Nandopanandanagadamanakatha or the discourse of taming the Serpent Nandopananda is a tale of the heroic feats performed by Elder Mahamoggallana using his supernatural powers (abhinna). It belongs to Pali commentaries and the similar story is very popular among Theravada Buddhist countries with different titles such as Taming the Naga in sinhalese and the Royal Thai Version of Nandopananda Discourse in Thai.
According to the Tibetan MSS' Colophons of Nandopanandanagadamanakatha, it was translated into Tibetan with the name A Discourse on Taming the Serpent King Nandopananda by the great collaborative effort of two scholars of 14th century: Pandita Anandasri and Tibetan translator Nyi ma rgyal mtshan dpal bzang po.
It is very interesting to know its significance that not only Tibetans translated it but also recognised this discourse (katha as Sutra, which is preserved in the Kanjur section of Tibetan canon.
We also find similar stories of King Nandopananda in the Chinese version of the Ekottara-Agama, the Mulasarvastivadda-Vinaya, and most importantly an independent discourse called The Naga King Brothers Sutra, which was translated between 223 and 253 CE by Zhi Qian.
Taming the Serpent King Nandopananda: Historicity, Transmission, and Translation of Pali and Tibetan Discourse, Animesh Prakash, Aditya Prakashan, 182 pages, $25.00
Animesh Prakash is the Assistant Professor in Pali in the Department of Classical and Modern Languages at Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies, a Deemed University, Sarnath, Varanasi. Previously, he was serving as an Assistant Professor in Pali at K. J. Somaiya Centre for Buddhist Studies, Mumbai. His area of research is Pali language and Theravada Abhidhamma philosophy. Currently, he is working on the Transmission of Theravada discourses in the Tibetan Canon. He is doctorate in Pali language from Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi. He also studied Buddhist Studies and Tibetan Language at the University of Hong Kong, HK and Rangjung Yeshe Institute, Kathmandu, Nepal.
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