Introduction

Bhakti took birth in Dravidian lands, Ripened in Karnataka, Came to womanhood in Maharashtra, And grew crone-like in Gujarat, Reaching Vrindavan, she re-emerged A nubile young woman.

Feminism was not a very popular concept when Bhakti Movement was taking shape in India. But their sheer sense of individualism and power through spirituality made the rise of womens’ voices prominent in Bhakti tradition. We can trace the elements of feminism through their songs, poems, and ways of life. This perhaps paves the way for the beginnings of Indian Feminism. Through devotion ( Bhakti), these women tried to define their truths to improve society, polity, relationships, and religions. It is very significant here to put this development in the context of the period when most areas were confined to women. They defied all traditional norms and preconceptions, living their lives as they saw fit.

“Women in Bhakti movements take on attributes that men have historically had. They break Manu’s regulations prohibiting them from doing so. A respectable lady is not permitted to live alone or in the open air or to refuse her husband’s sex, but women saints wander and travel alone, abandoning their husbands, children, and families.” (Ramanujan, 1992)

Bhakti Tradition

Between the third and fourth centuries BC and AD, thousands of Tamil poetry were written, and the collection is known as Sangam literature. These love poems progressed from passionate declarations of devout love, in which the heroine became the devotee and the hero became God, from intense declarations of romantic love between a man and a woman to passionate expressions of devout love, in which the heroine became the devotee and the hero became God. Bhakti was a genuine return to the universal language of everyday conversation. Its musical works were not only about spiritual enlightenment, but also about a social document of their spiritual and temporal experiences conveyed in lines that bear the imprint of their journeys. These were the creations of passionate women who wanted to express themselves in a very personal way. Even though they subjugated their love, lust, and longings to God, their utterances remain human, always intimate, and frequently sensual.

The question that lingers here is whether the message of bhakti is a message of social protest. Is the equality it celebrates fundamentally a social reality – and therefore something revolutionary in its Indian context – or is it only spiritual, in which case it can coexist with Brahminical Hinduism even if it does not endorse it? (Oza,2020)

Mythology, Myths, and Hagiography

We remember many women saints mainly through the oral tradition and hagiographic narratives written on them. The lives of these women are strikingly similar when contrasted to the vast pool of mythology, mythologies, and material. They were all young women who discovered their love for God at a young age and committed themselves to it. When you look closer, you’ll notice that these stories are frequently quixotic, full of fancy and peculiarities in how they regarded themselves, the world, and, most importantly, God. Devotion is often alluring to a young lady set on marrying her lord, yet everything, even dress, is an obstacle to the intellectual mystic. While these biographies maintained their works and embodied their influence, their recounting was usually exaggerated to the point of being legendary. As a result, the majority of these women’s stories feature several instances of God, their guru, or themselves performing miracles, all of which are portrayed through the lens of folklore. Today we access some of the popular works of these women saints through their bhajans, abhangs, and folk tales. The preserved part is very less compared to the unavailable part as their contribution was never considered literary or religious or divine during their times and many years after their death also. Many songs, abhangas, bhajans, and kirtans were never even performed in the public.

Some of the Important Women Bhakti Saints

Andal was a pioneer of the feminine voice in Bhakti in Tamil Nadu. Mangayarkkarasiyar, Isaignaaniyar, and Karaikal Ammaiyar, Chola princesses, backed her up. Lalleshwari, a mystic poetess of the Kashmiri Saivite sect, was a name to remember. In Gujarat, Gangasati was known for her bhajans. Sakhubai, Muktabai, and Bahina bai became household names in rural Maharashtra after writing Marathi abhangs. Through her songs, Akka Mahadevi has awakened many spirits in Karnataka., and the celebrated. Meera Bai was a Hindu princess who married a prince in the central portion of India and is regarded as a pivotal figure in the Bhakti tradition’s history. Kanhopatra and Sule Sankavva were rural Maharashtra prostitutes. Lad Ded, also known as Lalla Aarifa, was only recorded 200 years after her death, with her legacy first preserved in Persian compendiums produced by Islamic academics. They all transcended their humdrum existence in quest of the Higher Divine Power, and they became real women speaking up in a powerful, loud voice about real issues. These ladies’ Bhakti saints don’t have anything in common. They were prosperous, impoverished, married, single, Brahmins, Rajputs, Shudras, or prostitutes from all walks of life. It’s difficult to say whether spiritual insight or the need to express oneself religiously came first. They went on their march, penetrating male strongholds, unfazed. In most cases, their beliefs were naive.

