Puṇṇā
Buddhist nun · ancient India · c. 5th century BC
An early Buddhist nun. She is said to have been born a slave in a rich household and to have worked as a water-carrier. Her exchange with a brahmin bathing in the river on a cold day survives as a poem.
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c. 5th century BC · 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
c. 5th century BC · 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
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