It is important to remember that when Buddha established his monastic order the Sangha, he initially hesitated to include women. In traditional monastic orders, it is believed that the female anatomy does not enable women to follow the monastic path and it binds them to worldly passions, such as desire and vanity. However, when the Buddha saw his stepmother, weeping at the death of his father, he realised that suffering in men is no different from suffering of women, biology notwithstanding. Therefore, he created the Buddhist order of nuns.

Buddha was always accompanied by two male disciples Sariputta and Moggallana, and two female disciples, Uppalavanna and Khema. The two men were friends who had been friends even in their past lives and they were seeking a common spiritual teacher when they met the Buddha. Uppalavanna and Khema did not know each other. Upali was a commoner while Khema was a queen.