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Nandopananda: The Serpent King
Nandopananda is a compound which refers to a name of the Nāga king in Pali canon. However, in Chinese and Sanskrit Buddhist texts this term always refers to two Nāga-brothers as Nanda and Upananda in Chinese and Sanskrit Buddhist texts.

Nandopanandanāgarājadamana-kathā in Pāli Commentaries
Nandopanandanāgarājadamana-kathā, one of the thirteen teachings preserved in bka’ ’gyur, is a discourse of the heroic feats performed by Venerable Mahāmoggallāna who tames the serpent king Nandopananda. This discourse belongs to Pāli commentarial literature and was compiled by the two great commentators, Buddhaghosa and Dhammapāla, around the fifth century CE in Sri Lanka.

Nandopanandanāgarājadamana-kathā in Tibetan bka’ ’gyur and Related Discourses
Nandopanandanāgarājadamana-kathā is translated as Klu’i rgyal po dga’ bo nyer dga’ ’dul ba’i mdo in Tibetan with its Sanskrit title Nandopanandanāgarājadamana-sūtra. Different xylographs, such as, Lithang (1614), Derge (1773), Urga (1910), and Lhasa (1937) followed the same title of the text given in Butön’s list. However, the Lhasa xylograph, in which the Klu’i rgyal po dga’ bo nyer dga’ ’dul ba’i mdo is preserved, named this group called “mdo tshan chug sum po” meaning the group of thirteen sutras.

Historicity of Nandopanandanāgarājadamana-kathā
The commentary of Vinaya lists the name of discourses which were not included in the three councils, namely, the Kuḷumbasutta, the Rājovādasutta, the Tikkhindriya, the Catuparivaṭṭa, the Nandopananda and the Apalāladamana. Why the Nandopananda and others were not included we cannot say, but Buddhaghosa justifies the historicity of NNDK; stating that its inclusion in the list of paritta-s implies that it was taught by the Buddha himself. For example, the Bhayabheravasutta (MN 4) talks about how monks were advised to recite and chant the sūtra to get rid of some fear while dwelling in the forest

The Pre-dated Version of Nandopanandanāgarājadamana-kathā
A parallel story of Nandopananda can be found in Chinese canon where it is titled as Lung wang hsiung ti chin. This Chinese version of NNDK predates the Pāli commentarial sources by about two centuries for it was translated between 223 and 253 CE, by the translator Zhi Qian.

Nandopanandanāgarājadamana-kathā and Related Discourse in Other Literary Source
In Ekottarāgama translated by Saṁghadeva, there is also the story of taming two Nāga brothers, who were both Kings, Nanda and Upananda. There is no corresponding sutta in the Pāli tipiṭaka as it is contained in the extra-canonical texts. The similar story which consists of two parts can be also seen in No. 82 “Śikṣāpada of Entering into the Palace Gate” of the chapter “Pāyattika” in Mūlasarvāstivāda-vinaya. As it is not seen in other Vinaya texts, neither are their relevant precepts, this story might have been a later insertion.

It can be speculated that there were many other versions of the story as they are cited in other texts. For example, in the Mahāprajñāpāramitā-śāstra : “It is just like that is said in Taming Nandopananda Naga King Brothers Sūtra that Śrāvastī was in starvation.” However, such a description about starvation is not seen in the texts mentioned above.

In Sinhalese, it can be found in the Amāvatura (Ch. XIV) authored by the 12th century scholar Gurulugomī.