Nanda receives the Buddha's bowl to accompany him back to the monastery; his fiancee calls out to hurry back; eaching the monastery, the Buddha invites him to go forth as a monk
On the fifth day of the Buddha's first visit to Kapilavatthu there was a marriage ceremony between one of the Sakyan princes named Nanda and a princess named Janapadakalyani.
Nanda was the Buddha's half-brother. After the Buddha's mother, Mahamaya, passed away only a few days after the Buddha's birth, King Suddhodana took Pajapati Gotami, Mahamaya's younger sister, as his wife. Nanda was the son of King Suddhodana and Queen Pajapati Gotami.
When the Buddha went forth into the life of homelessness, the position of successor to the throne thus fell to Nanda. The King had planned that Nanda, after marrying, would ascend the throne and continue on from him.
On the day of the marriage, the Buddha had gone at the invitation of the King his father. After the meal, when the Buddha was preparing to return, he handed his bowl to Nanda, his younger brother, to carry for him on the way back. Nanda thought to himself that when they reached the gates of the palace the Buddha would turn around and take the bowl from him, but when they reached the gates , he did not do that. Nanda didn't dare thrust the bowl onto the Buddha, since he was the older brother, so he followed him all the way to the park where he was staying. Reaching there, the Buddha turned to Nanda and said, "Become a monk?"
Nanda held his brother in too high respect to refuse him, so he said, "Yes, Revered Sir."
Nanda did not ordain wholeheartedly, because he had been in the process of getting married. What's more, while he was leaving the palace with the Buddha's bowl in hand, Janapadakalyani, his betrothed, had called out to him, "Hurry back, my prince!" But he answered that he would ordain out of respect for the Buddha.
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