Women Saint Poets

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 Women Bhakti Saint Poets
• They combined their rendition with singing and dancing.

• Women writers like Ghosha, Lopamudra, Gargi, Maitreyi,

Apala, Romasha Brahmavadini, etc., right from the days
of the Vedas focused on the image of women in
mainstream Sanskrit literature.

• Songs of Buddhist nuns (6th century B.C.) like Mutta and

Ubbiri and Mettika in Pali express the torment of feelings
for the life left behind.

• Other notable women saint poets (8th c AD to 17th c AD):

• Akka Mahadevi , Avaiyar, Dasimaya, Andal, Bahinabai,
Muktabai, Sati Toral-Jesal, Gangasati, Sahjo Dasi,
Meerabai and Lal Ded.
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• Mirabai /Meerabai (c.1498-
aft.1550)
• She was born in Rajasthan
to a Rajput noble family, and
was married in about 1516 to
the heir-apparent of the
ruler of Mewar.
• Her husband died before he
could attain the throne,
and he left no heir.
• She was a great devotee of
• Lord Krishna.
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• She was a disciple of a low caste Guru, Ravidas
• Her in laws did not approve of her piety and devotion to
Krishna.
• She held spiritual discussions with all including men: Not
liked by her in laws.
• In the face of all trials and tribulations, she remained
detached from her physical suffering
• After her husband’s death, she left home and became a
wandering minstrel, singing and dancing in praise of the
Almighty.
• Mira’s fame spread far and wide. Her devotional verses
(bhajans) were sung across northern India.
• Disguised as a beggar and accompanied by the
legenedary musician Tansen, Mughul Emperor Akbar,
came to hear her music and see her devotional dance.
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• Even learned sadhus would come to her for inspiration.
• Once one respected spiritual master refused to speak to
Mirabai because she was a woman.
• Mirabai replied there was only one real man in
Vrindavan, Krishna; everyone else was a gopi of
Krishna.
• On hearing this the spiritual teacher accepted the
wisdom of Mirabai and agreed to talk to her.

• Social restrictions:
• Women of royal family – disciple of a low caste Guru?
• Could she hold discussions with men?
• Could she perform in public?
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• Andal or Aandaal is a 10th
century Tamil saint and one of the
twelve Alvar (saints) and the only
woman Alvar of Vaishnavism.

• As Aandaal blossomed into a

fifteen-year-old beautiful young
woman of marriageable age (girls
were married at a much younger
age in those days), her father
prepared to get her married to a
suitable groom.

• Aandaal, however, was stubborn

and insisted that she would marry
only the Lord at Srirangam.
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• Legend says that she merged with the Lord at
Srirangam.

• Aandaal composed two works in her short life of fifteen

years.

• Thiruppavai is a collection of thirty verses in which

Aandaal imagines herself to be a Gopi or cowherd girl
yearning to serve Him.

• The second is the Nachiar Tirumozhi, a poem with 143

verses.

• Conservative Vaishnavite institutions do not encourage

the propagation of Nachiar Tirumozhi because Nachiar
Tirumozhi belongs to the genre of erotic spirituality.
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• Avvaiyar or Auvaiyar was the name of more than one
poet who was active during different periods of Tamil
literature. (Earliest is from 2nd c AD approx).
• Abithana Chintamani states that there were three female
poets in the name of Auvaiyar.
• Most popular is Avvaiyar II – approx 13th c AD – during
the rule of the Cholas.
• She is often imagined as an old but intelligent lady.
• She travelled from one part of the country to another and
from one village to another, sharing the gruel of the poor
farmers and composing songs for their enjoyment.
• She wrote most of her songs on the small time chieftain
Vallal Athiyamaan Nedumaan Anji and his family.
• The rest of her songs related to the various aspects of
state governance.
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• Akka Mahadevi – prominent Vira Shaiva woman saint poet
in 12th c AD Karnataka.
• Not much is known about her early life, nor did she live long.
• She is said to have accepted the god Shiva ('Chenna
Mallikarjuna') as her mystical husband (similar to how
centuries later Meera, a 16th century saint from Rajasthan,
considered herself married to Krishna).
• Legends tell of her wandering naked in search of her Divine
Lover; her poetry, or vacanas tell of her frustration with
societal norms and roles that restricted her.
• She is a prominent figure in the field of female
emancipation.
• She took part in many gatherings of learned at the
Anubhavamantapa in Kudala Sangama to debate about
philosophy and attainment of spiritualism. 9
• A true ascetic, Mahadevi is said to have refused
to wear any clothing -- a common practice
among male ascetics, but shocking for a
woman.
• Legend has it that due to her true love and
devotion with God her whole body was
protected by hair.
• One of her famous verses (vachana) has a
reason for this also which translates as
• “People - male and female,
blush when a cloth covering their shame comes loose
When the lord of lives lives drowned without a face
in the world, how can you be modest?
When all the world is the eye of the lord,
looking everywhere, what can you cover and conceal?”

