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Yaśodharā or Yashodhara, originally known as ''Bhaddakaccānā'' (
Pāli Pāli (, IAST: pāl̤i) is a classical Middle Indo-Aryan language of the Indian subcontinent. It is widely studied because it is the language of the Buddhist ''Pāli Canon'' or '' Tipiṭaka'' as well as the sacred language of '' Therav� ...
) or ''Bhadrakātyāyani'' (
Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...
), was the wife of Prince Siddhartha prior to his renunciation to become a
śramaṇa A ''śramaṇa''; ; ; ; ) is a person "who labours, toils, or exerts themselves for some higher or religious purpose" or "seeker, or ascetic, one who performs acts of austerity".Monier Monier-Williams, श्रमण śramaṇa, Sanskrit-Eng ...
(ascetic). She was the mother of
Rāhula Rahul (Pāli) or Rāhula (Sanskrit; born ) was the only son of Siddhārtha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha, and his wife, princess Yaśodharā. He is mentioned in numerous Buddhist texts, from the early period onward. Accounts about R ...
, and the niece of Mahaprajapati Gautami. Later, she became a
Bhikkhunī A bhikkhunī (, ) is a fully ordained Buddhist nun. Bhikkhunīs live by the Vinaya, a set of either 311 Theravada, 348 Dharmaguptaka, or 364 Mulasarvastivada school rules. Until recently, the lineages of female monastics only remained in Mahay ...
and is considered an arahatā.


