His answers to questions about Buddhism posed by Menander I (Pali: Milinda), the Indo-Greek king of northwestern India, are recorded in the Milindapañhā and the Sanskrit Nāgasenabhiksusūtra.

[2] There is almost universal agreement that a core text was later expanded by numerous other authors, following a question and answer pattern established in the early books.

There is no agreed-upon point at which Nagasena's authorship may be said to end (and the work of other hands begins), nor has this been perceived as an inherently important distinction by monastic scholars.

His traditional textile depiction shows him holding a khakkhara in his right hand and a vase in his left; an excellent example can be seen on one of the thangkas in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

)[4] More modern statues often show a bald, elderly monk scratching his ear with a stick to symbolize purification of the sense of hearing.