One of the five divisions of the Sutta Pitaka.
It consists of 7,762 suttas, (DA.i.17; Gv. 56) and, at the First Council, was given in charge of Mahā Kassapa and his pupillary succession (nissitaka). (DA.i.15).
The Nikāya is divided into five main Vaggas and fifty six sections, called Samyuttas, each Samyutta being again subdivided into minor Vaggas or chapters.
Buddhaghosa, wrote a Commentary on the Samyutta, called Sāratthappakāsinī.
The Samyutta Nikāya is quoted in the Milinda-Pañha. E.g., pp. 137, 242, 377, 379; see also Vin.ii.306, where Uposatha Samyutta is mentioned, but what is evidently meant is the Uposatha Khandhaka.
Kittisirirājasīha, king of Ceylon, had the Samyutta Nikāya copied by scribes (Cv.xcix.33). One of the Samyuttas, the Anamatagga, was preached by Rakkhita in Vanavāsa (Mhv.xii.32) and by Mahinda in Ceylon (Mhv.xv.186), soon after their respective arrivals in these countries, at the conclusion of the Third Council. The Nikāya has been translated into Burmese. Bode, op. cit., 92.