Women and Devotion during Vedic India

Women are mentioned for the first time in Hinduism in the Vedas. There are 27 female sages among the 407 mentioned in the scriptures. The most well-known of them, Ghosha, Maitreyi, Gargi, and Lopamudra, were accorded the same rank as males, intellectually and spiritually complementing them. Because they were considered the ardhangini ( half partner of life), or important another half of the male, wives were also compelled to participate in early Vedic ceremonies and sacrifices. Aside from that, the Atharva Veda’s invocation mantra alludes to the deity as “Devi,” Veda’s fourteenth book is entirely dedicated to women, marriage, and other domestic affairs, and female sages are credited with portions of nineteen other books.

Regardless, patriarchy ruled society and all that had to do with religion. “Day and night women must be maintained in dependency by the males… and if they attach themselves to sensuous enjoyment, they must be kept under control,” Manu famously says in his Manusmriti. (Patvari,2011). She will never be able to be independent if her father protects her in childhood, her husband protects her in youth, and her sons protect her in old age.’ As established by Manu’s stringent laws, the only deity available to women was her husband — pati (husband) as parameshwar (god), and the only religion placed on her was domestic duty. ‘Because these were the ideals of an ideal Hindu wife, a Hindu woman was condemned to be dominated by men and exposed to all manner of atrocities,’ a Hindu woman was doomed to be ruled by men and exposed to all manner of horrors.

The Humble Beginning of Protest

It was not an easy revolt. Despite this, there are undoubtedly hundreds of unheard voices waiting to be heard—voices that aren’t drowned out by patriarchy and modernism. It only takes a little dedication. Women saints penned poems and songs about their oppression, their longing for liberation, and their love for God, who is their lover, husband, or consort. Not only did they challenge their husbands’ celestial position, but they also abandoned their moms and relatives. Women and men had distinct interpretations of Bhakti in this regard. A female bhakta could not pursue her chosen path while remaining a housewife, although a man bhakta could. The majority of women had to choose between Bhakti and married life, or married life and domestic life. Many of these ladies were only able to attain their goals by severing their ties with their husbands. The thought of a female ascetic was unthinkable in this environment. Women were created to bear children and enjoy sexual pleasure; the concept of a woman refusing to do either of these things was intrinsically contradictory. Asceticism was thus neither feasible nor desirable for women. Many of these rigid hierarchical societal standards were flipped on their heads by the Bhakti movement, which challenged boundaries not only for people disenfranchised by caste and money but also for women who gained religious freedom and self-expression. They found a new home in the movement, which paved the door for a more egalitarian view of worship. The Upanishads’ aloof, esoteric, and attributeless (nirguna) god was substituted with a friendly, easy-to-please god who served as these women’s saka (close confidante), companion, guide, and, more often than not, idealized lover or spouse.

