A ship was once wrecked in mid ocean and only a man called Karambiya survived. He was cast upon an island, where he wandered about naked and destitute. The people thought he was an ascetic and built him a hermitage. Among his followers were a Garuḷa king, and also a Nāga king named Paṇḍara (or Paṇḍaraka). One day, at the instigation of the Garuḷa, the ascetic wheedled out of Paṇḍara the secret of how the Nāgā prevented themselves from being carried off by the Garuḷā. They swallowed large stones, thus making themselves very heavy. If the Garuḷā seized them by their tails, they would have to disgorge the stones and could easily be carried off. Karambiya betrayed this secret to the Garuḷa king who, thereupon, seized Paṇḍara in the right way and carried him away. Paṇḍara begged for mercy, and the Garuḷa set him free, warning him never again to tell his secret. Thereafter the Garuḷa and Paṇḍara lived as friends. Paṇḍara cursed Karambiya and his head split in seven pieces.

The story was related in reference to the wickedness of Devadatta, who is identified with Karambiya.

Paṇḍara was Sāriputta and the Garuḷa the Bodhisatta. J.v.75 ff; vi.177.