Akka Mahadevi was one of the early female poets of the Kannada literature and a prominent person in the Lingayat Shaiva sect in the 12th century.
Born into a family of ardent Shiva devotees in Udutadi, near the ancient city of Banavasi, in what is now Karnataka in south India, this young female mystic rejected the marriage proposal of the local king, Kaushika, and leaving her family and her clothing behind, travelled to Kalyana and the company of the (mostly male) saranas who worshipped Lord Shiva in the form of the linga in the Anubhav Mantap that had been started by Basava. These noted saranas challenged her in debate on questions of spirituality and philosophy.
One of these male saranas, Allama Prabhu, challenged Akkamahadevi on the basis that her nudity was not total since she still wore long, strategically placed braids. He charged that, therefore, her renunciation of self was not complete either:
God is pleased; you are pleased.
Why is that?
Purifying the mind, abandoning your dresses,
Why cover yourself with your lovely tresses?
Akkamahadevi was eventually able to convince Allama Prabhu and the other saranas of the depth of her spiritual insight and genuine commitment to Lord Shiva, and was accepted into their company where she made significant contributions to their debates. Eventually she left them and travelled to Srisailam where she spent her final days practicing meditation in a solitary grove until she finally achieve unity with her beloved Lord Shiva:
Having offered the body to lingua,
the body becomes bodiless…
Having foisted upon the linga all pleasures of embodiment,
I have become a devotee, a good wife,
to my Lord the linga.
I have touched and merged into my Lord of the Lovely Jasmines.
The Lingayats, or Virasaivas, are worshippers of Lord Shiva found primarily in the modern state of Karnataka, and some districts in adjoining states. Basava is regarded as their founder, and their vacanas (texts) are mostly in the Kannada language. Of the approximately 300 known vacana authors, 30 are women of whom the best known is Akkamahadevi. ‘Akka’ means older sister, and reflects the admiration that contemporaries had for her.
There are over a thousand sayings in Kannada attributed to Akkamadevi, and three books bearing her name. The biographical details of Akkamahadevi can be found in a number of texts including the Mahadeviyakkana Purana and the Sunyasampadane.
It is believed that at the age of 25, she found the Kadali vana in the vicinity of the Shrishaila temple and lived the rest of her life in a cave. As she continued to meditate, Akka’s concept of Chenna Mallikarjuna changed from that of the Puranic Shiva to the formless Divine — the one who pervaded her soul.
She saw the Absolute in everything.
Every tree was the kalpavriksha,
every bush was the Sanjeevani,
every place was a teertha,
every water body contained Amritha and
every pebble was the chintamani gem.
Her very breath became His fragrance.
His form became hers.
Having known Him, there was nothing else to know.
She became the bee that drank the nectar of Chenna Mallikarjuna, and dissolved into it.
What remained was – “ Nothing, none whatsoever”!
Akka Mahadevi’s experiences , both spiritual and domestic, poured out in the form of simple stanzas (vachanas) in Kannada. Set in colloquial language and filled with true-to-life similes, her vachanas penetrate the conscience of the reader with their depth of meaning and lyrical beauty.
They number over 300 and feature in Yoganga Trividhi, treated as a text book by advanced sadhakas.
Her life was a testimony to the power of courage and faith. She gave up her social position and domestic security for the company of Shiva. She fought to prove that every soul, irrespective of gender, has a right to explore and reach the Divine. She was a revolutionary, a social reformer, an ardent devotee and a great poet. Her similes stun the reader with their simplicity and appropriateness.
She wrote:
“Like treasure hidden in the ground, like flavour in the fruit, like gold in the rock and oil in the seed, the Absolute is hidden in the heart.”
“Like the peacock that dances on a hill, like the swan that splashes around a lake, like the cuckoo that sings when the mango tree bursts into bloom, like the bee that enjoys only the fragrant flower, I will enjoy only my Lord Chennamallikarjuna.”
Her advice to a devotee is simple but intense –“Shoot the arrow so forcefully that while penetrating the target, even the feathers go in. Hug the body of the Lord so tightly that the bones crumble…”
More compositions – https://www.poetry-chaikhana.com/Poets/M/MahadeviAkka/index.html
