Ud3.2 Nanda Overcomes Sexual Lust: talk by Piya Tan

(Arahatta) Nanda Sutta (Ud3.2)

Nanda, a member of the kshatriya class, is the son of Suddhôdana and Mahā Pajāpatī Gotamī, sister of Mahā Māyā, also Suddhôdana’s co-wife. As such, Nanda is the Buddha’s half-brother. Nanda has a younger sister, called Nandā. Nanda is born only a few days after the Buddha, and when Mahā Māyā dies, Pajāpatī becomes his foster-mother, suckling him herself (AA 1:340).
1.1.1.2 He is said to have been called Nanda (“delightful”) because his birth brought joy to his parents and kinsmen, and also that he has the bearings of a world monarch (cakka,vatti). Not only is Nanda very handsome, but according to the Vinaya, he is less than 4 fingers’ breadth than the Buddha in height.
1.1.1.3 His beloved is also named Nandā, better known as Janapada Kalyāṇī Nandā, where janapada,kalyāṇī is probably simply an epithet, and not her name. Obviously, Nanda sees his beloved as “the country’s beauty” or the most beautiful of the Sakya women. It is also possible that Nandā is not her real name either, but an epithet meaning, “one belonging to Nanda.”