BRIDAL MYSTICISM AND GENDER: THE WOMAN'S VOICE IN VIRASAIVA VACANAS

Author(s): Malini Adiga

Source: Proceedings of the Indian History Congress , 2013, Vol. 74 (2013), pp. 115-124
Published by: Indian History Congress

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/44158806

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide
range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and
facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at
https://about.jstor.org/terms

Indian History Congress is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to
Proceedings of the Indian History Congress

This content downloaded from

27.59.233.121 on Thu, 24 Sep 2020 05:25:38 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 BRIDAL MYSTICISM AND GENDER: THE
WOMAN'S VOICE IN VIRASAIVA
YACANAS
Malini Adiga

Bridal mysticism, regarding oneself as the bride of one's chosen

is a common phenomenon among mystics, both male and female.
paper attempts to examine this tendency among the Vīrašaiva wo
saints, in particular, contrasting them to the Tamil Aivars and Nàyan
among whom the figure of the bhakta or a girl or gõpi longing
union with the divine lord is a common trope.
The 'girl' poems were developed as a genre by Nammāļvār
following the Śangam akattinai format where the akam or 'interior'
poems spoke of the state of the lovelorn girl or boy. In accordance
with the conventions of akam poetry, the protagonists of the poems
were anonymous. Nammāļvār used the girl poems to speak of the soul's
longing for union, in this case with Tirumāļ or Mâyon as Visņu was
known in these works. Mäyon in the Śangam works was the god of the
mullai tinai , which was set in a pastoral ecological setting, and
symbolized the rainy season and separation. In Śangam works, Mâyon
is not the giver of what the tinai symbolizes, separation, but in
Nammāļvār's Tiruvãymõli, he is depicted as the god who unites and
then separates, tormenting the lovelorn girl. Her agony is described in
poems wherein she is shown as enraptured by the deity's form and yet
her mortal frame does not allow her to reach the transcendental deity
symbolized by the idol. The physical frame apprehends the beauty of
the lord and yet feels the absence.1
In Tirumankai Āļvār's songs, the "girl" stands in for the poet's
own ecstatic drive for union with the deity. But since the Älvär was an
active physical being, this drive to union is doomed to frustration which
is expressed in his Tirumatal poems in which another tinai convention
is exploited, the riding of the matal, which is portrayed in late Śangam
works as an act of despair at a hopeless love affair which expresses
itself in an act of defiance of social norms and makes the protagonist
an object of scandal and gossip.2 The soul seeks to relish the beauty
of the symbols through physical senses but the ultimate union eludes it
leaving it in a state of desperate longing. His poems also use the
mythical frame of the gopi longing for union with the young Krsņa and
the expression is far more erotic.

This content downloaded from

27.59.233.121 on Thu, 24 Sep 2020 05:25:38 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
1 16 IHC: Proceedings, 74th Session , 2013

The "girl" poems reach an apogee with Āntāļ 's songs the Tiruppãvai
and the Nãcciyãr Tirumõli. Here she uses the context of the traditional
religious practices to express her longing for Krishna. The myths of
Krishna with the gopis , the temple context and the frame of the "girl"
songs are all used imaginatively to express her longing and desire for
erotic fulfilment. The Tiruppãvai ends with the girls praying to Krisņa
in his temple to be "joined with him and to be accepted as his slave
girls for all time to come".3 The Nãcciyãr Tirumõli has a song (no. 6)
wherein the "girl" narrates a dream in which Visņu arrives in a splendid
procession and marries her.4 It is fitting that the legend of Āntāļ holds
that she married the god at Srīrangam and merged with the image of
the deity there.5
In contrast to the Vaisņavite Āļvārs' use of the akam genre, the
Saivite Nâyanârs generally use the puram (exterior) poetry which was
concerned with public themes such as war and heroism.
They praise Siva as manifest in particular places and celebrate his
heroic deeds there. The god in his temple is a projection of the king on
a local scale and royal titles such as imivãn, talaivãn and perumãn are
now used for the deity resident in the temple ( kõyil ).6 But the poetry
of Māņikkavācakar uses akam themes and consistently casts the devotee
as a female engaged in day to day chores and singing songs in praise of
the lord.7 The bridal mystic is manifest here as in the case of
Nammālvār and Āntāļ, a devotee longing for union with god as a bride
with her chosen groom. However, Karaikkāl Ammaiyãr, datable to the
early sixth century and the only woman among the Nãyanârs, does not
employ the bridal imagery in her poems of praise. She speaks of Siva
in terms of loving, loyal service which expressed itself in praise,
worship and meditation.8 It is significant that legends of this devotee
of Siva speak of her as being transformed by his grace into one of his
Pey (ghouls) attendants and that in that guise she witnessed his
transcendent dance at Tiruvalankādu.9

