Dictionary of Pali Proper Names v2.c36.3992

v2.c36.3992

2. Sundarī-Nandā.—A Therī. She was the daughter of Suddhodana and Mahāpajāpatī and sister of Nanda Thera. Seeing that most of her kinsmen had joined the Order, she too became a nun, not from faith, but from love of her kin. Being intoxicated with her own beauty, she did not go to see the Buddha lest he should rebuke her. The rest of her story is very similar to that of Abhirūpa Nandā (q.v.). The Buddha preached to her and she became a sotāpanna. He then gave her a topic of meditation, and she, developing insight, became an arahant. Later she was declared foremost among nuns in power of meditation, an eminence which she had resolved to obtain in the time of Padumuttara Buddha.¹