Bhadda Kundalakesa The Rebellious Intelligent Buddhist Nun

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Mahapajapati Gotami Buddha’s stepmother and Buddhist nuns (Dharma / CC BY-SA 2.0)

Bhadda Kundalakesa The Rebellious Intelligent Buddhist Nun

The Therigatha (Verses of the Elder Nuns) is a collection of short poems by and about the early enlightened women in Buddhism. These women were the theris (senior ones) among ordained Buddhist women. They bore that epithet due to their religious achievements. Most of the gatha (poems) in the anthology are the songs of their experiences. With some of its poems dating as early as the late sixth century BC, while the poems of the Therigatha are clearly nowhere near as old as the poetry of the Rg Veda, for example, which had been orally transmitted since the second millennium BC, the poems in the Therigatha are still some of the earliest anthologies in India.

Illustrated Sinhalese covers (inside), and palm leaf pages, showing the events between the Bodhisattva's renunciation and the request by Brahma Sahampati that he teach the doctrine after he becomes a Buddha (Wellcome Images / CC BY-SA 4.0)

Illustrated Sinhalese covers (inside), and palm leaf pages, showing the events between the Bodhisattva's renunciation and the request by Brahma Sahampati that he teach the doctrine after he becomes a Buddha (Wellcome Images / CC BY-SA 4.0)

As a collection, the Therigatha is also the first anthology of women’s literature in the world. Consisting of 494 poems, the Therigatha contains passages reaffirming the view that, in terms of spiritual attainment, women are equal men. It also contains verses that highlight the issues which were of particular relevance to women in ancient South Asian society at the time.


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