Dictionary of Pali Proper Names v2.c26.141

v2.c26.141

Later, on seeing how eminently Nanda was trained in self-control, the Buddha declared him chief among his disciples in that respect (indriyesu guttadvārāṇam). Nanda had aspired to this eminence in the time of Padumuttara Buddha. In the time of Aṭṭhadassī Buddha he was a tortoise in the river Vinaṭā, and, seeing the Buddha on the bank waiting to cross, he took him over to the other side on his back.⁴ He is said to have been called Nanda because his birth brought joy to his kinsmen. The Apadāna⁵ says he was of golden hue, as reward for a gift of a costly robe given by him to Padumuttara. One hundred thousand kappas ago he became king four times under the name of Cela. Sixty thousand kappas ago he was again king in four births, under the name of Upacela. Later, five thousand kappas ago, he was four times cakkavatti, and his name then, too, was Cela.