Soma the Learned Brahmin
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/rosa.v3i1.93Keywords:
Avadānaśataka, Brahmanism, early Indian Buddhism, Vedas, womenAbstract
Soma is a female disciple of Gotama Buddha known from various early Indian Buddhist sources. In the story of Soma in the Avadanasataka, prior to her conversion to Buddhism she gains access to the three Vedas and becomes a learned Brahmin in her region. In this article, as well as providing an English translation of Soma's story in the Avadanasataka, I discuss this account of Soma the learned Brahmin and attempt to discern the basis for a Buddhist narrative representation of a female learned Brahmin. In this account, a Buddhist story which seeks to demonstrate the natural superiority of Buddhism over Brahmanism, the female Soma takes the place usually reserved, in similar accounts, for learned male Brahmins.
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