An arahant. He came of a brahmin family of Sāvatthi and entered the Order, but from want of mental balance he could not concentrate his thoughts. Then, one day, while begging for alms, he saw how men conducted water whither they wished by digging channels, how the fletcher fixed the arrow shaft in his lathe surveying it from the corner of his eye, how the chariot-makers planed axle and tire and hub. Dwelling on these things, he soon attained arahantship.
In the past he was a park-keeper, and gave a coconut to the Buddha Vipassī, which the Buddha accepted while travelling through the air (ThagA.i.71f).
Perhaps he is to be identified with Nālikeradāyaka Thera of the Apadāna (ii.447f). The same Apadāna-verses, however, are also ascribed to Khitaka Thera (ThagA.i.315f).
The verse attributed to Kundala in the Theragāthā (Thag.19) occurs twice in the Dhammapada, and is in the Dhammapada Commentary mentioned as having been preached once in reference to Pandita-Sāmanera (DhA.ii.147), and once in reference to Sukha-Sāmanera (DhA.iii.99).