Women Sants of Maharashtra were leaders in Socio Religious Reform

On Navaratri, this is the ninth in a series of articles on Women Sants, of Marathi-speaking areas, between the 13-17 centuries. These women were actually forbearers of socio-religious reform. The articles were written as Shakti Upasana.

To read article 1 on Mahdambha , To read article 2 on Muktabai , To read about Janabai , To read article 4 on Soyrabai , To read article 5 on Kanhopatra , To read article 6 on Bahinbai , To read article on Venna Swami , To read article 8 on Akkaswami

This is the ninth and final article in a series of nine articles on the women sants of Maharashtra. During this Navaratri, as Shakti Upasana, I endeavoured to chronicle the lives and contributions of women sants in the Marathi-speaking region from the thirteenth to the seventeenth century.

The women featured in this series belonged to various Sampradays: Mahanubhav – Mahdamba, Mahadaisa or Rupabai (c. 1228-1303); Varkari - Muktai or Muktabai (c. 1279-1297), Janabai (c. 1270-1350), Soyarabai (c. Late 13^th-14^th C), Kanhopatra (c. 15^th Century AD), Bahinabai (c. 1628-1700); and Ramdasi or Samarth Sampraday - Venna Swami or Vennabai (c. 1627-1700), Chimanabai or Akkaswami (c. 1635-1721)

This series examines the status of women in the domains of religion, spirituality, and society in the early modern times. Indeed, it is fair to say that the majority of them did not occupy a high position in society. Mahadamba, Vennaswami, and Akkaswami were child widows; Muktabai was an outcaste Brahmin; Janabai was a maidservant; Soyrabai belonged to an untouchable caste; Kanhopatra was a courtesan; and Bahinabai, despite being a Brahmin woman, endured domestic violence in the early years of her marriage. They confronted societal orthodoxies and the obstacles of social existence.

They were poets who articulated their lives, philosophies, and devotion through their abhang compositions. Some have chronicled their intersectional suffering and instances when they contemplated abandoning their material existence. Nonetheless, bhakti provided them with the fortitude to endure social suffering and provided purpose to their lives.

Significantly, these women sants should be examined not only through the lens of bhakti, which is fundamental to their essence, but also as socio-political thinkers and leaders of their times. Despite, in many cases, being guided and mentored by a male guru, their autonomy as women is clearly evident in their compositions.

These women sants not only advocated for themselves against formidable challenges but also facilitated the advancement of future generations of both men and women in attaining the highest spiritual aspirations, despite the hardships of social life.

Through their bhakti, they attained social legitimacy. Their lives suggest that bhakti should not be regarded solely as a means of transcendence, which is undoubtedly its primary objective, but rather as a form of social and spiritual capital.

All women featured in this series are highly esteemed and revered not only within their sampradayik realm but also across various social strata for centuries. Let’s pay tribute to these women sants by invoking the following mantra:

नमो देव्यै महादेव्यै शिवायै सततं नमः ।
नमः प्रकृत्यै भद्रायै नियताः प्रणताः स्म ताम् ॥

Salutations to the Devi, to the Mahadevi; Salutations Always to Her Who is One with Shiva (the Auspicious One).

Salutations to Her Who is the Auspicious (being One with Shiva) Primordial

Source of Creation and Controller of Everything; We Bow Always to Her.

©Dr. Varada Sambhus

Someday I hope to chronicle lives of women in Europe between the 13 and 17^th centuries. Did they have so many women Sants as Maharashtra did?

Author is Associate Professor, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. The opinions expressed in this series are personal.

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