[nukkad] Women Saints of India

["Pravin Walunjkar" <1>]

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A poem is never finished, only abandoned. -Paul Valery, poet
and philosopher (1871-1945)
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Ever wondered how women contributed to the Bhakti movement in India over
millenia? Here are some of the most famous women saints from the last
2000 odd years. Feel free to add more to this list. It's very essential
for today's generation to understand the grand reverence for women over
centuries, in spite of all odds against them (like Akka Mahadevi and
Mirabai).. Share and Enjoy ! 

 
1. Shri Sarada Devi (Bengal) 

Shri Ramakrishan's life was a boon to humanity, Sarada Devi seems to
have come as a Iministering angel. She focussed all her mental and
physical resources for preserving the precious life of Shri Ramakrishna,
there-by setting a brilliant example of one-pointed service of a wife to
her husband. Unfathomable love was at the back of her scrupulous
service. 
 
According to the scriptures motherhood sanctifies a woman. It is the
consummation of her life, when a woman becomes a mother; her feelings
and emotions get more purified than in wifehood. She becomes free from
all taints of body-consciousness. That is why motherhood is sacred. It
requires every woman to unfold herself as a mother and not as just a
woman. Shri Sarada Devi was an universal mother who served her disciples
with the same care as a mother serves the children she gives birth to. 
 
Source: http://www.koausa.org/Saints/SaradaDevi.html
 

 
2. Maa Anandamayi (Bengal) 
 
Maa Aanandomoyeemaa was born in 1896 at Kheura village of Tripura
dist.in erstwhile East Bengal on 30th April in the house of
Pt.Bipinbehari Bhattacharya & Mokkhadasundari Devi.Parent christened her
as Nirmalasundari Devi.She was married off at the age of 12 yrs 10 mn
with RamaniMohan Chakroborty alias Baba Bholanath.Discovering a Divine
Light in her and realising her various Yoga-Sadhanas ,Sri Jyotishchandra
Ray rechristened her as Maa Aanandomoyeemaa in 1925.Her teaching were
simple ;- 1)Whatever you do,do it wholeheartedly.It does not matter
whether the work is small or large. 2)The easiest way to realise GOD is
through Meditation & Faith. 3)Just spend 10 min everyday at a fixed time
for the GOD thru' Meditation.
 
http://www.anandamayi.org/

 
3. Andal (Tamil Nadu)
 
Andal is one of the most extraordinary personalities in religious
history. She is known in her native tongue of Tamil as an Alvar, one who
is "immersed" in the depths of enjoyment of God, the  omnipresent
mysterious One. Tradition reckons 12 Alvars, of which Andal is the only
female. Between the fifth and ninth centuries, in the Tamil-speaking
region of South India, these saints revitalized the Indian religious
milieu, sparking a renewal of devotional worship throughout the
subcontinent. Traveling from place to place, from temple to temple, from
holy site to holy site, they composed exceedingly beautiful poetry to
their Divine Beloved, Vishnu, as an expression of their love for Him.
Anyone can see why their poetry was so attractive; at once both
impassioned and philosophical, their words cut across all barriers of
caste and class, attracting all to their faith. In doing so, they
sculpted a new religious heritage of intensely emotional bhakti, or love
of the Divine, whose impact is still felt today in the Indian religious
life. Andal, whose life and poetry are celebrated every
December-January, is the most visible contributor to this heritage. 
 
http://www.ramanuja.org/sv/alvars/andal/

 
4. Sadhvi Auvaiyar Maa (Tamil Nadu)
 
Auvaiyar Ma was a contemporary and close associate of two noble Siva
bhaktas, Sundarar and Seraman Perumal, ruler of the Chera kingdom, both
extolled as great Saiva saints in Sekkilar's epic hagiography, the
Periyapuranam. One day, near the end of her life, it is said that
Auvaiyar was in the midst of her daily worship of her beloved Ganesha.
She had a vision in which Saint Sundarar was proceeding to Mount
Kailasa, Siva's abode, with his comrade, King Seraman. Sundarar was
riding a white elephant, and Seraman was on a white horse. They were as
aware of her as she was of them. She became disturbed and tried to rush
her worship, filled with a yearning to join her spiritual friends on
their last journey. But Lord Ganesha appeared and told her to finish her
rituals calmly and without haste, with the promise that she would be
taken to Kailasa ahead of her two friends. Thereupon she entered her
trance even more deeply and sang the renowned hymn of praise entitled
Vinayaka Ahaval. (This great song of religious devotion to Ganesha is
sung to this day throughout the Tamil land at the time of Ganesha
worship, particularly during the annual Ganesha Chaturthi festival.) As
she finished her worship and placed the sacramental offering at His
gracious feet, Vinayaka appeared before her, lifted her in His gentle
trunk and delivered her to the Sivaloka, to Mount Kailasa, before the
two friends arrived. When Seraman Perumal inquired how it was that she
had arrived ahead of them, she sang this in her unique and charming
Tamil:
 
