Dictionary of Pali Proper Names v2.c26.137

v2.c26.137

1. Nanda Thera.—Son of Suddhodana and Mahāpajāpatī, and therefore half-brother of the Buddha.¹ On the third day of the Buddha’s visit to Kapilavatthu, after the Enlightenment, the Buddha went to Nanda’s house, where festivities were in progress in honour of Nanda’s coronation and marriage to Janapadakalyāṇī Nandā. The Buddha wished Nanda good fortune and handed him his bowl to be taken to the vihāra. Nanda, thereupon, accompanied the Buddha out of the palace. Janapadakalyāṇī, seeing him go, asked him to return quickly. Once inside the vihāra, however, the Buddha asked Nanda to become a monk, and he, unable to refuse the request, agreed with reluctance. But as the days passed he was tormented with thoughts of his beloved, and became very downcast and despondent, and his health suffered. The Buddha suggested that they should visit the Himālaya. On the way there, he showed Nanda the charred remains of a female monkey and asked him whether Janapadakalyāṇī were more beautiful than that. The answer was in the affirmative. The Buddha then took him to Tāvatiṃsa where Sakka, with his most beautiful nymphs, waited on them. In answer to a question by the Buddha, Nanda admitted that these nymphs were far more attractive than Janapadakalyāṇī, and the Buddha promised him one as wife if he would live the monastic life. Nanda was all eagerness and readily agreed. On their return to Jetavana the Buddha related this story to the eighty chief disciples, and when they questioned Nanda, he felt greatly ashamed of his lustfulness. Summoning all his courage, he strove hard and, in no long time, attained arahantship. He thereupon came to the Buddha and absolved him from his promise.² When the Buddha was told of Nanda’s arahantship by a devatā, he related the Saṅgāmāvacara Jātaka (q.v.) to show how, in the past, too, Nanda had been quick to follow advice. He also related the story of Kappaṭa (q.v.) and his donkey to show that it was not the first time that Nanda had been won to obedience by the lure of the female sex. The male donkey in the story was Nanda and the female donkey Janapadakalyāṇī.³ Nanda is identified with the sub-king (uparājā) in the Kurudhamma Jātaka (q.v.).