---
title: "Verses of the Senior Nuns · Therīgāthā"
author: "The Elder Nuns"
translator: "Bhikkhu Sujato"
languages: [pi, en]
shelf: "Pali Canon"
section: 4 of 16
url: https://scriptura.si/works/pali-therigatha/4/
cite: "The Elder Nuns, tr. Bhikkhu Sujato, Verses of the Senior Nuns · Therīgāthā, section 4. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/pali-therigatha/4/"
---

# Verses of the Senior Nuns · Therīgāthā

*The Elder Nuns, tr. Bhikkhu Sujato*

The first collection of women’s religious poetry: seventy-three nuns tell how they found freedom.

> Pali: the Mahāsaṅgīti Tipiṭaka (Buddha Jayanti edition, 2500), from SuttaCentral’s bilara-data, dedicated to the public domain (CC0).

> English: Bhikkhu Sujato, from SuttaCentral’s bilara-data, dedicated to the public domain (CC0). Notes are not included.

> Rows follow the segment numbers the two texts share, gathered into paragraphs; verse keeps its lines.

## 4. The Book of the Fours · Thig 4.1

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/pali-therigatha/4/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/pali-therigatha/4/#p-N

[¶0] Thig 4.1 · Bhaddā Daughter of Kapila

> Pali: Thig 4.1 · Bhaddākāpilānītherīgāthā

[¶1] Kassapa is the son and heir of the Buddha,
whose mind is immersed in samādhi.
He who knows his past lives,
sees heaven and places of loss,

> Pali: “Putto buddhassa dāyādo,
kassapo susamāhito;
Pubbenivāsaṁ yovedi,
saggāpāyañca passati.

[¶2] and has attained the end of rebirth:
is a sage of perfect insight.
It’s because of these three knowledges
that the brahmin is a master of the three knowledges.

> Pali: Atho jātikkhayaṁ patto,
abhiññāvosito muni;
Etāhi tīhi vijjāhi,
tevijjo hoti brāhmaṇo.

[¶3] In exactly the same way, Bhaddā daughter of Kapila
is master of the three knowledges, <j>conqueror of death.
She bears her final body,
having vanquished Māra with his legions.

> Pali: Tatheva bhaddā kāpilānī,
tevijjā maccuhāyinī;
Dhāreti antimaṁ dehaṁ,
jetvā māraṁ savāhiniṁ.

[¶4] Seeing the danger of the world,
both of us went forth.
Now we are tamed, our defilements have ended;
we’ve become cooled and quenched.

> Pali: Disvā ādīnavaṁ loke,
ubho pabbajitā mayaṁ;
Tyamha khīṇāsavā dantā,
sītibhūtamha nibbutā”ti.

[¶5] > Pali: … Bhaddā kāpilānī therī ….

[¶6] > Pali: Catukkanipāto niṭṭhito.