich crops.
Sivaly then, after receiving a visit from the Buddhist Monk Shariputra, felt in love with Buddhism, and he was overjoyed at Buddhism and agreed to join the order of Monks with his mother’s permission. The queen, who was a devoted follower of the Buddha, agreed. She escorted Prince Sivaly in procession to the monastery to be ordained. On the day of ordination when they shave his hair, Shariputra advised Sivaly to meditate on the impurities of the body. Sivaly, who was spiritually advanced resulting from previous wholesome actions, focused his mind as instructed. Before the completion of the shaving of his hair, Sivaly attained the supreme wisdom of Nibbána.
The monks soon noticed a strange phenomenon when they were with Sivaly as Sivaly always seemed to have an abundance of rich, fragrant food and the other requisites (robes, shelter and medicine). Monks who were with him also had the opportunity to share in the bounty. Wherever Sivaly went, people flocked around to prepare food for him. Donors offered Sivaly with all the requisites of a monk every time he went on his alms round.
Therefore, it was that wherever Sivaly traveled both people and devas supported him. He and his retinue of 500 monks were in an uninhabited forest for seven days, but they were not short of food. The Devas made sure that they fulfill all his requirements. Similarly, when Sivaly was traveling through the desert he was well provided with requisites.
The Buddha, seeing that Sivaly was fulfilling a previous aspiration in His reign, declared that he was foremost among the monks in obtaining requisites. He also instructed monks who were traveling on long, tedious journeys through uninhabited terrain be accompanied by Sivaly , as with him by their side they would be ensured of the requisites.
In fact, on one occasion when the Buddha and His retinue of 30,000 monks were traveling to visit the monk Khadhiravaniya Revata (Shariputra’s younger brother) they had to cross an uninhabited forest. Ánanda, fearing that they would not be able to obtain food in the jungle for such a large number of monks, questioned the Buddha about the logistics of the journey.
The Buddha assured Ánanda that they had nothing to worry about as Sivaly was with them. With Sivaly present, there would be no shortage of food because even the Devas reveled in taking care of his requirements. That’s true,all gods and unseen creatures in the jungle gathered to pay respect to Sivaly and brought a great deal of food for all. Since then, Sivaly had been a respected and revered monk in Thailand up to this day. Many will pray to Sivaly for fertility, abundance, protection and wealth.