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• Janabai was born around the 13th century in
Maharashtra in a low-caste sudra family.
• As a young girl she was sent to work in the
upper-caste family of Namdev, one of the most
revered of the bhakti poet saints.
• While within this household, she continued to
serve Namdev, both as a servant and as his
devotee.
• Janabai wrote over three hundred poems
focusing on domestic chores and the restrictions
facing her as a low-caste woman.

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• Lalleshwari (1320 – 1392) also
known as Lalla or Lal Ded:

• She married at age twelve, but her

marriage was unhappy.

• She left home at twenty-four to take

sanyas (renunciation) and become
a disciple of the Shaivite Guru
Siddha Srikantha (Sed Bayu).
•
• She continued the Mystic tradition
of Shaivism in Kashmir.

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• She was a child bride, married at the age of twelve.

• After moving into her husband's family home, she was

abused by her mother-in-law and ignored by her
husband.

• After enduring this mistreatment for several years, she

eventually escaped to take sanyas (initiation into the
world of renunciates) in the Shaivite tradition.

• Lal Ded became a sadvi, a wandering ascetic, singing of

her bliss and love for the Divine.

• Many legends and stories remain about Lalla.

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• One in particular tells of how Lalla, who ignored the normal
convention of dress, choosing to wander around naked,
was teased by several children.
• A nearby cloth merchant scolded the children for their
disrespect.
• Lalla asked the merchant for two lengths of cloth, equal in
weight.
• That day as she walked around naked, she wore a piece
of cloth over each shoulder, and as she met with respect
or scorn, she tied a knot in one or another.
• In the evening, she brought the cloth back to the merchant,
and asked him to weigh them again.
• The cloths were equal in weight, no matter how many
knots were in each.
• Respect and scorn have no weight of their own.
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• Dasimayya (10th Century)

• Suppose you cut a tall bamboo in two;

make the bottom piece a woman, the
headpiece a man;
Rub them together till they kindle
• Tell me now, the fire that's born,
is it male or female?

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• Bahinabai (1628-1700 AD) or
Bahina or Bahini is a female-saint
from Maharashtra.
•
• She reports being subjected to
verbal and physical abuse by her
husband, who despised her spiritual
inclination but who finally accepted
her chosen path of devotion
(Bhakti).

• Unlike most female-saints who

never married or renounced their
married life for God, Bahinabai
remained married her entire life.
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• She, the wife and daughter of priests committed
to upholding the ancient rituals, wished to
become a bhakta who chooses pure devotion
over ritual.

• Bahinabai pronounced Tukaram as her guru.

• In her visions, Tukaram initiated her into the path

of Bhakti (devotion) and instructed her to recite
the name of Vithoba.

• Although a member of the highest (brahmin)

caste, she wished to become a follower of
Tukaram, of the lowest (shudra) caste;
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• Bahinabai's husband dissuaded her by saying that she
being of a Brahmin, should not listen to the lower caste
Shudra Tukaram.

• Knowledge of the holy scriptures like Vedas and sacred

mantras, by the male-dominated brahmin society.
Bahinabai sings in her abhanga:

• The Vedas cry aloud, the Puranas shout

"No good may come to woman."
I was born with a woman's body
How am I to attain Truth?
"They are foolish, seductive and deceptive -
Any connection with a woman is disastrous."

• Bahina says, "If a woman's body is so harmful,

How in this world will I reach Truth?"
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• Some writers on the teacher Tukaram have said
that Bahina translated a Sanskrit holy work into
Marathi at Tukaram's request.

• If so, she had received a more classical

education than most brahmin women --- an
unusual, but not unheard of, situation.

• What is clear from her poems is her willingness

to question received wisdom, to express her
doubts about the teachings she heard --- both
priestly and bhakti.

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• Summary:
• Given their belief in the centrality of personal devotion,
women poet-saints were highly critical of ritual observances
as maintained and fostered by the Brahmin priesthood.
• They had to struggle for acceptance within the largely male
dominated movement.
• Barring a few such as Meerabai and Bahinabai, many poet-
saints were themselves of lower caste lineages.
• Their critique included the caste system that supported the
traditional religious hierarchy, with Brahmins at the head of
this hierarchy.
• They faced overwhelming challenges through their rejection
of societal norms and values, without having the ability to
revert back to their normative roles as wives, mothers and
in some cases, the privileges of their original high-caste
status. 20