Which Buddhist text records dialogues between King Menander and the monk Nagasena?

The Buddhist text that records dialogues between King Menander and the monk Nagasena is the Milinda Panha, also written Milindapañha or Milindapañhā. Its title means “The Questions of Milinda,” with Milinda being the Pali form of Menander’s name.

The work presents a series of questions and answers on Buddhist philosophy, ethics, rebirth, perception, and the nature of the self. One of its best-known teaching devices compares a person to a chariot: no single part is the chariot by itself, yet the assembled parts are conventionally called one.

Menander I was an Indo-Greek ruler who reigned in the second century BCE, probably in northwestern South Asia. The text portrays him as an exceptionally learned king who debates Nagasena and eventually embraces Buddhism. Historians treat Menander as historical, but Nagasena and the precise dialogue cannot be independently verified.

The Milinda Panha is important but has a complex status. It is accepted as canonical in Burmese Theravada tradition, while it is generally treated as extra-canonical or paracanonical in Sri Lankan and Thai traditions.