Therigatha

The Psalms of the Elder Nuns, the oldest surviving collection of women's religious literature in the world.

Core Characteristics

• Seventy-three poems in the Pali Canon's Khuddaka Nikaya, spoken by the first Buddhist nuns.
• The verses tell of freedom won: from household grief, from caste, from a husband's leash, into the order's independence.
• A companion to the Theragatha of the monks, but with its own distinct voice and subjects.

Related Concepts & Sources

Buddhist, Pali Canon, Theragatha