The general voice of bhakti in South India therefore conceives of

the soul as female with respect to the deity who is male. VTrasaivas
who were strongly influenced by the Tamil Nãyanãrs continued the
trends in that movement towards opposition of Jainism, and social
reform and opposition to caste, which was latent in the Tamil bhakti
took the centre stage in the VTrasaiva movement. They also empowered
the female and bridal mysticism is expressed by many saints male and
female. It is expressed as " linga pati śarana saď* in the vacanas of
several saints both male and female. As Akka Mahādēvi puts it, "To
my lord Cenna Mallikārjuna, the entire world is female, O father" ( enna
deva Cenna Mallikãrjananemba garuvange jagevella heņņu, nõdã

This content downloaded from

27.59.233.121 on Thu, 24 Sep 2020 05:25:38 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 Ancient India 1 1 7

ayya).i0 From this, they argue the irrelev

As Goggavve states, "They call her femal
flowing hair and when a moustache shows
the knowledge of this duality male or fem
bandade heņņembaru/ mīsekāse bandad
júãna/ he ņņo gaņdo Nāstinātha). The know
was thus not confined to any one gender
union with the deity. Indeed, in contrast
large number of women have left their m
Bridal mysticism is the leitmotif of
Works of a slightly later period hold that
local lord who was not a Saiva and she walked out of her marital home
because of hindrance to her religious practices. This is supported by
hints in several of her own vacanas in which she asks her chosen lord
Cenna Mallikãrjuna how he could have allowed her to be given
elsewhere. For instance the following:
This girl who trusted you, how could you tolerate someone else
pulling her away O Lord of Lords?11 ( nimma nam hi banda hengūsa
hindobbareledoydare entu sairiside cnna dēvadēva?) Or, "I was before
you, how could allow others to take me away, tell me O Cenna
Mallikārjuna?wl2(/7»7/ia mundi ratta any aru kondoyvãgalentu sairiside
hēļā Cenna Mallikãrjuna).
The conflict between her worldly husband and her lord Cenna
Mallikãrjuna is spelt out in yet another vacana which states ''Inside
is the husband and outside the lover/ I cannot manage them both/
the worldly and the other worldly cannot be mixed/ Bilva and other
fruit cannot be held in one hand™" (o lagaña gandanayya horagaņa
mindanayyã/ eradanu nadesalu bãradayyã/ laukika paramārtha
vemberadanu nadesalu bãradayyã/ Cenna Mallikãrjunayyã bilva
beladalakãyi ondãgi hidiyalu bãradayyã).
In most of her vacanas she gives expression to her belief that
Mallikãrjuna was her wedded husband. The most emphatic statement
comes in answer K> Allama Prabhu's query as to who her husband was:
O Hara, I have performed austerities for ages to win you as my
husband; when the time came to fix my marriage, my people
approached Śaśidhara; they applied sacred ash and tied the bracelet
because Cenna Mallikãrjuna said that I was to be his"14 ( Harane
nine nage gaņdanāgabēkendu anantakãla tapas idde nõdã/ haseya
mēlana māta besagoļalattidade Śaśidharana hattirakke
kaļuhisadaremmavaru/ bhasmavane h usi kanka pavane ka f fidar u/
Cenna Mallikãrjuna tanage nānāgabēkenda).
Several vacanas express a dream wherein Siva visited her home in the
guise of a mendicant and she embraced him or married him.15 The

