Bindu-ra the Rhinoceros Arhat

Venerable Bindurāja was born into a Brahmin aristocratic family and originally served as royal preceptor to King Udayana of Kauśāmbī, wielding immense influence at court. After experiencing worldly splendour, he experienced a profound awakening, renounced secular life to follow the Buddha, and attained the fruition of an Arhat. Legend recounts that he once rode a white deer into the royal palace to deliver Dharma teachings, converting both the king and his ministers to Buddhism—hence his epithet 'Sit-on-the-Deer Arhat'. His iconographic association with the tamed deer symbolises the relinquishment of attachment to wealth and status and a return to natural authenticity. Scriptural accounts state that he remains in the world for an extended period to safeguard and uphold the Dharma, receiving veneration and offerings from devotees, and is revered as the foremost of the Sixteen Arhats.