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Therīgāthā 2.3 Verses of the Elder Bhikkhunīs Verses of the Senior Nuns 2.3
Dukanipāta Chapter of the Twos The Book of the Twos
Sumaṅgalamātātherīgāthā Verses of the Elder Sumaṅgala’s Mother Sumaṅgala’s Mother
“Sumuttikā sumuttikā, “Well released, well released, I’m well freed, well freed, This verse, like Thig 1.11, hinges on double entendres of kitchen drudgery and sex, and hence is playfully ambiguous. It is a Buddhist counterpart to Rig Veda 1.28, which parallels the act of sex with the pounding of mortar and pestle, situating the ritual in the kitchen. | The nun here is presumably the mother of the Sumaṅgala at Thag 1.43, whose verses are similar.
Sādhumuttikāmhi musalassa; I am well released and free from the pestle. so very well freed from the pestle! The pestle (musala) is the male, routinely paired with the female mortar (Śathapatha Brāhmaṇa 7.5.1.38).
Ahiriko me chattakaṁ vāpi, I am shielded from my shameless husband My shameless husband was most certainly a mushroom, The mortar was sixteen inches of rock hard wood (ŚB 1.1.4.7 and Eggeling’s note). I don’t think calling it a mushroom is meant as a compliment. On the other hand, if vāpi (“most certainly”) is emended to vāti (or vāyi), it is the wind that causes erections (Bu Pj 1:10.17.6, cf. RV 1.28.6), “my husband inflated like a mushroom” (which pops up out of nowhere).
Ukkhalikā me deḍḍubhaṁ vāti. and from the kettle that hisses like a water snake. my mortar wafted like an eel. I prefer “mortar” for ukkhalikā as the complement of “pestle”. Compare Sanskrit ulūkhala (or ulūkhalaka) throughout RV 1.28, and also ŚB 7.5.1.22, “the mortar is the womb of all breaths”. If the sense “little cauldron” is preferred, see ŚB 6.6.2.8, “the cauldron is female, the fire male” (also ŚB 7.1.1.42). The two terms are used in the same passage in this sense at ŚB 7.5.1.26. | Deḍḍubha is a “water-snake” or eel (Kd 15:29.2.2). But it is also a spelling of “drum”, in which case we might emend vāti to vādi, yielding “my mortar was drum-sounding”, as the mortar “sounds” when pounded like the “drum of victors” (RV 1.28.5). | For vāti in the sense, “waft an odor”, see Vv 38:6.3.
Rāgañca ahaṁ dosañca, Hiss! Hiss! I destroy Greed and hate sizzle and hiss
Cicciṭi cicciṭīti vihanāmi; passion and aversion. as I squelch them.
Sā rukkhamūlamupagamma, Having gone to the root of a tree, Having gone to the root of a tree,
Aho sukhanti sukhato jhāyāmī”ti. ‘O bliss!’ I happily meditate.” I meditate happily, thinking, “Oh, what bliss!”
… Sumaṅgalamātā therī …. The Elder Sumaṅgala’s Mother