• On Navaratri, this is the sixth in a series of nine articles on Women Sants, of Marathi-speaking areas, between the 13-17 centuries. This is a brief feature on the life of Bahinabai, who belonged to the Varkari tradition. She was guided by Advaita Vedanta tradition.

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

Last among the female sants of the Varkari tradition, Bahinabai lived in 17th-century Maharashtra. Her abhang compositions indicate that Sant Tukaram Maharaj, one of the better-known sants of Varkari Sampradaya, was her guru. The legend goes that Tukaram Maharaj gave her ‘Guropdesh’ or the sacred message in her dreams. Bahinabai composed several abhnags, and a set of compositions known as Atmanivedana is considered the first autobiography in Marathi. Bahinabai’s corpus suggests that she was able to read and write, an unusual skill for women in the seventeenth century. 

She was born into an orthodox Brahmin family in Deogaon, situated in the current Sambhajinagar district, circa 1628. At the age of five, Bahina married a 30-year-old widower named Ratnakar Pathak. After Bahina’s marriage, her family’s circumstances forced them to relocate frequently. 

It is believed that in a state of samadhi, or deep meditation, Bahinabai felt as though Tukaram himself had placed his hand on her head, blessed her, and asked her to compose abhangs. It was a transcendental event for her. With the blessings of Tukoba, she got full inspiration to compose devotional songs. She started writing abhangas on spiritual subjects and began to perform kirtans

As the fame of Bahina’s devotional singing spread widely, Ratnakar, not impressed, decided to leave her. However, Ratnakar suddenly fell ill, and Bahina nursed him patiently day and night, which made Ratnakar not only recover his health but also realize his mistakes. Once Ratnakar’s health improved, the family relocated to Dehu. 

In Dehu, Bahinabai thought herself most fortunate because she could hear Tukoba’s abhangs routinely. Bahinabai’s tranquillity and balance in all situations inspired Ratnakar to take up the path of bhakti, and he also became a devotee of Tukaram. In Dehu, Bahinabai gave birth to a daughter, Kashi, and a son, Vitthal, who became a great kirtankars like her in the future. 

In many of her abhangas, Bahinabai has expressed how she attained knowledge of Advaita Vedanta. In her verses, she describes her previous thirteen births to her son. It is surmised that she had initiated disciples too. Deenakavi, the author of Panchkaran Mahavakya, was one of her disciples.

Bahinabai presents herself as someone who has achieved what seems difficult, if not impossible: she managed to reconcile her worldly duties with the path of devotion. This reconciliation does not take place without a struggle, though, and Bahinabai’s poems portray it even more clearly than they explain its resolution. 

Bahinabai’s poems suggest that all women, irrespective of their marital status, can attain salvation. Bahina Bai’s compositions reflect the perpetual quest to reconcile action and withdrawal, duty and renunciation, pravrtti and nivrtti.

In one of the famous abhnags, she gives an account of the development of the Varkari Sampraday and how the great sants of the tradition contributed to its spread. She writes:

संतकृपा झाली । इमारत फळा आली ।।१।।

ज्ञानदेवें रचिला पाया । उभारिलें देवालया ।।२।।

नामा तयाचा किंकर । तेणें केला हा विस्तार ।।३।।

जनार्दन एकनाथ । खांब दिधला भागवत ।।४।।

तुका झालासे कळस । भजन करा सावकाश ।।५।।

बहिणी म्हणे फडकती ध्वजा । निरूपणा केलें बोजा ।।६।।

It translates:

The structure was completed owing to the blessings of the sants.

The foundation of the temple (house of god) was laid by Dnyandev. 

And Nama (Namdev) who is your servant (O God), expanded the area.

Janardan's Eknath by way of (composing) the Bhagvat, erected the pillars of the temple. 

Tuka became the pinnacle. Sing the bhajan slowly.

The flag flutters; this is an honest account, Bahini says.

Let’s pay tribute to Bahinabai by invoking the following mantra:

या देवी सर्वभूतेषु चेतनेत्यभिधीयते ।
नमस्तस्यै नमस्तस्यै नमस्तस्यै नमो नमः ॥

To that goddess, who in all beings is reflected as consciousness, salutations to her, salutations to her, salutations to her, salutations again and again.

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

References

1. Daukes, Jacqueline. Female Voices in the Vārkari Sampradaya: Gender Constructions in a Bhakti Ttradition. Diss. SOAS, University of London, 2014.

Dhere, R. C. Santanchya Aatmakatha. Pune: Puspaka Prakasana, 1969.

2. Feldhaus, Anne. “Bahina Bai: Wife and Saint”, Journal of the American Academy of Religion L.4 (December), 1982, pp. 591–604.

3. Irlekar, Suhasini.  Sant Kavi ani Kavyitri -Ek Anubandh. Pune: Snehvardhan Prakashan, 2006.   

4. Mahipati. Bhaktavijay. Trans. Justin E. Abbott and N.R. Godbole. 1933. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1999.

5. Ranade, R. D. Mysticism: Mysticism in Maharashtra. History of Indian Philosophy. Edited by S. K. Belvalkar and R. D. Ranade. Vol 7. Poona: Aryabhushan Press, 1933.

6. Sinha, Jayita. "An ant swallowed the sun": women mystics in medieval Maharashtra and medieval England”. Diss. 2015.

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