Puṇṇā
c. 5th century BC · ancient India · Her reply when the brahmin says that washing in water frees one from evil deeds. At the end of the poem he accepts what she says.
Then surely they will all go to heaven: every frog and every turtle, the water-snakes and the crocodiles, and whatever else lives in the water.
Saggaṁ nūna gamissanti, sabbe maṇḍūkakacchapā; Nāgā ca susumārā ca, ye caññe udake carā.
Therīgāthā (Verses of the Elder Nuns) 12.1
In the same thread
Sunīta
c. 5th century BC · ancient India · In the verses that follow he tells how he met the Buddha and asked to go forth, and the Buddha said, “Come, monk.”
I was born in a low family, poor, with little to eat. My work was lowly: I cleared away withered flowers. Loathed by people, looked down on and scorned, I made my mind humble and bowed to many.
Nīce kulamhi jātohaṁ, daliddo appabhojano; Hīnakammaṁ mamaṁ āsi, ahosiṁ pupphachaḍḍako. Jigucchito manussānaṁ, paribhūto ca vambhito; Nīcaṁ manaṁ karitvāna, vandissaṁ bahukaṁ janaṁ.
Theragāthā (Verses of the Elder Monks) 12.2
Puṇṇā
c. 5th century BC · ancient India · The opening verse, looking back on her days as a slave carrying water. She goes on to ask a brahmin, shivering as he bathes in the river, what it is he fears.
I was a water-carrier. Even in the cold I always went down into the water, afraid of my mistresses' sticks, in terror of their words and their anger.
Udahārī ahaṁ sīte, sadā udakamotariṁ; Ayyānaṁ daṇḍabhayabhītā, vācādosabhayaṭṭitā.
Therīgāthā (Verses of the Elder Nuns) 12.1
Sumaṅgala
c. 5th century BC · ancient India · The song of a monk who had been a farmer. It pairs with the nun Muttā's song of being freed from mortar and pestle.
Well freed, well freed, so well freed am I from three crooked things: from my sickles, from my ploughs, from my little hoes.
Sumuttiko sumuttiko, Sāhu sumuttikomhi tīhi khujjakehi; Asitāsu mayā naṅgalāsu mayā, Khuddakuddālāsu mayā.
Theragāthā (Verses of the Elder Monks) 1.43
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