Life

Yaśodharā was the daughter of King
Suppabuddha Suprabuddha (Sanskrit), or Suppabuddha (Pali) was the maternal uncle and father-in-law of the Buddha according to the Mahavamsa genealogy and the Theravada commentarial tradition. He was also known as Mahāsuppabuddha. Suppabuddha is also t ...
and
Amitā The Gautama Buddha, Buddha was born into a noble family in Lumbini in 563 BCE as per historical events and 624 BCE according to Buddhist tradition. He was called Siddhartha Gautama in his childhood. His father was king Śuddhodana, leader of the S ...
. She was born on the same day in the month of Vaishaka as prince Siddhartha. Her grandfather was Añjana, a
Koliya Koliya (Pāli: ) was an ancient Indo-Aryan clan of north-eastern South Asia whose existence is attested during the Iron Age. The Koliyas were organised into a (an aristocratic republic), presently referred to as the Koliya Republic. Locat ...
chief, her father was
Suppabuddha Suprabuddha (Sanskrit), or Suppabuddha (Pali) was the maternal uncle and father-in-law of the Buddha according to the Mahavamsa genealogy and the Theravada commentarial tradition. He was also known as Mahāsuppabuddha. Suppabuddha is also t ...
and her mother, Amitā, came from a
Shakya Shakya (Pali, Pāḷi: ; Sanskrit: ) was an ancient Indo-Aryan clan of the northeastern region of South Asia, whose existence is attested during the Iron Age in India, Iron Age. The Shakyas were organised into a Gaṇasaṅgha, (an Aristocrac ...
family. The Shakya and the Koliya were branches of the Ādicca (
Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...
: Aditya) or
Ikshvaku dynasty The Solar dynasty or (; ), also called the Ikshvaku dynasty, is a legendary Indian dynasty said to have been founded by Ikshvaku. In Hindu literature, it ruled the Kosala Kingdom, with its capital at Ayodhya, and later at Shravasti. They ...
. There were no other families considered equal to them in the region, and therefore members of these two royal families married only among themselves. Yaśodharā was wedded to the Shakya prince Siddhartha when they were both 16. At the age of 29, she gave birth to their only child, a boy named
Rāhula Rahul (Pāli) or Rāhula (Sanskrit; born ) was the only son of Siddhārtha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha, and his wife, princess Yaśodharā. He is mentioned in numerous Buddhist texts, from the early period onward. Accounts about R ...
. On the night of his birth, the prince left the palace; his departure is called the Great Renunciation. Yaśodharā was devastated and overcome with grief. Once prince Siddhartha left his home at night for enlightenment, the next day, everyone was surprised by the absence of the prince. The famous Indian Hindi poet Maithili Sharan Gupt (1886–1964) tried to express the emotions of Yaśodharā in his eponymous poem about her, translated by Gurmeet Kaur:
Oh dear, if he would have told me, Would he still have found me a roadblock? He gave me lot of respect, But did he recognize my existence in true sense? I recognized him, If he had this thought in his heart Oh dear, if he would have told me.
Later, when she realised that he had left, Yaśodharā decided to lead a simple life. Although relatives sent her messages to say that they would maintain her, she did not take up those offers. Several princes sought her hand but she rejected their proposals. Throughout his six-year absence, Princess Yaśodharā followed the news of his actions closely. When the Buddha visited Kapilavastu after enlightenment, Yaśodharā did not go to see her former husband but asked her son Rāhula to go to the Buddha to seek inheritance. For herself, she thought: "Surely if I have gained any virtue at all the Lord will come to my presence." In order to fulfill her wish, Buddha came into her presence and admired her patience and sacrifice. King Suddhodana told Buddha how his daughter-in-law, Yasodhara, had spent her life in grief, without her husband. Also, there i
Naraseeha Gatha
a Buddhist verse which was recited by Princess Yasodhara to Rahula, explaining the noble virtues and physical characteristics of the Buddha after his enlightenment. "Gatha" refers to a poetic verse or hymn, often used in Buddhist scriptures to convey teachings or express devotion. Some time after her son Rāhula became a monk, Yaśodharā also entered the Order of Monks and Nuns and within time attained the state of an arhat. She was ordained as bhikkhuni with the five hundred women following Mahapajapati Gotami that first established the bhikkhuni order. She died at 78, two years before Buddha's
parinirvana In Buddhism, ''Parinirvana'' (Sanskrit: '; Pali: ') describes the state entered after death by someone who has attained '' nirvana'' during their lifetime. It implies a release from '' '', karma and rebirth as well as the dissolution of the '' ...
(death). In his book ''The Great Chronicle of Buddhas'', the Burmese monk
Mingun Sayadaw The Venerable Mingun Sayadaw U Vicittasārābhivaṃsa (, ; 1 November 1911 – 9 February 1993) was a Burma, Burmese Theravāda Buddhist monk, best known for his memory skills and his role in the Sixth Buddhist Council. In the , ''The Collective Sutra of the Buddha's Past Acts'', Yashodharā meets Siddhārtha Gautama for the first time in a previous life, when as the young
Brahmin Brahmin (; ) is a ''Varna (Hinduism), varna'' (theoretical social classes) within Hindu society. The other three varnas are the ''Kshatriya'' (rulers and warriors), ''Vaishya'' (traders, merchants, and farmers), and ''Shudra'' (labourers). Th ...
(ancient Nepali priest) Sumedha, he is formally identified as a future Buddha by the buddha of that era,
Dīpankara Buddha Dipankara (Pali: ''Dīpaṅkara''; Sanskrit: ', "Lamp bearer") or Dipankara Buddha is one of the Buddhas of the past. He is said to have lived on Earth four asankheyyas and one hundred thousand kalpas ago. According to Buddhists, Dipankara wa ...
. Waiting in the city of Paduma for Dīpankara Buddha, he tries to buy flowers as an offering but soon learns that the king already bought all the flowers for his own offering. Yet, as Dipankara is approaching, Sumedha spots a girl named Sumithra (or Bhadra) holding seven lotus flowers in her hands. He speaks to her with the intention of buying one of her flowers, but she recognises at once his potential and offers him five of the lotuses if he would promise that they would become husband and wife in all their next existences. In the thirteenth chapter of the ''
Lotus Sutra The ''Lotus Sūtra'' (Sanskrit: ''Saddharma Puṇḍarīka Sūtram'', ''Sūtra on the White Lotus of the True Dharma'', zh, p=Fǎhuá jīng, l=Dharma Flower Sutra) is one of the most influential and venerated Buddhist Mahāyāna sūtras. ...
'', Yaśodharā receives a prediction of future
buddhahood In Buddhism, Buddha (, which in classic Indo-Aryan languages, Indic languages means "awakened one") is a title for those who are Enlightenment in Buddhism, spiritually awake or enlightened, and have thus attained the Buddhist paths to liberat ...
from Gautama Buddha as does Mahapajapati.


Names

The meaning of the name Yaśodhara (Sanskrit) rom ''yaśas'' "glory, splendour" + ''dhara'' "bearing" from the verbal root ''dhri'' "to bear, support"is ''Bearer of glory''. The names she has been called besides Yaśodharā are: Yaśodharā Theri (doyenne Yaśodharā), ''Bimbādevī'', ''Bhaddakaccānā'' and ''Rāhulamātā'' (mother of Rahula). In the
Pali Canon The Pāḷi Canon is the standard collection of scriptures in the Theravada Buddhism, Buddhist tradition, as preserved in the Pāli language. It is the most complete extant Early Buddhist texts, early Buddhist canon. It derives mainly from t ...
, the name ''Yaśodharā'' is not found; there are two references to ''Bhaddakaccānā''. Several other names are identified as wives of the Buddha in different Buddhist traditions, including Gopā or Gopī, Mṛgajā, and Manodharā; Thomas Rhys Davids offered the interpretation that the Buddha had a single wife who acquired various titles and epithets over the years, eventually leading to the creation of origin stories for multiple wives.PERI, Noël. "LES FEMMES DE ÇĀKYA-MUNI". Bulletin De L'École Française D'Extrême-Orient, vol. 18, no. 2, 1918, pp. 1–37. JSTOR