Different ‘Bhakti’ for Men and Women saints

For men and women, Bhakti must have diverse meanings. Male bhaktas (devotees) had the advantage of not having to leave their families to pursue their dreams, which was a significant difference. Sant Tukaram, a seventeenth-century Bhakti saint from Maharashtra, could easily overlook an obstinate, enraged wife because she could only criticise his way of life, not harm it. Both male and female poet-saints were part of the bhakti movement. Despite this, many of these women had to struggle for acceptability in a predominantly male-dominated movement. These women were readily recognised and allowed into their ranks only after demonstrating complete devotion to the Divine, exquisite poetry, and a strong demand on spiritual equality with their contemporaries. Their clash exemplifies patriarchal attitudes’ pervasiveness in society, as well as religious and social organisations’ efforts to make God more accessible to all. Meera Bai, a famous poet-saint from the fourteenth century, and Bahina, a Maharashtrian saint, for example, had to overcome several challenges provided by their marriages, in-laws, and clans. Society regarded women loving another man, even if he was God, as an illegal relationship because it went against the dharma’s teachings and the societal standards expected of them. God was seen as an intruder, someone who intruded into men’s land, usurped their wives’ affection, and tore marriages and families apart. Given the problems they expected to confront, a few of these women decided to completely abandon their household and cooking duties. Others achieved their goals by rebelling against their parents or remaining alone. Others, like as Andal, dedicated their lives to a single interest or practised excessive worship and sacrifice.

Transcending Personal life to enter the Divine or to protest?

Bhakti poetry’s imagery is based on everyday language used by ordinary people. Women bhaktas wrote about home issues, family conflicts, the missing spouse, pointless household chores, and the limitations of married life, especially their status as married women. In many cases, they defied traditional women’s responsibilities and societal norms by fleeing their husbands and homes to become wandering bhaktas; in other circumstances, they formed communities with other poet-saints. Their new Caste status, and even manhood, were seen as barriers to liberty, thereby rejecting the Classical Period’s Law Books’ order. The focus was on their Divine Husbands’ undivided love and devotion. (Oza at al, 2015).

The majority of these holy ladies were married to their husbands and families. They’ve been raised to believe that their only allegiance is to their husband and family… As a result, everything they did became a kind of devotion to God, including household chores, cooking and cleaning, and caring for children and family. Even here, they had to prove themselves on a regular basis; women were frequently probed, and male coworkers put their dedication to the test. Women’s journey has not been easy. The proper position for a woman was at home, as a wife and mother, or, at the most, as a muse. Balancing dedication and domesticity was a daily problem for many of these women. They were divided between their duty and their passions, between dharma and Bhakti. As a result, these women are often seen as big anti-patriarchal rebels, particularly in today’s atmosphere, because many of them bucked convention, divorced violent spouses, and escaped difficult conditions.

As these women’s outpourings and free voices refused to be drowned out by patriarchy’s din, the movement increased in power, eventually becoming a pan-India movement. All doctrinal and spiritual commitments were abandoned by Bhakti saints. When temples closed their doors, either banning idol worship and replacing it with a nirguna (formless) god or substituting him as one of those who might remain in lowly abodes, worshippers carried their deities in their minds.

Many bhakti poet-saints declined to perform asceticism as a necessary step on the path to nirvana, preferring instead to live as housewives. Universalism, as well as a widespread rejection of institutionalised religion and a strong emphasis on personal devotion, cleared the way for more egalitarian views toward women and lower-caste devotees. Women and Shudras, both at the bottom of society’s false hierarchy, served as role models for true humility and devotion. The imagery in bhakti poetry is made up of everyday terms. Female bhaktas addressed home concerns, family conflicts, the missing spouse, useless household chores, and the limits of married life, particularly their status as married women. In many cases, they opted to leave their homes and marriages to become travelling bhaktas, abandoning traditional women’s obligations and societal standards; in others, they formed communities with other poet-saints. Their focus had shifted to their Divine Husbands, whom they adored.

The movement’s severe edge in terms of women’s inclusion was tempered as it moved north (15th–17th century). In the early stages of the movement (6th–13th century), women were more involved, but in later manifestations, male bhaktas and saints are primarily considered the movement’s spokespersons. When it comes to forsaking family and home in search of heavenly love, women’s bhakta poetry from this period does not typically reflect a rejection of established values. Later poet-saints, on the other hand, remained at home, expounding on their souls’ journeys, their never-ending love for the Divine, and their never-ending search for truth.

