Sumaṅgala’s Mother

I’m well freed, well freed,*This verse, like Thig 1.11, hinges on double entendres of kitchen drudgery and sex, and hence is playfully ambiguous. It is a Buddhist counterpart to Rig Veda 1.28, which parallels the act of sex with the pounding of mortar and pestle, situating the ritual in the kitchen. | The nun here is presumably the mother of the Sumaṅgala at Thag 1.43, whose verses are similar.so very well freed from the pestle!*The pestle (musala) is the male, routinely paired with the female mortar (Śathapatha Brāhmaṇa 7.5.1.38).My shameless husband was most certainly a mushroom,*The mortar was sixteen inches of rock hard wood (ŚB 1.1.4.7 and Eggeling’s note). I don’t think calling it a mushroom is meant as a compliment. On the other hand, if vāpi (“most certainly”) is emended to vāti (or vāyi), it is the wind that causes erections (Bu Pj 1:10.17.6, cf. RV 1.28.6), “my husband inflated like a mushroom” (which pops up out of nowhere).my mortar wafted like an eel.*I prefer “mortar” for ukkhalikā as the complement of “pestle”. Compare Sanskrit ulūkhala (or ulūkhalaka) throughout RV 1.28, and also ŚB 7.5.1.22, “the mortar is the womb of all breaths”. If the sense “little cauldron” is preferred, see ŚB 6.6.2.8, “the cauldron is female, the fire male” (also ŚB 7.1.1.42). The two terms are used in the same passage in this sense at ŚB 7.5.1.26. | Deḍḍubha is a “water-snake” or eel (Kd 15:29.2.2). But it is also a spelling of “drum”, in which case we might emend vāti to vādi, yielding “my mortar was drum-sounding”, as the mortar “sounds” when pounded like the “drum of victors” (RV 1.28.5). | For vāti in the sense, “waft an odor”, see Vv 38:6.3.

“Sumuttikā sumuttikā, *sumuttikā → sumuttike sumuttike (bj); sumuttike sumuttikā (sya1ed, sya2ed,Sādhumuttikāmhi musalassa; Ahiriko me chattakaṁ vāpi, Ukkhalikā me deḍḍubhaṁ vāti.

I’m well freed, well freed,*This verse, like Thig 1.11, hinges on double entendres of kitchen drudgery and sex, and hence is playfully ambiguous. It is a Buddhist counterpart to Rig Veda 1.28, which parallels the act of sex with the pounding of mortar and pestle, situating the ritual in the kitchen. | The nun here is presumably the mother of the Sumaṅgala at Thag 1.43, whose verses are similar.“Sumuttikā sumuttikā, *sumuttikā → sumuttike sumuttike (bj); sumuttike sumuttikā (sya1ed, sya2ed,so very well freed from the pestle!*The pestle (musala) is the male, routinely paired with the female mortar (Śathapatha Brāhmaṇa 7.5.1.38).Sādhumuttikāmhi musalassa; My shameless husband was most certainly a mushroom,*The mortar was sixteen inches of rock hard wood (ŚB 1.1.4.7 and Eggeling’s note). I don’t think calling it a mushroom is meant as a compliment. On the other hand, if vāpi (“most certainly”) is emended to vāti (or vāyi), it is the wind that causes erections (Bu Pj 1:10.17.6, cf. RV 1.28.6), “my husband inflated like a mushroom” (which pops up out of nowhere).Ahiriko me chattakaṁ vāpi, my mortar wafted like an eel.*I prefer “mortar” for ukkhalikā as the complement of “pestle”. Compare Sanskrit ulūkhala (or ulūkhalaka) throughout RV 1.28, and also ŚB 7.5.1.22, “the mortar is the womb of all breaths”. If the sense “little cauldron” is preferred, see ŚB 6.6.2.8, “the cauldron is female, the fire male” (also ŚB 7.1.1.42). The two terms are used in the same passage in this sense at ŚB 7.5.1.26. | Deḍḍubha is a “water-snake” or eel (Kd 15:29.2.2). But it is also a spelling of “drum”, in which case we might emend vāti to vādi, yielding “my mortar was drum-sounding”, as the mortar “sounds” when pounded like the “drum of victors” (RV 1.28.5). | For vāti in the sense, “waft an odor”, see Vv 38:6.3.Ukkhalikā me deḍḍubhaṁ vāti.

Greed and hate sizzle and hissas I squelch them.Having gone to the root of a tree,I meditate happily, thinking, “Oh, what bliss!”

Rāgañca ahaṁ dosañca, Cicciṭi cicciṭīti vihanāmi; Sā rukkhamūlamupagamma, Aho sukhanti sukhato jhāyāmī”ti.

Greed and hate sizzle and hissRāgañca ahaṁ dosañca, as I squelch them.Cicciṭi cicciṭīti vihanāmi; Having gone to the root of a tree,Sā rukkhamūlamupagamma, I meditate happily, thinking, “Oh, what bliss!”Aho sukhanti sukhato jhāyāmī”ti.