This content downloaded from

27.59.233.121 on Thu, 24 Sep 2020 05:25:38 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
1 18 IHC : Proceedings, 74th Session, 2013
wedding motif is also seen in another vacana wherein women of the
neighbourhood are asked to welcome him after duly adorning
themselves16 ( indenna manege ganda bandahanelegavvã/
nimanimagellā śrngara madikoļļi / Cenna Mallikārjuna nīgale
bandahanu/ Idirugoļļi banniravvagaļirā).
The parallels with Āntāļ become more remarkable when we
consider the songs wherein she addresses the bees, the cuckoos and
the parrots in the kadali vana at ŚrTśaila.17 These songs are similar to
the messenger songs in Nammāļvār18 and Āntāļ19 where they are
requested to tell her about the whereabouts of her beloved lord and
take her to Him. However, the poems of the Āļvārs had an element of
suffering infused in these messenger songs wherein the form of the
messengers, the rain cloud, the dark bee and the cuckoo reminded the
girl of Krsņa and heightened her misery at separation. This is missing
in Akka Mahādēvi who merely asks these various creatures if they
have seen her lord Mallikārjuna and asks for directions.
Like Āntāļ, the imagery is erotic in Akka Mahādēvi's vacanas.
She gives stark bodily images of union with her beloved. "By and by
I shut my eyes, O Mother, I was listening and then I lost myself and
leaned back, I needed not the bed laid out, listen O Mother, in my
union with Cenna Mallikarjuna, I lost myself 2'kāņutta kāņutta
kangaļan m uccide, nõdavvã/ kē ļutta kēļutta maidaredoragide, nõdavvã /
hãsida hãsigeya hangillade hoyittu kēļavvā / Cenna Mallikārjuna
dēvaradēvana kūdu va kūtava nãnênariyade marede kãnavvã).
But Akka Mahādēvi went beyond use of sexual metaphors in
describing her union and her rebellion went beyond walking out of an
ill-suited marriage. She discarded her clothes and declared " For one
wearing the light of the lord, to the shameless girl where is the need
for cover or jewel?"2,(Ce/7/7a Mallikārjunadēvara beļaganuttu
lajjegettavaļige uduge todugeya hangēko maruļe?) This unparalleled
defiance of social conventions seems to have stirred a hornet's nest.
On her advent in the Anubhava mantapa she finds herself subjected
to questioning on the subject of nudity and how it was that she still
covered herself with her hair. In reply she claims that others may find
it painful and so she covered the seals of love22 ( kamana mudreya kaņdu
nimage novādītendu , endu a bhãvadinda m ucci de. Idakke nõvêke?).
While male saints like Allama Prabhu and Basava, Cenna Basava,
Siddharâmayya and others seem to have recognized that she had
transcended all worldly barriers and was one with the lord of her choice,
her defiance of social mores seems to have found no acceptance among
the women śaranas. As Vijaya Ramaswamy points out, none of them
seem to have remembered her in their vacanas save indirectly and in
negative terms to castigate nudity.23- I however found one exception in

This content downloaded from

27.59.233.121 on Thu, 24 Sep 2020 05:25:38 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 Ancient India 1 1 9