Mirabai, or Mira, is claimed to be the daughter of a Rajput monarch. Mirabai’s poetry portrays a childhood vision of Lord Krishna, after which Mira promised to marry him for the rest of her life. She was married into another princely family at an early age, despite her wishes. Despite this, Mira is said to have had an unwavering attachment to her rightful spouse, Krishna. The domestic problems of Mirabai, including her jealous husband’s failed attempt to murder her, are central to these tales. Others point to Mirabai’s sisters-in-attempts legislation as a means of discouraging Mirabai’s desire to join the company of wandering saints, which is considered inappropriate for a woman of Mirabai’s high caste standing. Mirabai then abandoned her husband and family and journeyed to a number of locations affiliated with “her Dark Lord,” including Brindavan, Krishna’s holy city. Due to her gender, she was initially turned down. Because of her devotion, piety, and scholastic aptitude, Mirabai was eventually accepted into the Brindavan saints’ society. Mirabai’s poetry depicts a one-of-a-kind connection with Krishna, in which she is both Krishna’s adoring wife and Krishna’s enthusiastic pursuit of Mira. Because of her single care and intense dedication to her Husband, the “lifter of the mountain,” Mirabai can be interpreted as just sustaining women’s “wifely” obligations and patriarchal customs in general. For many, she remains, on the other hand, a symbol of opposition to the prevailing social order.

I am mad with love

And no one understands my plight.

Only the wounded

Understand the agonies of the wounded,

When the fire rages in the heart.

Only the jeweller knows the value of the jewel,

Not the one who lets it go.

In pain I wander from door to door,

But could not find a doctor.

Says Mira: Harken, my Master,

Lal Ded: One of the early Kashmiri mystic poets, Lal Ded, similarly refused to be bound by domestic tyranny and power hierarchies. She abandoned her house, severing all links with the material world, and wandering naked in quest of God. She also conveyed her displeasure with the Brahminical code in her verses.

“Your deity is made of stone, and your temple is made of stone as well-

From head to toe, it’s all one stone!

What is it, you dense Brahmin, that you worship?

Only the vital air from the heart to the mind binds.” (Mattoo 334)

Andal: A Tulsi bush spotted the poetess as a newborn, and she later married Lord Ranganathan. Her

work is included in the ‘Nalayira Divya Prabandham,’ a compilation of 4000 Tamil poems. Andal is the only female Alwar that has been identified. Andal grew into a beautiful young woman, but she refused to marry anybody but Lord Ranganatha, Lord Vishnu’s reclining form, who lived in Srirangam’s famous temple town. Lord Ranganatha appeared to Vishnuchitta one night and requested that Andal be delivered to Him in full bridal garb, according to mythology. The Lord appeared before the priests of Srirangam at the same moment, telling them to prepare for the coming of Andal… Andal is said to have joined her Lord in a blaze of light.

Ananga, I asked you and your brother:

‘Is it still possible to live?’

Unite me

with the lord of Venkatam

who holds in his hand

the disc tipped with fire.

Ammaiyar: She was the ghoul of Karaikal, and she was one of only three women among the Saiva saints called Nayanars. She was born a beautiful woman, but she learned to identify as a peey (ghoul) or Shiva’s Gana, Shiva’s naughty, ugly animals. She was the first Tamil Saint to write Shiva poems.

“Paramadathan told those present that his wife was a goddess and that he could only perceive her as Ammaiyar (his mother). Punithavathi begged the Lord for help when she saw her husband’s condition. Her desire was granted quickly, and she was transformed into a skeleton-like crone. She was freed from society’s shackles and obligations, shorn of her youth and beauty.”

