Akka Mahadevi
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Akka Mahadevi (ಅಕ್ಕ ಮಹಾದೇವಿ) was a prominent figure and Kannada poet of the Veerashaiva Bhakti movement of the 12th century Karnataka.[1] Her Vachanas, a form of didactic poetry are considered her greatest contribution to Kannada Bhakti literature.[2] In all she wrote about 430 Vachanas which is relatively fewer than that compared to other saints of her time. Yet the term 'Akka' (elder Sister) which is an honorific given to her by great Veerashaiva saints like Basavanna, Cenna Basavanna, Kinnari Bommayya, Siddharama, Allamaprabhu and Dasimayya speaks volumes of her contribution to Kannada literature and the history of Karnataka. 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, considered herself married to Krishna).
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[edit] Early life
Born in Udutadi (or Udugani) near the ancient city of Banavasi (in Shikaripura taluk Shimoga district).[3] Much about her early life is not known; did she live very long either.
[edit] Mythology
She is a prominent figure in the field of female emancipation and a person of mystical vision. A household name in Karnataka, she had said that she was a woman only in name and that her mind, body and soul belonged to Lord Shiva. During a time of strife and political uncertainty in the 12th. century, she launched a movement that made her an inspiration for woman empowerment and enlightenment. It is commonly known that she took part in many gatherings of learned at the Anubhavamantapa in Kudala sangama to debate about philosophy and attainment of enlightenment (or Moksha, termed by her as "arivu"). In search for her eternal soul mate, she made the animals, flowers and birds her friends and companions, rejecting family life and worldly attachment. The time was marked as height of foolishness of varnashrama dharma which only supported the three upper castes of Hindu society in India and suppressed the shudras and women.
Akka was a revelation here in that she not only rose for emancipation but also has sung vachanas which are so simple but of highest order.
It is said that Mahadevi was married by arrangement to Kausika(false, she never got married since her child hood she believed the god channamallikarjuna,the name given by her to her ishtalinga.), a local king. There were immediate tensions, however, as Kausika was a Jain, a group that tended to be wealthy and was, as a result, much resented by the rest of the population. Much of Akka's poetry explores the themes of rejecting mortal love in favor of the everlasting, "illicit" love of God, and this seems to be the path she chose as well.
She rejected her life of luxury to live as a wandering poet-saint, traveling throughout the region and singing praises to her Lord Shiva.
She travelled widely in search of emancipation and finally became a Sanyasini (woman saint) before settling down in Basavakalyana, Bidar district. Her non-conformist ways caused a lot of consternation in a conservative society and even her eventual guru Allama Prabhu had to initially face difficulties in enlisting her in the gatherings at Anubhavamantapa. 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 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,
onlooking everywhere, what can you
cover and conceal?
Her poetry exhibits her love for Chenna Mallikarjuna and harmony with nature and simple living.
She Sang:
For hunger, there is the village rice in the begging bowl,
For thirst, there are tanks and streams and wells
For sleep temple ruins do well
For the company of the soul I have you, Chenna Mallikarjuna
Recent work on the period suggests that understanding Akka Mahadevi as an inspiration for 'women's empowerment' is a deeply anachronistic reading. Such readings it is argued were products of the colonial schemes of interpretation that initially took great interest in Virasaivism, for its declarations about Shiva as the only God. These fervent declarations by a devotee of the period were taken to be philosophical arguments for Monotheism.
