{"id":2300,"date":"2020-07-05T15:04:50","date_gmt":"2020-07-05T15:04:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.itisaras.org\/projectdhaara\/?p=2300"},"modified":"2020-07-07T04:16:09","modified_gmt":"2020-07-07T04:16:09","slug":"therigatha-an-anthology-by-and-about-the-first-buddhist-women","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.itisaras.org\/projectdhaara\/2020\/07\/05\/therigatha-an-anthology-by-and-about-the-first-buddhist-women\/","title":{"rendered":"Therigatha: An anthology by and about the first Buddhist women"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

By Debopriya Bhattacharya<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Understood as an anthology by and about the first Buddhist women, Therigatha is also known\nto be the collection of some of the first poems by women in India. Formed by the two words,\ntheri<\/em> (elder Buddhist nuns) and Agatha<\/em> (poems), the word Therigatha literally translates to\n\u2018Verses of the Elder Nuns\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finding their origin in as late as the third century B.C.E., this collection of poetry has been\nreceived in the Pali language, the scholarly and religious language unique to the Theravadin\nBuddhist traditions. However, it is considered that the first Buddhist poems were written in a\nnumber of ancient Indian vernacular languages and then translated into the Pali language and\nreworked as the language evolved. Forming a key part of the Pali canon of Theravada\nBuddhism, this collection of poetry is known to have been written till the sixth century C.E.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Based on ideas about the nature of the world, as shared by early Buddhism with other Indian\nreligions, Therigatha is known to have 73 poems that have been organized into 16 chapters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But who were these elder Buddhist nuns who wrote this poetry?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Theris were essentially the early female followers of the Buddha who have been identified to\nhave converted to Buddhism due to an interplay of forces of two kinds. To quote Arvind\nSharma, \u201ca theri could either be drawn towards Buddhism by what she found compelling in it\nor she could be moved towards it by forces operating within her personal and social\nsituation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Therigatha is known to contain stories from the lives of these nuns, recorded in the form of\nverses while assuming the \u201cstandard Buddhist description of a person in impersonal terms,\n\n\u201cthe dhamma about what makes a person\u201d as stated in an essay \u2018Poems of the first Buddhist\nWomen\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To look deep into why these verses hold significance can be explained by the fact that these\nare the inspired utterances of enlightened women. But at the same time, it makes it important\nfor us to discuss how these enlightened women and their verses have been looked down upon\nor problematised in their companion text, Theragatha, understood as the verses of elder\nBuddhist monks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Since both these forms of poetry deal with the idea of transience of the physical body, an\ninteresting observation can be made in terms of how the methods to achieve liberation are\nunderstood and employed in each of these collections in a different manner. As stated in a\nresearch that discusses the comparative analysis between Therigatha and Theragatha, \u201cThe\nliberation for the theris, comes by observing their own bodies and through their own\nexperiences. The theras, on the other hand, achieve liberation by perceiving another, i.e. the\ndesirous woman and recalling to mind the images of putrefaction and decay of decomposing\ncorpses so as to establish \u2018disgust with the world\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It thus becomes a point to note how the Theragatha is comfortable in its position of\ndenouncing women fervently when in reality both men and women are spiritually equal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another interesting point to note is that these vividly detailed poems carry the stories of the\nnuns, free of self-pity and blame, or as how George-Therese Dickenson states, they (elder\nBuddhist nuns) \u201cturn their tragedies into steps toward spiritual understanding and freedom\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But then why is something written twenty-five hundred years ago relevant now? Sarah\nClelland in her review of \u2018Therigatha: Poems of the First Buddhist Women\u2019 says that \u201camong\nthe current discussions about bhikkhuni ordination and the continued marginalisation of\nwomen in some traditions, these verses speak to us across the centuries.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Therigatha is known to be one of the few Pali works which have entered the canons of\nmodern world literature in various translations as noted in a research article. The reason for\nthe same can be attributed to the attention given to the social realities of women in the poems.\nWhile speaking of growing old, depression, motherhood, childlessness, menopause, these\npoems at the same time reject materialism and celebrate friendship and intimacy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For instance, there are poems that speak of friendships that endure transition between lay life\nand ordained life and the enduring relationships between female teachers and female\nstudents, as noted by the various scholars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The verses of Therigatha reflect the praises of the four noble truths as sung by the theris:
\na) dukkha (suffering) b) tanha (cause of suffering or craving) c) nibbana (cessation of\nsuffering) d) ashtangika marg (eight-fold path leading to nibbana)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Besides, Therigatha can also be seen as records of the societal perspectives of the gender\ndifferences i.e. these verses don\u2019t acknowledge the basis of gender difference; an idea that\ncan be explained by the following verse (Soma in conversation with Mara\u2014 the evil one):
\nSoma: What harm is it\nto be a woman\nwhen the mind is concentrated\nand the insight is clear?