http://www.himalayanacademy.com/books/lg/lg_ch-17.html

 
5. Akka Mahadevi (Karnataka)
 
'Akka' who is popularly known as Akka Mahadevi of twelfth century,
stands to this day not only as a sublime personality, a soul force
conjoining devotion, knowledge, and non-attachment, a pioneer of the
movement of woman's emancipation, the pinnacle of the glory of Vachana
literature, she is also an ever-shining example of transcendental
world-view, a supreme mystical vision." In the history of mankind we
have more than one empress, thinker, warrior and freedom fighter, more
than one anchorite, artist and scholar; but it has given only one
elderly sister, that is Akka Mahadevi.  
 
http://www.ourkarnataka.com/religion/akka_mathapati.htm

 
6. Muktabai (Maharashtra)
 
Muktaba's life was brief but she enlightened thousands of people by her
striking personality, which helped to enhance the greatness of her
brothers too. She was struck by lightening and reached the abode of God
when she was barely eighteen. Muktabai is honoured to this day and
regarded as one of the pioneers of the Varakari cult. The couplet
``Nivritti, Jnanadev, Sopan, Muktabai, Eknath, Tukaram'' is still
recited by the devotees of the Lord Vitthal of Pandharpur in their
bhajans or devotional songs.
The story of Muktabai is chiefly bound up with that of Jnanadev, one of
her brothers. The other two brothers being Nivritti and Sopan. They were
the four children of Vitthalpant and Rukmabai Kulkarni of Apegaon, who
lived on the banks of the river Godavari near Pai then in Alandi.
Muktabai was the youngest child and has been regarded as the incarnation
of Devi Saraswati or Adi-Shakti. Nivritti is regarded as the incarnation
of Lord Shiva, Jnanadev as the incarnation of Sri Krishna, and Sopan as
the incarnation of Brahma.

http://www.samachar.com/features/17024-literature.html

 
7. Janabai (Maharashtra)
 
Janabai lived hundreds of years ago, but her story still holds great
meaning today. 

Janabai's life was very simple. She loved God so much that she wanted
only to serve Him with all her heart, and so she did. And this is the
story of what happened to Janabai because of her devotion to the Lord. 

http://www.siddhayoga.org/community/families/tales_2000/janabai/

 
8. Mirabai (Rajasthan)
 
Mirabai is the most famous of the women bhakta poets of north India.
Though there is some disagreement about the precise details of her life,
it is generally agreed that she was born in 1498, the only daughter of a
Rajput chieftain and landlord by the name of Ratan Singh, in the
neighborhood of Merta, a fortress-city, founded by her grandfather Rao
Dudaji, about 40-50 miles north-east of Ajmer. Her mother died when
Mirabai was only four or five years old. Mirabai is said to have been
devoted to Krishna from a very early age, and in one of her poems she
asks, "O Krishna, did You ever rightly value my childhood love?" As her
father was away much of the time, she was then sent to be raised at her
grandfather's house. Other members of the family were also inclined
towards Vaishnava practices, and in this environment Mirabai's own
religious sentiments could grow freely. Upon the death of her
grandfather, her uncle Viram Dev took her into his charge, and it is her
uncle who consented to have her married off to Bhoja Raj, the heir
apparent to the throne of the famous warrior Rana Sanga of the House of
Sisodiya. There were no children from this marriage, and in the event
Mirabai took no interest in her earthly spouse, since she believed
herself to be married to Krishna. Her husband died sometime before her
father passed away in January 1528 in a battle with the Mughal Emperor
Babur in which her father-in-law was also seriously wounded. The
standard narrative is that at this vital juncture Mirabai was left
vulnerable to the hostility of her conservative male relatives, and that
this hostility increased as Mirabai became visibly detached from the
affairs of the world and her obligations to her in-laws. She began to
frequent the temple, discoursed with the sadhus, and apparently danced
before the image: 
 
http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/southasia/Religions/gurus/Mirabai.html
 

9. Lal Ded (Kashmir) 

Kashmir has produced many saints, poets and mystics. Among them, Lal Ded
is very prominent. In Kashmir, some people consider her a poet, some
consider her a holywoman and some consider her a sufi, a yogi, or a
devotee of Shiva. Sume even consider her an avtar. But every Kashmiri
considers her a wise woman. Every Kashmiri has some sayings of Lalla on
the tip of his tongue. The Kashmiri language is full of her sayings.  
Kashmiri Hindus and Muslims affectionately call her "Mother Lalla" or
"Granny Lalla". She is also called "Lallayogeshwari". Some people call
her Lalla, the mystic.  

http://www.koausa.org/Saints/LalDed/article1.html


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have a great day !
- pravin walunjkar. 
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