Therigatha

Topic: Buddhism, Jainism and Heterodox Traditions · NCERT: Class 12, Ch 4 "Thinkers, Beliefs and Buildings"

Meaning

The Therigatha ("verses of the theris") is a collection of Pali poems written by bhikkhunis (Buddhist nuns). It is part of the Sutta Pitaka and sits inside its Khuddaka Nikaya section [4][5]. It matters because it is a rare text in which ancient Indian women speak in their own words about their lives and their spiritual search.

Explanation

Background: women enter the sangha

• The Buddha set up the sangha (an organisation of monks). Monks there were both learners and teachers of dhamma (the Buddha's teaching).
• At first, only men were allowed in.
• Women came in later. The Buddha's dear disciple Ānanda spoke up for them.
• Mahāpajāpatī Gotamī, the Buddha's foster mother, became the first bhikkhunī.
• Many women became teachers of dhamma. Some became theris. A theri was a respected woman who had reached liberation, which means freedom from rebirth and suffering.
• The Therigatha is a collection of their verses. The name comes from theri + gāthā (verse).

Where it sits in the Pali canon

• The Pali Tipiṭaka ("Triple Basket") has three parts. One of them is the Sutta Pitaka, which holds the Buddha's teachings.
• The Sutta Pitaka has five sections. The fifth and last is the Khuddaka Nikaya ("Short Collection"). It holds the main poetic works of the canon [4][5].
• The Therigatha belongs to the Khuddaka Nikaya [4][5].
• It has a paired text, the Theragatha, which holds the verses of monks [4].

Main features

• Who speaks: about 100 nuns. The Theragatha has verses by 264 monks [4].
• Form: the poems use about 30 different metres [4]. A metre is a pattern of rhythm in poetry.
• Content: the nuns describe both their social experiences (family, marriage, loss, work, poverty) and their spiritual experiences (giving up worldly life and finding freedom).
• Value as a source: the verses tell us a lot about the position of women in ancient India [4]. Women seldom speak for themselves in ancient Indian writing.

The Punna episode: arguing against ritual

• Punna was a dāsī (slave woman) who carried water.
• She saw a Brahmana bathing in the river to wash away his sins. She mocked him: if water could free a person from evil, "all the frogs and turtles would go to heaven, and so would the water snakes and crocodiles!"
• What this shows:
• Ritual alone does not make a person pure. Conduct matters more.
• A slave woman openly argues with a Brahmana. The new faith gave a voice to people whom the old varna order (rank by birth) kept silent.

Time, place and evidence

• Period: it belongs to early Buddhism, from c. 6th century BCE onward. The exact dates when the verses were composed and compiled are uncertain.
• Region: the middle Ganga plain, where the Buddha taught and the sangha first grew. This was a world of new mahajanapadas, cities, trade and coins.
• Key people:
• Mahāpajāpatī Gotamī, the first bhikkhunī.
• Ānanda, who helped women enter the sangha.
• Punna, the slave water-carrier.

• The theris in general.

• Language: Pali.

• How we know: the text itself survives in the Pali Tipiṭaka, inside the Khuddaka Nikaya of the Sutta Pitaka [4][5]. Other Buddhist texts back up the story it tells. They agree that the Buddha first allowed only men and later permitted women to take vows, and that the women's order never grew as large as the men's [2].

Don't confuse with

• Theragatha: verses by 264 monks. The Therigatha has verses by about 100 nuns [4]. The two texts are a pair inside the Khuddaka Nikaya.
• Vinaya Pitaka: holds the rules of monastic life, such as keeping a felt blanket for at least six years. It is the oldest and smallest basket of the Tipiṭaka [3]. The Therigatha is poetry in the Sutta Pitaka, not a book of rules.
• Theri vs bhikkhunī: every theri was a bhikkhunī, but not every bhikkhunī was a theri. A theri was a nun who had reached liberation.
• Mahāpajāpatī Gotamī vs Punna: Gotamī was the first bhikkhunī and the Buddha's foster mother. Punna was a dāsī water-carrier who mocked the Brahmana's ritual bathing.

Prelims Hooks

• The Therigatha is in the Sutta Pitaka. Within it, it belongs to the Khuddaka Nikaya, the fifth and last section [4][5].
• The Therigatha has verses by about 100 nuns. The paired Theragatha has verses by 264 monks. The poems use about 30 metres [4].
• Punna, a dāsī (slave) water-carrier, made the "frogs and turtles would go to heaven" jibe against ritual bathing.
• Mahāpajāpatī Gotamī, the Buddha's foster mother, was the first bhikkhunī. Women entered the sangha through Ānanda's mediation.
• Trap: the Therigatha is not part of the Vinaya Pitaka, which holds the rules for monks and nuns [3].
• Theri = a respected woman who had attained liberation.

Mains Points

• A rare source on women's lives. The Therigatha gives us the voices of about 100 nuns [4]. It is often called the earliest body of women's writing in South Asia. It helps historians study the position of women in ancient India [4] from women's own point of view, not only through texts written by men.
• A real opening, with limits. Women joined only after Ānanda spoke for them, and the women's order stayed smaller than the men's [2]. Answers should present this as limited access, not full equality: the sangha gave women a voice, but on terms first set by men.
• A challenge to ritual and to rank by birth. Punna's mockery attacks the idea that ritual alone makes a person pure. Because a slave woman speaks it to a Brahmana, it shows Buddhism valuing conduct over birth. This idea attracted the humbler folk, such as workers, slaves and craftspeople, who joined the sangha.

Related concepts

• Sangha
• Triratna of Buddhism
• Bhikshu and bhikshuni
• Majjhima Nikaya
• Ananda
• Mahapajapati Gotami

Read more

• The sangha and its followers