Source: Women of Ancient India
By: R. K. Moorkerji

Buddhism kept up the traditions Brahmanical religions in according to womanhood an honoured place in social life. Women were made eligible for admission to what was known as the Bhikshuni-Sangha, the Order of Nuns, which opened of them avenues of culture and social service ample opportunities for public life. The young Buddhist Church of those early days was also able to attract sympathy and generosity of many a lay lady. The munificence of the matron Visakha is equaled only by that o the merchant prince Anathapindika. Visakha was the head of an illustrious band which included names like Ambapali Visali and Suppiya of Banaras. The Buddha fully appreciated the hospitality and offers of financial support from individual women of sincere religious devotion. But apart from these remarkable characters Buddhist lay women, the Order of Nuns was the nursery which produced many learned women.

Some Buddhist nuns achieved great distinction by the prominent part they took in the work of the early Buddhist Reformation. In the commentary called Monorathapurani of Buddhaghosha on the Anguttara Nikaya there is an interesting chapter concerning those ladies whom the Buddha regarded as his chief disciples.

Among them were several who entered the Orders and were known as theris. Thirteen such theris were specially mentioned by the Buddha for their spiritual merit. The most distinguished of them was Dhammadinna. Her husband, on renouncing the world, offered her untold wealth. She proudly declined and she took to religious life, later becoming a teacher. It is stated that she attained such spiritual wisdom that her instruction was sought by her husband himself. She would solve difficult metaphysical questions with the ease of “one who severs the stalk of a lotus with the sword”.

The most renowned of these women leaders was Patachara, the bereaved mother who gave solace to 500 other bereaved mothers. One day, as they were having a meal, a wretched woman approached them for aims, childless widow disowned by her people on account of an infectious disease. Immediately the sister of Mercy, “the saviours and good shepherds of the heedless and the lost”, adopted her as one of their own. Some of these nuns are mentioned as being successful speakers and preachers, for example Sukka, to hear whom people flocked.

It will be apparent from these examples that the Buddhist convents opened out to women opportunities for education, self-culture and varied spheres of social service, in which they made themselves the supplementing their work in the spread of their faith.