One of the five divisions of the Sutta Piṭaka.

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 chapters (vagga) and fifty-six sections (Saṃyutta), each Saṃyutta being again subdivided into minor chapters (vagga).

Buddhaghosa, wrote a Commentary on the Saṃyuttanikāya, called Sāratthappakāsinī.

The Saṃyuttanikāya is quoted in the Milindapañha. e.g., pp.137, 242, 377, 379; see also Vin.ii.306, where the Uposatha Saṃyutta is mentioned, but what is evidently meant is the Uposatha Khandhaka.

Kittisirirājasīha, king of Sri Lanka, had the Saṃyuttanikāya copied by scribes (Cv.xcix.33). One of the Saṃyuttas, the Anamatagga, was taught by Rakkhita in Vanavāsa (Mhv.xii.32) and by Mahinda in Sri Lanka (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.

Selections from the Connected Discourses of the Buddha translated by Bhikkhu Bodhi in E-pub format, from Reading Faithfully.org