Research Paper (Independent Study), 2025
The Therīgāthā (psalms of the elder nuns), part of the Buddhist Pali canon's Khuddakanikāya of Su... more The Therīgāthā (psalms of the elder nuns), part of the Buddhist Pali canon's Khuddakanikāya of Sutta Piṭaka, dates to the 6th century BCE and is credited as the world's first anthology of women's literature. This paper examines three interconnected themes revealing how patriarchal norms permeated early Buddhist textual and literary spaces. First, it explores how threats to maternal and marital identities catalyzed laywomen's renunciation, stressing the connection between these socially prescribed roles and women's identity. Second, it analyzes how male-defined beauty standards positioned the female body as an obstacle to spiritual liberation, exposing the male gaze underlying both attraction and disgust. Finally, it contrasts women's self-representation in the Therīgāthā with their portrayal in the male-authored Petavatthu Jātaka, revealing stark differences: where the Therīs emerge as complex spiritual seekers supported by fellow nuns, the Petavatthu casts laywomen as jealous, faithless, and antagonistic in their failures as ideal wives. Through comparative textual analysis, this paper argues that while Buddhism offered women unprecedented access to spiritual pursuits, the path itself remained fundamentally male-centric, recasting rather than dismantling patriarchal expectations.
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Papers by Aditi Sarkar