Nāgalāmbikā, the sister of Basava who

Madivâlayya, Rēvaņa Siddhayya and Siddh
The family connection of Nāgalāmbika w
approval of Akka Mahādēvi is perhaps a
exception.
However, Akka Mahādēvi does not limit herself to bridal imagery
in depicting her relation to her lord, though that is the most common
trope. She also calls herself the child and the slave of Cenna
Mallikārjuna:
"I am a house slave (haļemagaļ) who has enrolled in your service
and will not give up following you. Then, now and forever I am
your child who believed in you , O father. I know only one and not a
second master, Listen, O lord Mallikārjuna,25 I am a slave who
survives on your leftovers." (Ninna bembaļividida ha/emaga/ãnayya /
andu indu endū ninna nambida śiśu nãnayya / ondal lade
eradanariyenayya/ enna tande, kēļā Cenna Mallikārjuna/ nimma
enjaìanumba haìeyavaìanayya.)
This again is reminiscent of both Karaikkãl Ammaiyãr and her notions
of servitude to the lord as well as the concluding verse of the Tiruppāvai
which asks the lord to accept the girl(s) as His slave(s). In the vacana
of Akka Mahādēvi, the notion of servitude is* stark, living on the
leftovers of the lord is the ultimate degree of abasement.
It is significant that the women saints who have used the imagery
of bridal mysticism are by and large either unmarried, like Satyamma
or of ambiguous marital status like Kadire Remmavve or Nāgalāmbikā.
Nāgalāmbikā in a verse reminiscent of Akka Mahādēvi speaks of how
the guru acted as her parents, the linga was her husband, the jangamas
were her father and mother-in-law and all the Sivabhaktas acted as her
kinsmen and they sent her to the home of truth and good conduct and
thus made real the name of śarana s at i 2 Y srīguru ve tayitandeyãgi I ingave
patiyãgi, jangamave ate-mãvandirãgi, Śiva-bhaktare bãndhavarãgi ,
satya-sadãcãravemba manege kaļuhidarāgi, ś aranas at / e m ba nama
nijavãyittu.) Remmavve brings Akka Mahādēvi to mind in the manner
in which she rejects her husband and speaks contemptuously of him.
She describes him as the crusher of her mind and as impotent ( lenna
gandan ge andada bījavilia).
However, Viranna Rajur characterizes these vacanas of Remmavve
as " bedagina vacana ". These are esoteric in character and have a
meaning different from the apparent, literal one. He has also stated
that two of ther vacanas dealing with her husband are of the sati-pati
bhava , meaning that they express bridal mysticism.27 Hence, the
apparent meaning stated above might mean rather that unlike other
worldly husbands who conquer worldly enemies, her lord conquered

This content downloaded from

27.59.233.121 on Thu, 24 Sep 2020 05:25:38 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
120 IHC: Proceedings , 74th Session, 2013

minds and was beyond worldly virility. However, I was unable to access
the commentary that explicated the meaning of these esoteric vacanas.
Satyakka's vacanas once again show some of the features of the
"girl" poems of the Āļvārs. In one, she speaks of how she lacks friends
who may understand her plight and decries her mother as having no
mercy on her. She says that the slayer of Kama had occupied her
mind and would not let go. She begs her mother to not let her youth
waste away and bring to her the lord, Sarnbhu Jakkēšvara28
( manadiccheyanari va sakhiyarilla, innêvenavvã? Manumathavairíya
anubhāvadalli enna mana sa Juki bidadu, innēna mãduve karuņavillada
tãye? Dina vrthā hoyittãgi yauvvana bīsaravāgada munna Pinãkiya
nerahavvã , Śambłiu Jakkēsvarana!) These are familiar tropes in
Nammāļvār's girl poems where the mother fails to understand her
plight and is more worried over the reactions of society to her dalliance
and her lovelorn state.29 Of a similar character is the following:
Praising you, I have given myself to you. Having become your
mistress, I cannot give myself to anyone else. I am tired of waiting,
I have given you my prāņa, I know nothing else, my body, mind,
word and deed are yours, why do you not accept me? Is this a male
quality? I know no other man, Sarnbhu Jakkēšvara.30

Married women saraņas tend not to use the motif of bride of the lord,
indeed it is significant that their signature in the vacanas tend to be
derived from their husbands'. Thus, NTlamma, the wife of Basava
has the ankita nama of Sangayya and most of her vacanas include a
reference to her husband, while her co-wife Gangāmbikā, has
" Gangãpriya Kūdala Sangamadēva , both derived from Basava's own
signature of Kūdala Sangamadēva . Gangambika's vacanas have two
prime leitmotifs, one is a maternal longing for her deceased child, the
other is a dedication to her husband. In one she explicitly states that
for a wife who was bound by her husband's commands, other religious
vows are irrelevant. She contrasts herself to another woman (probably
Nilamma) whose dedication was to her linga, she herself was dedicated
to her husband's words (patiyajneyalli caripa satigyake pratijneyu?/
... ivala linganisthe ivalige/ namma nisthe patiyajneyalli kāņā,
Gängapriya Kudalasangamadevá). Nilamņia too seems to suggest that
her husband was an intermediary in her attainment of the ultimate aim
of enlightenment. "I am not a woman with dedication and since I am
devoid of dedication, and given to action, {fie satisfaction born of
happiness did not find a home in me. I hâve lived in Sangayya by
remembering Basava".31 ( Anu nistheyullùvale allavayya/anu
nistheyillada karmiyada karanavenage/ sukhada trpti
nelegollalillavayya / Enage patinamadaruhu sadhyavallada karana/
Sangayyanalli Basavana nenedu badukidenayya). However, another

