Ambapali Ambapālī
Buddhist nun · Vesali, India · c. 5th century BC
A celebrated courtesan of Vesali who met the Buddha and became a nun. The song in which she goes over her ageing body part by part is preserved in the Therigatha.
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c. 5th century BC
Black as the colour of bees, curled at the tips, was the hair of my head. With age it has become like hemp bark. The words of the Speaker of Truth do not prove false.
Kāḷakā bhamaravaṇṇasādisā, Vellitaggā mama muddhajā ahuṁ; Te jarāya sāṇavākasādisā, Saccavādivacanaṁ anaññathā.
Therigatha (Verses of the Elder Nuns) 13.1, the song of Ambapali
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