The name of a tribe and a country, the capital of which was Sumsumāragiri.
The Buddha went there several times in the course of his wanderings (e.g., A.ii.61, A.iv.85, etc.; Vin.ii.127; iv. 115, 198) and three rules for the monks were laid down there (Vin.v.145).
Bodhi-rājakumāra (1), son of Udena of Kosambī, lived there, apparently as his father's viceroy, in which case the Bhaggā were subject to Kosambī. The C.H.I. (i.175) says that the Bhaggā were members of the Vajjian confederacy.
The Bhagga country lay between Vesāli and Sāvatthi.
It was while sojourning in the Bhagga country that Moggallāna was attacked by Māra entering into his stomach (M.i.332), and it was there that he preached the Anumāna Sutta (M.i.95). Sirimanda and the parents of Nakula were inhabitants of the Bhagga country, and Sigālapitā (ThagA.i.70) went there in order to meditate; there he became an arahant.
In the Apadāna (Ap.ii.359) the Bhaggā are mentioned with the Kārusā.