Yasodharā

According to tradition, Siddhattha Gotama’s wife was named Yasodharā, although this is mentioned nowhere in the Tipiṭaka. There his wife is only ever referred to as Rāhulamātā, ‘Rāhula’s mother’. In the earliest reference to Prince Siddhattha’s wife, she is called Bhaddakaccānā, which was probably her real name (Bv.26,15). In the commentary she is called Bimbaadevii or sometimes Bimbaasundarii (Ja.II,392; IV,478). Yasodharā is an honorific meaning ‘fame-bearer’, and probably only in later centuries was thought of as a name. Other than this, there is almost no information about Siddhattha’s wife, although many legends later grew up around her. See Veils and Veiling.