A History of Indian Literature v2.c19.s5.89

v2.c19.s5.89

Buddhaghosa's commentary on the Aṅguttaranikāya, the Manoratha-Pūraṇī, contains about a hundred stories.² Among these we find, for example, thirteen extremely interesting legends from the lives of the Therīs, the first female disciples of the Buddha, which are exceedingly valuable by way of supplements to the Therīgāthās.³ The garland of legends which the Buddhist narrators have woven around their female saints, throws many side-lights on the actual life and feelings of those women who renounced the world in order to follow the Buddha. The section begins with the life-story, already told in the Vinayapiṭaka, of Mahāpajāpatī Gotamī, the aunt and foster-mother of Buddha, who became the first nun. This story, which has all the appearance of an historical event is followed by the wonderful legend of Khemā, the queen who is vain of her beauty, and, for a long time, turns a deaf ear to Buddha; but one day, in her presence, Buddha conjures up the apparition of a divine woman of the most entrancing beauty, who grows older and older before her eyes, until she stands there as a decrepit old woman, and finally sinks down dead; then she is reminded of the destiny which awaits her also, and she begs the king to allow her to enter the community of nuns. Another, Uppalavaṇṇā, is so beautiful that the princes of the whole of India woo her, and her father is in a terrible dilemma, out of which his brave daughter helps him by becoming a nun. The legend of Kisā-Gotamī and the mustard-seed also appears in this work. The most touching story is that of Paṭācārā, the gist of which is briefly given here: