Any woman has right to reach Nirvana

Children death was usually the main reason why a woman left her family duties and devoted herself being to cenobitical life. Kisagatami`s son died and this shook her so much that she decided to join commune of nuns. Woman status depended straight on male descendants. According to the traditional commentary to “Therigatha”, there was a big nun group that entered sangha because of their children death. Patachara was the head of this group; she lost her husband and two children. A rich courtesan Ambapaly explains her conversion to Buddhism by old age and withering away her beautiful body. Among authors of “Therigatha” were other courtesans- Vymala, Addhakasy. The status of courtesans was rather unstable, in spite of the visible wealth. A true story of Sona, she was mother of 10 children, in some way reminds us the story of King Lear. Her husband took the monastic vow being already in elderly age and left her all his riches. Sona decided to share this heritage among children on condition that they would support her and then she could devote herself to religious life. But sooner mother became a burden to her children and they began to treat her with disrespect. (Thankful people as well completely Enlightened ones come to this world very seldom.) Finally, Sona joined the Buddhist sangha, in spite of the fact that it was not harmonious; she achieved the state of nirvana.

This story attracts us by one exciting moment. There were not any cases like this in the history of Indian society. This is a specific woman status when her husband took the vow. The woman turned into a widow while her husband was alive- and this was the worst thing that might happen to a woman in the Indian society. Perhaps, that is why there were many mentions in canon when both: husband and wife led monkish existence. This can be treated as examples of
mutual consent and faithfulness. Or, probably it was the only way out for a woman at that time?
In certain cases, when a woman was really rich and respected by society, then her taking the veil was the logical result of her life. Another example- is a life story of Chanda nun; her verses are also stored in “Therigatha”. This woman lost her husband and all her relatives, for 7 years she was living by begging. She suffered from cold, heat and starvation. Once she saw a nun, the last was given alms, food and drink. Chanda asked to become her disciple. After Chanda sorted her want and need, she did her best to understand Buddhism teaching. Note, that Buddha did not have any objection of entering sangha people like these. He hoped that it would help these people to develop their spirituality and reach a certain state of nirvana. So that Chanda achieved lucid moment and became one of the respectable nuns.