Peace for the Women of the Therigathas — Presentation Detail — Celebration of Scholars

Instructions

Student presentations must have a faculty sponsor.

Abstracts must include a title and a description of the research, scholarship, or creative work. The description should be 150-225 words in length and constructed in a format or style appropriate for the presenter’s discipline.

The following points should be addressed within the selected format or style for the abstract:

A clear statement of the problem or question you pursued, or the scholarly goal or creative theme achieved in your work.
A brief comment about the significance or uniqueness of the work.
A clear description of the methods used to achieve the purpose or goals for the work.
A statement of the conclusions, results, outcomes, or recommendations, or if the work is still in progress, the results you expect to report at the event.

Presenter photographs should be head and shoulder shots comparable to passport photos.

Additional Information

More information is available at carthage.edu/celebration-scholars/. The following are members of the Research, Scholarship, and Creativity Committee who are eager to listen to ideas and answer questions:

Jun Wang
Kim Instenes
John Kirk
Nora Nickels
Andrew Pustina
James Ripley

Peace for the Women of the Therigathas

Name: Morgan Taylor
Major: Music Education and Vocal Performance
Hometown: Elmhurst, IL
Faculty Sponsor:
Other Sponsors:
Type of research: Course project

Abstract

The female literary canon is far less developed than the male. Although due to many factors, the overriding reason is the patriarchal default which silences the feminine voice; in any society, the wants and needs of men are always more important and receive more attention than the needs of women. The sources that represent early women and their place in society are few and far between, but one of the earliest texts to do so still resonates today. This research analyzes the Therigathas, “Songs of the Elder [Women]”, from the Buddhist Pali Canon which is a collection of songs, or gathas, that provide varied accounts of the experiences of the earliest Buddhist women. These women were wives and mothers who broke the bonds of societal expectations to become nuns. For women to engage in religious activity to the point of realization was unprecedented during the time of the Buddha. Their rights as women paled in comparison to the rights of men and their social mobility was virtually nonexistent. I argue that these poems clearly show that despite the pressures of sexist cultural norms, the women of the Therigathas used their religious practices as a way to transcend restrictions.