Assaji

Aśvajit (; ) was one of the first five arhants of Gautama Buddha. He is known for his conversion of Śāriputra and Maudgalyāyana, the Buddha's two chief male disciples, counterparts to the nuns Kṣemā and Utpalavarṇā, the chief female disciples. He lived in what is now Uttar Pradesh and Bihar in northern India, during the 6th century BCE.

== Background == Assaji was born into a scholar family. His father was one of the eight scholars who were invited by Suddhodana, the monarch of the Sakyan kingdom to Kapilavastu to read the fortune of his son Siddhartha. Assaji's father and six of the other had predicted that Siddhartha would either become a great religious leader or a great military monarch. Kaundinya, the youngest was the only one to confidently state that Siddhartha would become a Buddha. As a result, when Siddhartha renounced the world, Kondanna and Assaji, as well as Bhaddiya, Vappa and Mahanama, three sons of three of the scholars joined Siddhartha in the ascetic life. The five joined Siddhartha in self-mortification practices at Uruvela. When Siddhartha abandoned this practice to follow the Middle Way, they left him in disappointment, believing he had become indulgent.