This content downloaded from

27.59.233.121 on Thu, 24 Sep 2020 05:25:38 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 Ancient India 121

vacana gives an interesting twist on br

to Basava himself as the bride of God,
with a woman and by virtue of uni
knowledge of the ground of reality and
sangava madihenu nanu/ anu angane
kandu nindavalayya/ Nilavanaridu nele
Sangayya ). In yet another vacana s
enlightenment from her relationship w
to realise the primal reality of Pranav
Since Basava was one with her and she with him had fathomed his
mind and realised the here and hereafter. She now knew bliss and
understood reality, she was the woman who she had grasped the reality
of Sangayya.33 {Adi nadada biņduvanaridu bhakti sambhasanęya
madida Basava/ Pranavadalli nijava kandu torida Basava/ A pranavada
ghanava kanda Basava/ltara trptiyananubhavisaballa Basava/
Ninennalli adagi, naninnalli adagi/ Na ninna manada arivana aridu
unbhayavillavendenende Basava./ Sukhada samayacarava kandu
nijadalli nindavalanu nanayya Basava/ Sangayyanalli nijavidida hennu
nane ahudendu/ nudidenayya Appanna).
A similar play of images revolving around the husband as the ground
on which she attained reality is seen in the vacanas of Lingamma, wife
of Hadapada Appanna. However, she also refers to her guru, Cenna
Mallesvara as equally important in her quest. Her vacanas deploy many
poetic symbols to convey the experience of ultimate enlightenment.
In a beautiful vacana she describes the house in which she awaits
her attainment of union as follows:

"Having made the earth the foundation, and constructed the walls
of water, I enclosed fire within the water and made the framework of
my bones, spread the vital life force of vayu, I envęloped the whole in
ether (akasa) ?.Ad made the roof of the thousand petalled lotus. Having
thus adornei the platform on which to attain bliss, I awaited my lord.
Seeing this, Appanna came and became the throne of camphor on which
Cenna Mallesvara stood as the Jyotirlinga. The Linga of light and the
camphor became one in blaze of light and in that light I became truly
liberated, Cenna Mallesvara, O Cenna Basavanna dear to Appanna".34
(Prthviyane adiya madi, appuvinalli godeyanikki,/ agniyane
appuvinolage hudugisi,/ astiyane galuva madi, vayuvane biri, /
akasavane hodisi, sahasradala kamalavane melukatta katti ,/
bayalamantapava srngarava madi/ Odeyana barava harutiddenayya./
Odeyana baruva haraisuva avastheya kandu,/ Hadapada Appannane
karpurada simhasanavagi nindaru./ Adakke Cenna Mallesvarane
jyotirmaya lingavagi/ bandu nelegondaru./ Jyotirmaya lingavu

