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Grammatical Analysis
Therīgāthā: [f.] Verses of the Elder Nuns. Formed by therī (elder nun) + gāthā (verse, poem).
Orthodox Definition
The Therīgāthā is the ninth book of the Khuddaka Nikāya. It contains 522 verses spoken by 73 fully enlightened female disciples (Arahats).
It is widely considered one of the oldest collections of women’s literature in the world. Like the Theragāthā, these are triumphant poems of liberation. The nuns recount their past sufferings—loss of children, domestic abuse, prostitution, the physical decay of aging, and the heavy burdens of the household life—and how the Dhamma provided them with absolute freedom.
The text serves as the ultimate canonical proof of the Theravāda doctrine that women possess the exact same spiritual capacity to achieve Arahatship as men, experiencing the identical taste of liberation.
To fully understand these verses, which are often deeply personal, one must rely on the traditional commentary, the Therīgāthā-aṭṭhakathā. Its formal title is the Paramatthadīpanī (“The Elucidation of the Ultimate Meaning”), traditionally attributed to Ācariya Dhammapāla. This commentary provides the essential biographical details and the specific events that prompted each bhikkhuni to speak her verses of realization.
Quote
bhassarā surucirā yathā maṇī, nettahesumabhinīlamāyatā;
te jarāyabhihatā na sobhare, saccavādivacanaṃ anaññathā.
“My eyes were luminous, very beautiful, like sapphires, dark blue and long. Now, struck by old age, they do not shine. The word of the Truth-speaker is not otherwise.”— Ambapālītherīgāthā (Thig 257)
Textual References
- Canonical: Paṭācārātherīgāthā – The heartbreaking yet triumphant verses of a woman who went mad after losing her entire family, regained her sanity through the Buddha, and attained Arahatship while watching water wash over the earth.
- Canonical: Ambapālītherīgāthā – The former famous courtesan ruthlessly dissects the impermanence of her once-beautiful body.
- Commentary: Therīgāthā-aṭṭhakathā (formally titled Paramatthadīpanī) – Dhammapāla’s essential commentary, which provides the background narratives explaining the circumstances of each bhikkhuni’s realization.