At one time when the Buddha was staying at Sāvatthī in the Jeta Grove, Anāthapiṇḍika’s Monastery, Migāra’s grandson Sāḷha wanted to build a dwelling for the Sangha of nuns. He went to the nuns and said, “Venerables, I wish to build a dwelling for the Sangha of nuns. Please get me the nun in charge of building work.” At that time four sisters had gone forth as nuns: Nandā, Nandavatī, Sundarīnandā, and Thullanandā. Of these, the nun Sundarīnandā had gone forth when she was young, and she was beautiful, intelligent, skilled, and diligent, and she possessed good judgment in regard to doing and arranging things well. After appointing Sundarīnandā to be in charge of building work, the Sangha made her work with Sāḷha. As a consequence of this, Sundarīnandā would often go to Sāḷha’s house to ask for tools, whether a machete, a hatchet, an ax, a spade, or a chisel. And Sāḷha would often go to the nunnery to find out about the progress of the building work. And because they saw each other frequently, they fell in love. But because Sāḷha could not find any opportunity to be intimate with Sundarīnandā, he invited the Sangha of nuns for a meal. When preparing the seats in the dining hall, he counted the number of nuns senior to Venerable Sundarīnandā and placed their seats to one side, and he counted the number of nuns junior to her and placed their seats on the other side. He then placed Sundarīnandā’s seat in a concealed spot in a corner. In this way the senior nuns would think she was seated close to the junior ones and the junior nuns would think she was seated close to the senior ones. Soon afterwards he informed the Sangha that the meal was ready. Sundarīnandā thought, “Sāḷha hasn’t prepared a meal for the Sangha as a service, but because he wants to be intimate with me. If I go, I will get into trouble.” She then told a nun who was her pupil, “Go and bring back almsfood for me. If anyone asks about me, tell them I’m sick.” “Yes, venerable,” she replied.