1On one occasion the Venerable Nagadatta was dwelling among the Kosalans in a certain woodland thicket. [n.545] He is not identified in Spk, and DPPN records nothing about him except what is found in the present sutta. Now on that occasion the Venerable Nagadatta had been entering the village too early and returning too late in the day. Then the devata that inhabited that woodland thicket, having compassion for the Venerable Nagadatta, desiring his good, desiring to stir up a sense of urgency in him, sn.i.201 approached him and addressed him in verses:

2v.778 "Entering the village early,
Returning late in the day,
Nagadatta associates too closely with lay folk,
Sharing their happiness and suffering. [n.546] I follow the reading of this verse and the next proposed by Alsdorf (in Die Arya-Strophen des Pali-Kanons, pp. 319–20), but with modifications suggested by VĀT (namely, changing Alsdorf's long vocative Nagadatta to the nominative, and the four long vocatives in the second verse to accusatives, as in the printed eds.):
Kale pavissa gamaṁ/Nagadatto diva ca agantva
ativelacārī saṁsaṭṭho/gahaṭṭhehi samānasukhadukkho.
Bhāyāmi Nāgadattaṁ/suppagabbhaṁ kulesu vinibaddhaṁ,
mā h’ eva maccurañño/ balavato antakassa vasam esi!
“Entering the village too early and returning too late in the day” and “associating closely with lay people and monks in a worldly way” are two of five factors said to lead to a bhikkhu’s falling away from the higher training (AN III 116, 27-117, 7). The meaning of the compound samānasukhadukkha is explained at 22:3 (III 11,5-6), though the compound itself does not occur there. The same compound is used at DN III 187,11-15 in a positive sense as a characteristic of a true friend.

3v.779 "I am afraid for Nagadatta,
So impudent, bound to families.
Do not come under the End-maker's control,
In the grip of the powerful King of Death."

4Then the Venerable Nagadatta, stirred up by that deity, acquired a sense of urgency.

1Ekaṁ samayaṁ āyasmā nāgadatto kosalesu vihārati aññatarasmiṁ vanasaṇḍe. Tena kho pana samayena āyasmā nāgadatto atikālena gāmaṁ pavisati, atidivā paṭikkamati. Atha kho yā tasmiṁ vanasaṇḍe adhivatthā devatā āyasmato nāgadattassa anukampikā atthakāmā āyasmantaṁ nāgadattaṁ saṁvejetukāmā yenāyasmā nāgadatto tenupasaṅkami; upasaṅkamitvā āyasmantaṁ nāgadattaṁ gāthāhi ajjhabhāsi:

2"Kāle pavisa nāgadatta,
Divā ca āgantvā ativelacārī;
Saṁsaṭṭho gāhaṭṭhehi,
Samānasukhadukkho.

3Bhāyāmi nāgadattaṁ suppagabbhaṁ,
Kulesu vinibaddhaṁ;
Mā heva maccurañño balavato,
Antakassa vasaṁ upesī"ti.

4Atha kho āyasmā nāgadatto tāya devatāya saṁvejito saṁvegamāpādīti.