Kṛiśā Gautamī

Family: Gautama’s Family · Role: daughter of Gautama; later a Bhikshuṇī · First appears: Chapter XI

In Chapter XI, Gautama’s daughter was born and named Kṛiśā Gautamī. Her first husband, the merchant from Takshaśilā, sent her to her parents’ home for the birth of her first son; on the journey back, she gave birth to a second son. After the stream carried her elder boy away, she found him dead. A hurricane later destroyed her parents and their household, leaving only one man alive.

At a hill village, Kṛiśā Gautamī accepted the proposal of a young weaver, and they married. When their son was born, the weaver ordered her to kill and eat the child; she did so under his coercion, then fled when his rage had subsided. At Vārāṇasī, a caravan-leader made her his wife, but robbers killed him soon afterwards, and she became the robber chief’s wife. After the king killed the chief, she was taken into the king’s zenana; when the king died, she was buried alive in his tomb, but escaped through an opening made by grave-robbers.

At Śrāvastī, seeing The Buddha Bhagavant, Kṛiśā Gautamī recovered her intellect. He taught her, admitted her into the ecclesiastical body, and appointed her chief of the Bhikshuṇīs who had embraced discipline.