Handsome Nanda

by Ashvaghosha, Linda Covill (Translator)

Nanda has it youth, money, good looks and a kittenish wife who fulfills his sexual and emotional needs. He also has the Buddha, a dispassionate man of immense insight and self-containment, for an older brother. When Nanda is made a reluctant recruit to the Buddha's order of monks, he is forced to confront his all-too-human enslavement to his erotic and romantic desires. Dating from the second century CE, Ashva·ghosha’s Handsome Nanda portrays its hero’s spiritual makeover with compassion, psychological profundity, and great poetic skill.
Co-published by New York University Press and the JJC Foundation
For more on this title and other titles in the Clay Sanskrit series, please visit

Genres: Poetry, Buddhism, Religion, India

387 pages, Hardcover

First published February 1, 1985

About the author

See also: Aśvaghoṣa

Reviews

[Pramod Pant · Rating 4 out of 5]

By the great Ashwaghosh, this juxtaposes The Buddha and his cousin. Interesting for those keen about early Buddhism and it’s bifurcation issues.

Interesting tidbits also come along . One I recall is that both the lion and tiger are mentioned in this 2000 year old book. So , tiger had arrived in western India by then and into Sanskrit literature too. I had read somewhere that early Sanskrit used only Singha (lion) and not Vyaghra (tiger)

[Izzy · Rating 2 out of 5]

The ultimate how to not be horny guide that is...like...kinda smutty?

[Charvi · Rating 2 out of 5]

It wasn't that bad in the beginning and actually kind of interesting. But then many questionable and strange things came up as the story went along and the last few cantos were basically a lecture on Buddhism.

If you're reading this for academic purposes then it's not that bad but I won't recommend reading it for pleasure.

[Mary Noorlander · Rating 3 out of 5]

he should have stayed with his hot wife

[Lulu]

First half of 2nd CE