Vāseṭṭhī Therī untranslated

Vāseṭṭhī Therī. She was born in Vesālī, and after being happily married bore a son. The child died very young, and his mother was mad with grief. One day she ran away from home, and, in the course of her wanderings, came to Mithilā, where she saw the Buddha, who calmed her grief. He taught her the Dhamma and had her ordained at her own request. She soon after became an Arahant.

The story of her child’s death and her subsequent history, are contained in Thīg.vs.133-8; see also Thīg­a.124f.

It is said that the Brahmin Sujāta, father of Sundarī (q.v.), met Vāseṭṭhī (probably in Benares), and, hearing her story, himself sought the Buddha at Mithilā where he joined the Saṅgha, becoming an Arahant at the end of three days. Thīg. 312-24; Thīg­a.228f; according to Thīg.312 Vāseṭṭhī would seem to have lost “seven children,” but the Commentary explains this as a rhetorical phrase.