\n("If I asked myself:\n'Am I a woman\nor a man in this?'\nThen I would be speaking Mara's language.")
\n(Norman 1991: 158-159)<\/span>\n\n\n\n

Considered as a brilliant record of essential womanhood in the Therigatha, this verse can be\nunderstood in terms of Soma\u2019s dialogue where she questions, \u201cAm I a woman in these\nmatters, or am I man, or what not am I then?\u201d which is tantamount to coming under Mara\u2019s\nsway, as a research article on the same discusses. \u201cSelf-purification must be the goal for all\nirrespective of their sex\u201d as stated in the essay \u2018Voices from the Yore- Therigatha Writings of\nthe Bikkunis\u2019, makes it rather clear about how the path to nibbana or salvation can be\npursued without worrying about the injustices women might have to face, owing to their\ngender.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It thus won\u2019t be wrong to say that Therigatha, with its poetry resplendent with images of\n\u2018immense beauty\u2019 and \u2018horrifying decay\u2019, has had the ability to speak to us about ourselves\nand our world, making us see it in more insightful ways, a reason why it continues to resonate\nwith the readers of the 21 st century.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Therigatha literature is one of the most significant Buddhist literature, and is appreciated all over the world. This article aptly elaborates on why it is held with such high regard, and more.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":2316,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"quote","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[1579,1588,1612,1594,1593,1580,1584,1604,176,1609,1608,1605,1583,1598,1603,157,1607,1589,1616,1596,1606,1601,1602,1611,1614,1586,1581,1617,1595,1615,1592,1600,1613,1599,1610,1582,1591,1590,1587,1578,1597,1585,1618,107],"class_list":["post-2300","post","type-post","status-publish","format-quote","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","tag-anthology","tag-arvind-sharma","tag-ashtangika-marg","tag-bhikkhuni","tag-buddha","tag-buddhist","tag-buddhist-nuns","tag-childlessness","tag-depression","tag-dukkha","tag-four-noble-truths","tag-friendship","tag-gatha","tag-george-therese-dickenson","tag-growing-old","tag-india","tag-intimacy","tag-liberation","tag-mara","tag-marginalisation-of-women","tag-materialism","tag-menopause","tag-motherhood","tag-nibbana","tag-norman-1991","tag-pali","tag-poems","tag-salvation","tag-sarah-clelland","tag-self-purification","tag-sixth-century-c-e","tag-social-realities-of-women","tag-soma","tag-spiritual","tag-tanha","tag-their","tag-theragatha","tag-theravada","tag-theravadin","tag-therigatha","tag-therigatha-poems-of-the-first-buddhist-women","tag-verses-of-the-elder-nuns","tag-voices-from-the-yore-therigatha-writings-of-the-bikkunis","tag-women","post_format-post-format-quote"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itisaras.org\/projectdhaara\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2300","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itisaras.org\/projectdhaara\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itisaras.org\/projectdhaara\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itisaras.org\/projectdhaara\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itisaras.org\/projectdhaara\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2300"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/www.itisaras.org\/projectdhaara\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2300\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2330,"href":"https:\/\/www.itisaras.org\/projectdhaara\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2300\/revisions\/2330"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itisaras.org\/projectdhaara\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2316"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itisaras.org\/projectdhaara\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itisaras.org\/projectdhaara\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2300"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itisaras.org\/projectdhaara\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}