Mahākāḷa — The Book of the Twos · Chapter Two · Poem 6 of 10
Setting
No narrative frame stated; a charnel-ground-style contemplative image, without a translated attribution
Speaker
Mahākāḷa, describing a scene of dismembered bones and reflecting on attachment
Form
A five-line verse, longer than this book's usual four-line unit, followed by a standard four-line verse
Length
under 1 minute to read
Northern parallel
This reading guide does not assert a specific matching text for this poem in other Buddhist literatures.
Difficulty
★★★☆☆ — a visceral image, presented plainly and without elaboration
Why this text
Mahākāḷa describes a large, dark, crow-shaped woman breaking apart thigh-bones, arm-bones, and a skull, arranging them and sitting nearby — then reflects that an ignorant person who builds up attachments returns to suffering again and again, closing with a personal wish never to ‘lie with a broken skull’ again.
Reading guide
A charnel-ground image, stated plainly
The first verse describes a scene in the register of asubha, ‘foulness’, contemplation common to early Buddhist meditation practice: bones broken apart one by one and arranged nearby. The poem doesn't specify whether this is witnessed directly, recalled, or envisioned — this guide states only what the text itself describes, without adding narrative detail the poem doesn't supply.
A five-line verse, a third structural variation
This poem's first verse runs to five lines, a further variation from the book's standard four-line unit — distinct from the six-line extensions already seen at Thag 2.12 and Thag 2.14. Chapter Two's poems vary in length more freely than Chapter One's did.
Attachment, and a personal wish never to return
The second verse turns from image to reflection: an ignorant person who ‘builds up attachments’ (upadhi) ‘returns to suffering again and again’. The poem closes on a first-person wish — ‘may I never again lie with a broken skull’ — which this guide reads as an aspiration never to undergo this fate again through continued rebirth, though the poem itself doesn't spell out the connection explicitly.
A shared root between the speaker's name and the vision
Mahākāḷa's own name means ‘Great Dark One’, and the figure his verse describes is called ‘Kāḷī’, ‘the dark woman’ — the same root, masculine and feminine. Nothing in the text or in bilara-data comments on this shared root; this guide notes it only as an observable textual fact, not a claim about deliberate wordplay.
Key terms
dhaṅkarūpā — “crow-shaped” — describing the dark woman's appearance in the poem's opening line.
bhetvā — “having broken” — the repeated verb describing bones broken apart, one by one, across the first verse.
upadhiṁ — “attachment” or accumulation — what the second verse says an ignorant person builds up, leading to repeated suffering.
manda — “dullard” — who the second verse says returns to suffering again and again.
bhinnasiro — “with a broken skull” — the closing image of the poem's personal, first-person wish.
The text
The text in full: a five-line verse followed by a four-line verse. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
§1There’s a big black woman who looks like a crow. She broke off thigh-bones, first one then another; she broke off arm-bones, first one then another; she broke off a skull like a curd-bowl, and then arranged them and sat nearby.
§2When an ignorant person builds up attachments, that dullard returns to suffering again and again. So let one who understands not build up attachments: may I never again lie with a broken skull!
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Self-check quiz
Ten questions. Click an answer to see immediate feedback. No score is recorded — this is for your own checking.
Question 1 of 10
How does the first verse describe the dark woman's appearance?
Correct: A. Dhaṅkarūpā, opening the poem's central image.
Question 2 of 10
What does she do to the bones in the first verse?
Correct: C. A repeated action across thigh-bones, arm-bones, and a skull.
Question 3 of 10
How long is this poem's first verse, compared to the book's usual unit?
Correct: C. A third structural variation in this chapter, distinct from the six-line extensions seen earlier.
Question 4 of 10
What does the second verse say happens to an ignorant person who builds up attachments?
Correct: D. Upadhi, 'attachment', named directly as the cause.
Question 5 of 10
What does the poem's closing line wish for?
Correct: D. A first-person, personal aspiration closing the poem.
Question 6 of 10
What shared root does the guide note between the speaker's name and the poem's dark figure?
Correct: D. Noted as an observable fact, not a claim about intentional wordplay.
Question 7 of 10
Does this guide claim the poem describes a witnessed, remembered, or envisioned scene?
Correct: C. The poem itself doesn't specify, and this guide doesn't add detail it doesn't supply.
Question 8 of 10
What does 'upadhiṁ' mean?
Correct: A. What the second verse says an ignorant person builds up.
Question 9 of 10
What register does this poem's imagery belong to?
Correct: B. A charnel-ground-style image, presented without elaboration.
Question 10 of 10
Where does this poem fall in Chapter Two?
Correct: B. Following Mahācunda, Jotidāsa, Heraññakāni, Somamitta, and Sabbamitta.
