- Feb 14
- 5 min read
Updated: 1 hour ago
Tathālokā Therī
February 14, 2026
This post is part of a series: #HerStoryOurStory: Inscribed
#reawakeningheritage | "S/he stands routing the armies of Māra (death/illusion) like the Sun illuminating the Sky"
. . .
"The Dhamma Donation of Bhikkhunī Suriyā (the Sun (f.)) Carved in Stone on the pillar at the top of the stairwell entrance to the upper circumambulatory promenade at Sanchi Stupa, India"
DHAMMA for EDIFICATION
"When the true nature of things becomes clear to the ardent spiritual practitioner absorbed in meditative jhāna /dhyāna, all her/his doubts vanish; s/he stands routing the armies of Mara (death/illusion), like the sun illuminating the sky."
- the Buddha, upon Awakening, Udāna 1.3
DESCRIPTION OF THE INSCRIPTION
Dao Siam writes:
"Located at Sanchi Stupa in Madhya Pradesh on the second/upper level of the stupa's staircase at the entrance to the circumambulatory promenade. A red sandstone pillar bears a rather prominent inscription that can still be clearly read - however, while many people see it, they cannot read it.
"There is an inscription carved in Prakrit language in the ancient Dhammalipi (aka Brahmi) script in two lines which reads:
𑀲𑀼𑀭𑀺𑀬𑀸𑀬𑀪𑀺𑀙𑀼
𑀡𑀺𑀬𑀸𑀤𑀸𑀦𑀁
In the original Prakrit: Suriyāya Bhichuniyā Dānaṁ सुरियाय भिछुणिया दानं
In Pāli: Suriyāya Bhikkhunīyā Dānaṁ सुरियाय भिक्खुणिया दानं
In Sanskrit: Suryā Bhikṣuṇīyā Dānaṁ सूर्याया भिक्षुणिया दानं
This translates to: "The donation given by the bhikkhunī named Suriyā, or in Sanskrit, Suryā."
The word Suriya means the Sun.
"We offer our hearty gratitude to Bhikkhunī Suriyā (and her supporters) for sponsoring this stupa pillar. Even after nearly 2,300 years, her name remains engraved on this pillar.
Whenever people visit the Sanchi Stupa, this inscription bears witness to the generosity of this great bhikkhunī, the active role of women in the Sangha, and the vitality of the Buddhist traditions."
IMPORTANT HISTORICAL COMMENTARY
aka "Why is this so important?"
As noted by Dao Siam, many people pass by these engraved stones, but most cannot read the ancient 'Dhammalipi' script in which they were engraved.
Younger in monastic life more than 20 years ago when i was in Thailand, people were very surprised to see a bhikkhunī - they often told me they had learned in their grade school Buddhism class textbook that the last Bhikkhunī was Sanghamittā (3rd century BCE) and her companion bhikkhunīs who left India together and never returned, that they were the last bhikkhunīs (!). There was no mention of Anula Devi and the following generations of great Sri Lankan bhikkhunī arahants (!!). And they didn't have textual information at all about any bhikkhunīs existing in India after that...
A popular senior Ajahn from southern Thai Forest tradition who came to teach in the US also told us (all his students) in his monastic education he had learned that the whole Bhikkhunī Sangha had attained Parinibbāna (completely passed away) together with Mahāpajāpatī Gotamī: that no bhikkhunīs remained after the Buddha's time. No other information was available to him (!), EXCEPT, mysteriously, there were relics of these ancient arahant therīs preserved in old stupas in Thailand. Some old legends were there about interchange between his area of southern Thailand, India and Sri Lanka related to these ancient stupas of the southern Thai landscape, but these legendary stories were shrouded in mystery.
We have access to more information now. These inscriptions clearly show the active and engaged presence of bhikkhunīs in India following the Mauryan (Ashokan) period. The number of bhikkhunī inscriptions at Sanchi is not small - they are virtually equal to the number of bhikkhu inscriptions - not peripheral.
We are now learning both Prakrit (ordinary language) spellings of 𑀪𑀺𑀔𑀼𑀡𑀺 (bhikkhunī) and 𑀪𑀺𑀙𑀼𑀡𑀺 (bhichhuni) in Dhammalipi (Brahmi) that are used in these inscriptions, and practicing visually identifying them on stone - so if we see them, we may spot them with knowing eyes for ourselves.
Please share this information among Indian Buddhists, Thai Buddhists, and other South & Southeast Asian Buddhists as much as possible, as well as Western Buddhists who learned Buddhism together with stories like those above, as i did.
Many confusions and hindrances lie shrouded in darkness and unknowing, but in the bright sunshine under clear sky, much can be clearly seen and clearly known - delusions and confusions vanished, hindrances evaporated. Tadyatha.
🙏 May it be so.
Tathālokā Therī at Dhammadharini
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✍️✍️✍️ Inscription description translated into English based on Dao Siam (Thai, shared here), and Rakeshh Y Gajbhiye (Hindi, who also credits Nag Anurak Eshin Divijata), with support from Google Translate & Meta Translate.
POSTSCRIPT
Why is this important?
As mentioned in this post, many born-Buddhists in Southeast Asia, both those with lay schooling and with monastic education, learned from childhood that the Bhikkhunī Sangha either died out at the time of the Parinibbāna of #Mahapajapati #Gotami Theri and the Bhikkhuni Founders, or died out at the time of Indian emperor Ashoka when #Sanghamitta Theri left India, never to return.
Teachers of those Theravada traditions have in turn sincerely taught this to their international students in Asia and in the West (i have experienced this directly myself).
These post-Ashokan period Bhikkhunī inscriptions at Sanchi and Bharhut stupas clearly show - carved in stone - that the bhikkhunīs still existed behind this time, as seen in the main places of Buddhist community gathering in India. And not only a few of them, but plenty of them, with resources and support, with agency. And not peripheral. The evidence shows they were active partners in the creation of these inspiring Buddhist community spaces, that continue to inspire.
That was clearly not only "men's Buddhism for men," as some highly-influential and widely-published early western scholars of Buddhism (i.e. Oldenberg) asserted. The inscriptions tell us different story: this was 'Fourfold Sangha Buddhism, for the Fourfold Sangha.' Or we could say: this was 'whole community Buddhism for the whole community;' 'this was people's Buddhism, for the people.'
It's been pointed out that something important is missing in the description and commentary offered here:
It is remarkable that these bhikkhunīs' names do not reflect the name of their parents or clan or even the place that they are from, nor even their monastic teachers or preceptors. They are 'standing on their own' - 'in their own names' as it were, simply and solely as ordained members of the Bhikkhuni Sangha, and of the Ubhāyata (Pali: Ubhato) Sangha - the 'dual' or 'two-winged' Bhikkhu-Bhikkhuni Sangha.
Acknowledging, this is a proper point.
This is a level of descriptive 'self-identity' often not afforded to or social acceptable for women or even bhikkhunis in later days in India, in which a woman needed to always be associated in name with her parents, or her spouse, and/or her children. Even monastics would later often be associated with the names of their monastic teachers or students, as well as their natal or monastic community 'place of origin' names.
We will bear this in mind as we learn about and share further ancient and medieval Bhikkhunī inscriptions.
Our next upcoming post, from Bharhut - the inscription of Bhikkhunī Nāgilā - is no longer quite so simple, and does include a place of original name, whether that be her natal place and clan, or the place of her monastic community.