The gaze of his third eye,

which can appear as

long flames of fire,

soft cool moonlight

or the harsh rays of the sun,

immediately burned to ashes

the three fortresses

of his formidable foes. (“Wonder” v. 84; Pechilis 2012:30)

Mahadevi/ Akkamahadevi, also known as Akka or Mahadevi, was a Shiva devotee from Karnataka’s southern region in the 12th century CE. Her poems, or vacanas, conveys her frustration with traditional conventions and roles that confined her. Legend has it that she wandered naked in search of her Divine Lover. They also show her undying devotion to Shiva, whom she refers to as Chennamallikarjuna. Her love is satiated by Shiva and Shiva alone; absence from her “lord white as jasmine” wounds her heart. Mahadevi, the naked mystic, was a famous vachana composer. She was wedded to King Kaushika, who admired her beauty but reserved her affection for Shiva. She eventually left the royal family and joined the Vira Saivas Frustrated by his unfinished marriage, his uncommunicative wife, and her adamant rejection of him, the monarch mocked her, reminding her that everything she wore, ate, and lived in belonged to him, not Shiva. She allegedly threw everything away, including her clothes, shocking the judge and everyone else in the room.

Like a silkworm weaving

her house with love

from her marrow,

and dying

in her body’s threads

winding tight, round

and round,

I burn

desiring what the heart desires.

Muktabai: Nivruttinath, Gynandev, and Sopandev, her three male siblings, formed the foundation for one of Maharashtra’s most well-known Bhakti cults, which attempted to break free from restrictive scriptural orthodoxy.

“When they saw Mukta, the five-year-old girl, they pulled her away, assuming she would be terrified of seeing a dead body. Mukta, on the other hand, enquired as to why they were waiting outside and was told that they were expecting Changdev to resuscitate the body. Hearing this, the young girl voiced her hope that she, too, would be able to awaken it. Before turning and walking away, she hurried up to the lifeless body and muttered, ‘Vitthala Vitthala,’ into its ears. The motionless body sat up and said, ‘Vitthala Vitthala!’”

Where darkness is gone I live,

where I am happy.

I am not troubled by coming and going,

I am beyond all vision,

above all spheres.

His spirit lives in my soul.

Mukta says: He is my heart’s only home.

Sant Soyarabai, on the other hand, did not refuse marriage or openly defy cultural standards. She wrote of her family, daily life, and devotion to God Vithoba, as well as her trip to Pandharpur, married life, and discovering independence in the midst of it all. Her abhangas to the pain of everyday life and the limits to which they were subjected as Mahar caste members demonstrate her increased caste and gender awareness.

Kiti he Marti, Kiti he Radti,

How much death, How much weeping.

Who is that laughing on the sky?

We look and we wonder: What is truth?

And so many pining for a lie?

What is death? What is grieving?

At whom do we aim our thoughtless laughter?

Who has been spared? Who is leaving?

Our fate is common in the hereafter.

Soyra says: I find it odd

Not one among them remembers God.

(Sant Soyrabai, Translated by J. Pinto and Neela Bhagwat)

Atukuri Molla: She was the daughter of a potter and the author of the first Telugu Ramayana, which brought her great popularity at Krishnadeva Raya’s court. Molla’s Ramayana is remarkable because she took the risk of recreating this timeless epic in colloquial Telugu, arguing that if the reader couldn’t understand it, it would be like a dialogue between deaf-mute people. Valmiki’s magnum opus, written in both padyam (verse) and gadya (verse), is not blindly followed by her (prose). She adds fictional storylines to the original while cutting unnecessarily long portions, then writes her descriptions in Telugu that are tongue-in-cheek.

I am unaware of the treasury of literature,

the grammar, the vocabulary and the rules.

But I have learnt the art of poetry only through the grace of Srikantha Malleswara,

the deity of Gopavaram

Kanhopatra: Kanhopatra is believed to be a prostitute who aspired for a life of piety despite her famed beauty and charm. She came from a long line of courtesans. Before being allowed death at the feet of Lord Vitobha at Pandharpur, she was harassed by her father Sadashiva and a local potentate.

