Nagasena

Nāgasena
Nagasena, 9th century CE painting
Years activearound 150 BC
King Milinda and Nāgasena.

Nāgasena was a Sarvāstivādan Buddhist sage who lived around 150 BC. His answers to questions about Buddhism posed by Menander I (Pali: Milinda), the Indo-Greek king of northwestern India, are recorded in the Milindapañhā and the Sanskrit Nāgasenabhiksusūtra.[1] According to Pali accounts, he was born into a Brahmin family in the Himalayas and was well-versed in the Vedas at an early age. However, he later converted to Buddhism.[2]

  1. ^ Buswell, Robert Jr; Lopez, Donald S. Jr., eds. (2013). "Nagasena", in Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. ISBN 9780691157863.
  2. ^ Buswell, Robert; Lopez, Donald (2014). The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism. Princeton University Press. p. 562. ISBN 9780691157863.