As chief disciple Śāriputra assumed a leadership role in the Sangha, doing tasks like looking after monks, assigning them objects of meditation, and clarifying points of doctrine.

Śāriputra was known for his strict adherence to the Buddhist monastic rules, as well as for his wisdom and teaching ability, giving him the title "General of the Dharma" (Sanskrit: Dharmasenāpati; Pali: Dhammasenāpati).

[5] According to the Pāli Canon, in the distant past Śāriputra was born a wealthy person named Sarada who gave away his wealth to become an ascetic who developed a large following.

[6][7] Buddhist texts describe that Śāriputra was born with the birth name Upatiṣya (Pali: Upatissa) to a wealthy family in a village near Rājagaha in the ancient Indian kingdom of Magadha.

[20][27] Pali texts describe Sañjaya as a teacher in the Indian Sceptic tradition, with Upatiṣya and Kolita eventually becoming dissatisfied with his teachings and leaving.

[20][28] In Mūlasarvāstivāda texts, the Chinese Buddhist Canon and in Tibetan accounts, however, he is depicted as a wise teacher with meditative vision who becomes ill and dies.

[35] According to philosopher Paul Carus, the stanza breaks away from the idea of divine intervention prevalent in ancient Brahmanism at the time and instead teaches that the origin and end of all things depends on its causation.

[32][37][note 2] The two friends, along with a large chunk of Sañjaya's disciples, then ordained as monks under the Buddha, with everybody in the group becoming arhats that day except for Upatiṣya and Kolita.

[32][39][40] Nyanaponika Thera states that the friends required longer preparatory periods before enlightening in order to fulfill their roles as chief disciples.

[41] Several texts describe the ordination with miraculous elements, such as the disciples' clothes suddenly being replaced with Buddhist robes and their hair falling out on its own.

[32][42][43] Since they were newly ordained some of the monks in the assembly felt offended, but the Buddha explained that he gave them the roles because they had made the resolve to become the chief disciples many lifetimes ago.

According to commentaries such as the Atthakatha, Śāriputra took longer to achieve enlightenment than Maudgalyāyana because his knowledge had to be more thorough as first chief disciple, and thus required more preparation time.

Buddhist texts describe that Śāriputra routinely took charge of monastic affairs usually handled by the Buddha himself, such as attending to sick monks or visiting lay followers before their deaths.

Mūlasarvāstivāda texts state that Śāriputra used psychic powers to create a huge storm and transform himself into various forms, subduing the rival teachers and converting the residents of Savatthi.

[55] A Buddhist commentary describes that one time when the other monks had left to collect alms, Śāriputra meticulously cleaned and organized the monastery to keep heretics from criticizing the disciples.

[55] Maudgalyāyana then praised Śāriputra for his psychic abilities by being able to sustain a blow with little notice, described in the Patisambhidamagga text as an example of “the power of intervention by concentration” (Pali: samādhivipphāra-iddhi).

[82] According to Theravada tradition, the Abhidharma, or "Higher Dharma", is said to have been preached by the Buddha to devas while he was spending the rainy season in Tavatimsa Heaven.

It is said that the Buddha returned to earth daily to give a summary to Śāriputra, who classified and reordered the teachings and relayed it to his disciples, in what would become the Abhidharma Pitaka.

[85] French religion writer André Migot, argues that the Abhidharma was formulated no earlier than the time of Emperor Asoka, and thus cannot really be attributed to the historic Śāriputra, at least not the version known by modern scholars.

[89] Thomas also states that the Abhidharma had earlier roots and was developed based on existing material, likely a method of discussing the principles of the Buddha's teachings.

[94][95][96] Buddhist studies scholar Donald S. Lopez Jr. describes the latter as "intentional irony" aimed at depicting how profound Mahayana doctrine is by showing that even the wisest "Hinayana" disciple had difficulty understanding it.

[94] According to Buddhist scholar Edward Conze, the sutra depicts Śāriputra as being preoccupied with dualities, making him unable to grasp the true meaning of prajnaparamita.

[94] Religious studies scholar Douglas Osto argues that Śāriputra is portrayed as such in Prajñāpāramitā sutras due to his association with the Abhidharma, which teaches that dharmas are the final reality.

[109] According to accounts from the 7th century Chinese pilgrim Xuanzang, Śāriputra's as well as Maudgalyāyana's relics could be found in the Indian city of Mathura in stupas built by King Asoka.

C. Maisey discovered a pair of sandstone boxes with encased bone fragments inside during an excavation of one of the stupas in the city of Sanchi, with Śāriputra's and Maudgalyāyana's names inscribed on them in Brāhmī text.

[116] Another excavation by Cunningham and Maisey at stupas in the nearby town of Satdhāra found another pair of caskets with encased bone fragments with the two chief disciples' names inscribed.

[117] Scholars have also theorized that a Sunga king may have also have done a similar redistribution of the relics of the Buddha and his leading disciples and built stupas such as the one in Sanchi to enshrine them.

Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru agreed to make a "permanent loan" of a portion of the relics to Burma where they were enshrined in the Kaba Aye Pagoda in 1952.

[130] Indologist Alex Wayman describes Śāriputra as being exemplary of the four brahma-vihārās, and credits these virtues with why the Buddha entrusted him with leadership of the Sangha.

[9] According to Nyanaponika Thera, this imagery symbolizes the relative positions they held in life, with Śāriputra being the Buddha's right hand monk.