“In the meantime, Sadashiva sought the help of Bidar’s Bahamani Badshah, who had not given up on Kanhopatra. After hearing multiple reports about her beauty, the Badshah ordered that she be brought to him. When she refused, the Badshah dispatched his men to force Kanhopatra to surrender; he besieged the temple and threatened to demolish it unless Kanhopatra surrendered. Kanhopatra desired a final rendezvous with Vithoba before being kidnapped. The circumstances surrounding Kanhopatra’s death at the foot of the Vithoba painting are unknown.”

O Narayana, you call yourself Saviour of the fallen

My caste is impure I lack loving faith

My nature and actions are vile Fallen Kanhopatra Offers herself to your feet

A challenge To your claims of Mercy. (Sellergren: 1996: 227)

Janabai was born into a low-caste sudra family in Maharashtra in the 13th century. She was brought to labour in the upper-caste home of Namdev, one of the most respected of the bhakti poet-saints, when she was a little girl. She continued to serve Namdev as a servant and devotee while residing in this residence. Janabai penned roughly 300 poems about her domestic responsibilities and the limitations she faced as a low-caste woman.

If the Ganga empties into the sea,

And the Ocean retreats.

O Vitthal, tell me. Who would listen to her grievance?

Is it possible for a river to reject its fish?

Is it possible for a mother to reject her child?

Jani replies, “O Lord, those who surrender to you must be accepted.”

Bahina bai : In the 17th century, Bahinabai or Bahina was a Maharashtra poet-saint who created abangas, or women’s songs, to accompany their labours, especially in the fields. Her autobiographical writings cover a variety of topics, including her childhood, puberty, and married life. Despite their obvious differences related to her extreme and euphoric love for her Divine Lover, Lord Vithoba, she was serious about her duties as a wife and responsibilities to her earthly spouse (another name for Krishna). Her spouse chastised her for her devotion to the bhakti poet-saint Tukaram. In contrast, her poetry conveys a sense of responsibility for her marriage and spouse, as well as respectful empathy. Her articles on women’s responsibility to their husbands reflect this. Even though it is exceedingly unusual, Bahinabai is supposed to have received some classical training from her father, a Brahmin scribe. Despite her high caste roots, she chose Tukaram’s studentship above Brahmanical ritual purity.

Life is defined as the beginning of breathing and the end of breathing.

The only thing that separates life and death is a breath.

Conclusion

In the Bhakti Tradition, individual worship was utilised to communicate with God. However, by doing so, these female saints have ushered in a slew of new stories. The rise of feminism in India was a fascinating narrative. These female saints were illiterate and couldn’t read or write. As a result, their dialect was dubbed “common man’s language.” The simplicity of colloquial dialects endeared them to women who identified with the pains and tribulations these women sang about; the simplicity of colloquial dialects endeared them to women who identified with the trials and tribulations these women sang about. They were all young and old, attractive and repulsive, but they were all linked by a love for God. Poetry or, more specifically, songs designed to be performed, make up the majority of Bhakti literature. Bhajans, kirtans, abhangs, ovis, and padams were all composed with the intention of being sung aloud. The Bhakti path emphasises bhava (a personal sense) and anubhava (a global feeling), still includes recitals, satsangs, incantations, and sankirtans, where these songs are played as direct experiences.

References

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• Pande, Rekha. Divine Sounds from the Heart—Singing Unfettered in their Own Voices: The Bhakti Movement and its Women Saints (12th to 17th Century). Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2010.
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(Preeti Oza teaches at St. Andrew’s College of Arts, Science and Commerce, University of Mumbai. Courtesy: ResearchGate.net. ResearchGate is a European commercial social networking site for scientists and researchers to share papers, ask and answer questions, and find collaborators.)