Feminist Perspectives in Therigatha Poetry of the Buddhist Nuns

What is it about?

Indian school of spirituality in general and Buddhism in particular has been generally regarded as non-materialist schools of philosophy which speak of detachment from bodily cravings and desires. This paper shows how, despite talking of transcendence from the every day life and desires the poems composed by the Buddhist nuns in Therigatha, nevertheless uses metaphors that are intimately related to female body and desires, only to assert the feminine demands and then try to overcome the mundane attachments. Hence, the paper tries to show that although annihilation of desire is the ultimate aim, but this does not necessarily denotes denigration of the desires and the material realities that are regarded as womanish.

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Why is it important?

Focusing on feminist spirituality, this paper tries to reconcile the binary between the body and the soul, the mundane and the spiritual, female devotee as a servant and the devotee as a person with agency. This paper also tries to show how Buddhism allows agency of the women along with the acceptance of feminine desire and domestic attachments, only to move beyond these through transcendence.

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