A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.
Overview
Nanda and Upananda have already come under the Buddha’s influence and visit the slopes of Sumeru to honour him on the eighth, fourteenth and fifteenth days of the month. Their example prompts the locally dwelling Girika and Sundara to seek his teaching. This opening notice supplies no physical description or exploit beyond their visits. Later in the chapter an actor approaches monks also named Nanda and Upananda; the narrative context does not establish that those human interlocutors are transformations of the Nāga kings.
Origins & earliest records
Indian Buddhist narrative preserved in Tibetan translation
Records & interpretation
Whole chapter and its footnotes directly read in the digitized1906 edition.
Selected bibliography
Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.
- 01
Tibetan Tales Derived from Indian Sources
XIII, The Over-reached Actor, pp. 236–246, opening p. 236; note cites Kah-gyur vii. ff. 221–229
- 02
Tibetan Tales Derived from Indian Sources — XIII The Over-reached Actor
Tibetan Tales Derived from Indian Sources, London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co., 1906, title-page transcription independently checked. Tibetan Kah-gyur to German by F. Anton von Schiefner, then German to English by W.R.S.Ralston. Complete selected XIII236–246 and XV253–256 with notes independently read; no independent Tibetan/German collation or whole introductory-book claim.
Family & connections
A source-supported family tree or inspiration record has not yet been compiled for this profile. Related reading below indicates a connection in subject matter, not a proven lineage or creative influence.
Primary records and illustrations
Schiefner/Ralston, Tibetan Tales Derived from Indian Sources (London, 1906)
XIII, The Over-reached Actor. XIII, The Over-reached Actor, pp. 236–246, opening p. 236; note cites Kah-gyur vii. ff. 221–229
Complete chapter and all notes read. Translation’s canonical locator retained; original Tibetan not independently inspected. Actual endings, explicit identities and comparative material kept separate, with no death/kinship/anatomy inferred beyond the telling.
Located primary passages
Specific passages supporting details in this entry, grouped by their published witness.
Tibetan Tales Derived from Indian Sources
Tibetan Tales Derived from Indian Sources, London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co., 1906, title-page transcription independently checked. Tibetan Kah-gyur to German by F. Anton von Schiefner, then German to English by W.R.S.Ralston. Complete selected XIII236–246 and XV253–256 with notes independently read; no independent Tibetan/German collation or whole introductory-book claim.
- The Nāga kings Nanda and Upananda, already under the Buddha’s influence, visit the Sumeru slopes on specified recurring lunar days to honour him. Girika and Sundara take their visits as an example for local reverence. Later in the same chapter, monks named Nanda and Upananda participate in the actor dispute; the shared names do not identify those monks with the opening Nāgarājas.
German-mediated English rendering and embedded reported biographies; original Tibetan texts and footnoted alternative works not collated. Page labels from transcription. No vow, religious formula, ritual instruction, medical preparation or verse copied.
References
Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.
- Historical translation of Buddhist narrativeSchiefner/Ralston, Tibetan Tales (1906), XIII, The Over-reached Actor, pp. 236–246, opening p. 236; note cites Kah-gyur vii. ff. 221–229Research access: 2026-10-05
Image credits
A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.