Noel Peri was the first scholar to treat the issue at length, examining the Chinese and Tibetan sources as well as the
Pali Pāli (, IAST: pāl̤i) is a Classical languages of India, classical Middle Indo-Aryan languages, Middle Indo-Aryan language of the Indian subcontinent. It is widely studied because it is the language of the Buddhist ''Pali Canon, Pāli Can ...
. He observed that early sources (translated before the 5th Century) seemed to consistently identify the Buddha's wife as 'Gopī', and that after a period of inconsistency 'Yaśodhara' emerged as the favored name for texts translated in the latter half of the 5th Century and later.


Yasodharā's attitude to the Great Renunciation

Some non-scholastic publications say that Yasodhara was angry at the Buddha's departure, while others do not. Some studies say her anger was short-lasting: she was sorrowful not resentful. Scholars say that Yasodhara felt not anger, but sorrow, and a desire to emulate him, to follow him into renunciation: "On the day of his birth, the Prince left the palace. Yasodharā was devastated and overcome with grief. Hearing that her husband was leading a holy Life, she emulated him by removing her jewellery, wearing a plain yellow robe and eating only one meal a day." Eastern poetry likewise says Yasodhara was not angry and surprised at his departure; she was merely sorrowful: "Yasodharā’s grief is not anger at his departure. She has known from the beginning that to be a Buddha was his goal and she has shared his life and his efforts toward that goal in all their past existences in samsāra. She has done so with a full knowledge of what it means. What she cannot understand is that on this one occasion he has gone leaving her behind, alone, and without a word to her."


See also

*
Thero ''Thero'' (commonly appearing in the masculine and feminine forms ''thera'' and ''therī'' respectively) is an honorific term in Pali for senior bhikkhus and bhikkhunis (Buddhist monks and nuns) in the Buddhist monastic order. The word literall ...
*
Padmasambhava Padmasambhava ('Born from a Lotus'), also known as Guru Rinpoche ('Precious Guru'), was a legendary tantric Buddhist Vajracharya, Vajra master from Oddiyana. who fully revealed the Vajrayana in Tibet, circa 8th – 9th centuries... He is consi ...
* Women in Buddhism * Pabhāvatī * Mahapajapati Gotami * Suddhodana *
Gautama Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha (),* * * was a śramaṇa, wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist lege ...
* Sundari Nanda * Nanda


Notes


References


Literature

*''The Buddha and His Teaching,'' Nārada, Buddhist Missionary Society, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 1988, 784 p.

* 'Yasodhara and the Buddha,' Author: Vanessa R. Sasson, Bloomsbury Press, 2021,
''The First Buddhist Women: Translations and Commentaries on the Therigatha'' Author: Susan Murcott
*''Life of Princess Yashodara: Wife and Disciple of the Lord Buddha'' Suniti Devi, Devee, Sunity (Author) and Bhuban Mohen Murkerjie (Illustrator), Kessinger Publishing, 2003 (Reprint of the original 1929 edition), (13), (10), online
Life of Princess Yashodara: Wife and Disciple of the Lord Buddha (1929) : Devee, Sunity, Mukerjie, Bhuban Mohen: Amazon.sg: Books
Retrieved 21 September 2020. *''Yashodhara: Six Seasons Without You'', by Subhash Jaireth, Wild Peony Press, Broadway, NSW, Australia, 2003, *''Stars at Dawn: Forgotten Stories of Women in the Buddha's Life'', Author: Wendy Garling, Shambhala Publications 2016,


External links


A Mysterious Being: The Wife of Buddha
by Professor Andre Bareau, Université de France (Translated by Kyra Pahlen), the apparent source being a series of three articles published as ''Recherches sur la biographie du Buddha, Presses de l'École française d'extrême-orient,'' 1963, 1970 & 1971. (archived 2011)
Dipankara meets Sumitta and Sumedha
(archived 2011)

(archived 2012)
Cover 1929
by Radhika Abeysekera

Other Women's Voices (archived 2011) * {{Authority control, state=expanded Foremost disciples of Gautama Buddha Family of Gautama Buddha Arhats Indian Buddhist nuns