Saṅghamittā Therī untranslated

Saṅghamittā Therī. Daughter of Asoka and sister of Mahinda. She was born in Ujjenī and was married to Aggibrahmā – who later joined the Saṅgha – and had by him a son, Sumana. She was ordained in her eighteenth year together with Mahinda, her preceptor being Dhammapālā and her teacher Āyupālā (Mhv.v.190-208; xiii.4, 11; DPv.vi.17; vii.18, 19; xv.77, 90; xvii.20; xviii.11, 25; Vin-a.i.51).

After her ordination and attainment of Arahant-ship she lived in Pāṭaliputta, and, when Anulā and other women of Devānampiyatissa’s court at Anurādhapura wished to enter the Saṅgha, Devānampiyatissa, at Mahinda’s suggestion, sent an embassy, led by Ariṭṭha, to Asoka, asking that Saṅghamittā might be sent to Ceylon, and with her a branch of the Bodhi-tree for Anurādhapura. Asoka granted the request, and sent Saṅghamittā, by sea, with eleven other nuns, carrying a branch of the Bodhi-tree. On the way, when Nāgas surrounded the Bodhi-tree, Saṅghamittā frightened them away by assuming the form of a Garuḍa. She landed at Jambukola, and, after her arrival at Anurādhapura, ordained Anulā and her companions. She lived at the Upāsikāvihāra, and had twelve buildings erected there for the use of the nuns. Later, the king built for her the Hatthāḷhakavihāra.

She died at the age of fifty-nine, in the ninth year of the reign of King Uttiya, and celebrations, lasting one whole week, were held in her honour throughout Ceylon. Her body was cremated to the east of the Thūpārāma near the (later) Cittasālā, in sight of the Bodhi-tree, on a spot indicated by the Therī herself before her death. Uttiya had a Thūpa erected over her ashes. Mhv.xviii.13f.; xix.5, 20, 53, 65, 68ff., 83f.; xx.48ff.; Vin-a.i.90f.