Reading guide
An unsettling catalyst, stated plainly
‘The two of us were co-wives, though we were mother and daughter’ opens the poem without softening — ‘I was struck with a sense of urgency, so astonishing and hair-raising’ names the exact effect this discovery had on her, driving her directly to renunciation in Rājagaha.
A vivid, almost theatrical approach to the Buddha
Beyond the standard six knowledges, this poem adds a unique detail: ‘I created a four-horsed chariot using my psychic powers. Then I bowed at the feet of the Buddha’ — a dramatic display of attainment found nowhere else in this collection.
A different kind of taunt from Māra, and an extraordinary reply
Māra questions her physical vulnerability alone at a flowering tree, without a ‘male companion’. Her answer escalates far past simple defiance: she declares she would not tremble before 100,000 attackers, then boasts of vanishing, entering his belly, or standing invisibly between his eyebrows — power demonstrated, not merely claimed.
A name, possibly echoed in a variant line
Sujato's note on Māra's taunt observes that a parallel verse in the Saṃyutta Nikāya reads ‘there is no-one to whom you are second in the element of beauty’ — a probable pun on ‘vaṇṇā’ in her own name, which the note suggests may preserve an earlier reading than this poem's own line.
Key terms
The text
§1“The two of us were co-wives, though we were mother and daughter. I was struck with a sense of urgency, so astonishing and hair-raising! Curse those filthy sensual pleasures, so nasty and thorny, where we, both mother and daughter, had to be co-wives together.
§2Seeing the danger in sensual pleasures, seeing renunciation as sanctuary, I went forth in Rājagaha from the lay life to homelessness.
§3I know my past lives; my clairvoyance is clarified; I encompass the minds of others; my clairaudience is purified; I’ve realized the psychic powers, and attained the ending of defilements. I’ve realized the six kinds of direct knowledge, and fulfilled the Buddha’s instructions. I created a four-horsed chariot using my psychic powers. Then I bowed at the feet of the Buddha, the glorious protector of the world.”
§4“You’ve come to this sal tree all crowned with flowers, and stand at its root all alone. But you have no male companion with you— silly girl, aren’t you afraid of rascals?”
§5“Even if 100,000 rascals like this were to gang up, I’d stir not a hair nor tremble. What could you do to me all alone, Māra? I’ll vanish, or I’ll enter your belly; I could stand between your eyebrows and you still wouldn’t see me.
§6I’m the master of my own mind, I’ve developed the bases of psychic power well. I’ve realized the six kinds of direct knowledge, and fulfilled the Buddha’s instructions.
§7Sensual pleasures are like swords and spears; the aggregates are their chopping block. What you call erotic delight is now no delight for me. Relishing is banished in every respect, and the mass of darkness is shattered. So know this, Wicked One: you’re beaten, terminator!”
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