This content downloaded from

27.59.233.121 on Thu, 24 Sep 2020 05:25:38 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
122 IHC: Proceedings, 74th Session , 2013
kar puravu ekavagi/ prajvalis i paramaprakasavayittu./ 1 belaginalli na
nijamuktaladenayya Cenna Mallesvara, Appannapriya Cenna
Basavanna.).
However, in another vacana she speaks of overcoming worldly
trappings by the dint of having received the padodaka prasada of the
Jangamas and having confused her husband, made her brother-in-law
disappear and shut the eyes of her child and ignoring the chiding of the
world and indeed the dependence on the world at large and attained
peace and bliss in the light of the ultimate truth.35 This is in some senses
reminiscent of the vacana of Akka Mahadevi in which she speaks of
overcoming the trappings of the family to attain union. ( Baccabariya
belaga nodihenendu/ maneyatana manku madide ; bhavana bayala
madide;/ kandana kannmuccide; ninde-kundugala marede; jagaada
hanga harideJ Jangamada padodaka pras adava konda karanadinda/
mangalada mahabelaginolagoladi sukhiyadenayya/ Appannapriya
Cenna Basavanna ).
Moligeya Mahadevi, wife of Moligeye Marayya, has a signature
" ennayya priya Niskalanka Mallikarjuna " derived from her husband's
Niskalanka Mallikarjuna. Although Mõligeya Mahādēvi 's vacanas are
highly philosophical in nature and take the form of instruction to her
husband about the ultimate unity of the soul and the deity, but they
conceive of both achieving the union in unison and this union is
compared in its nature to the pleasure of sexual union:
"My lord, your union and mine with the ultimate is not different. In
nature it is like our bodily union and the pleasure generated thereby.
We must look for union within ourselves by purifying our minds
and going beyond knowledge and praise and not beyond ourselves.
This you must realize and not look outside here and there, only then
can you unite with my lord's dear Niskalanka
Mallikãrjuna"36(£ftftayay0 enna ninna satsthala idakke
bhinnabhãvavilla/ adu enna ninna kūtada sukhadante/ ida cennãgi
tiļidu nodikoļļi / aili Uli emba gella gūļitana bēda/ hägemballiye
bayalãgabêku, ennayya priya lmmadi Niskalanka Mallikãjunanalli.).
Thus, it is significant that although VTrasaivas went beyond most sects
in empowering the female there were significant hindrances to the full
achievement of the same. The religious practices of the wife were
bound by those of her husband when both belonged to the same sect.
Akkamma, an unmarried woman herself gives expression to this
limitation whereby husbands and wives are bound:
"The wife must follow the husband in his vows/and practices, can
she be allowed independence? Only when the vows of the two are
united can it be acceptable to the lord Rāmēšvara linga whose spirit
lies in correct practice."37 ( Purusana ācāradalli sati na dey ab ēkai l ade

This content downloaded from

27.59.233.121 on Thu, 24 Sep 2020 05:25:38 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 Ancient India 123

satige svat antra unte / Intī ubhayada vr

prāņavāda Rāmēšvaralingakke vratave vas
Thus, Uma Chakravarti 's contention that
a hindrance in the complete dedication
incorrect. Those who went beyond t
altogether seem to have been the ones m
ultimate aim of union. Men in contrast, te

In the context of Christian mystics t

distinguished: apophatic and cataphat
generally considered to be cataphatic in
material world in order to experience t
expression is one which uses negation, p
of the women mystics considered abov
cataphatic category in using bodily me
the divine lord. This is not to state that
absent among Vīrašaiva women. Many o
vacanas fell in the apophatic category.

NOTES AND REFERENCES

1. Friedhelm Hardy, Viraha-Bhakti.The Early History of Krsņa De

India , OUP, Delhi, 1983, pp.353-354.
2. Ibid., p. 399-400
3. Ibid., p.416.
4. Ibid., p. 411.
5 . Uma Chakravarti, "The World of the Bhaktin in South Indian T raditions- The Body
and Beyond", in Kumkum Roy (ed) Women in Early Indian Societies , Readings
in Early Indian History series , Manohar, New Delhi, 1st ed 1999, reprint, 2005,
pp.299-32 1,307.
6. R. Champakalakshmi, "From Devotion and Dissent to Dominance: The Bhakti of
the Tamil Älvars and the Näyanärs", in S. Gopal and R. Champakalakshmi (eds.)
Tradition Dissent and Ideology: Essays in Honour of Romila Thapar , OUP, Delhi,
pp. 134- 163.
7. Glenn E. Yocum, "Māņikkavācakar's Image of Śiva", in History of Religions , Vol
16, no.l, 1976, pp.20-41.
8. F. Hardy, op. cit., p. 307.
9. Uma Chakravarti, op. cit., p. 307.
10. Viranna Rajur (ed) Sivaiarancyara Vacano Samputa, Kannada Books Authority,
Bangalore, 2001, no.429.
11. Ibid., No. 371.
12. Ibid., No. 97.
13. Ibid., No. 132.
14. Ibid., No.411.

This content downloaded from

27.59.233.121 on Thu, 24 Sep 2020 05:25:38 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 124 IHC : Proceedings , 74th Session , 20/5
15. Ibid., Nos. 11 and 12.
16. Ibid., No.75.
1 7. G. V. Jaya Rajashekhar (ed) Ptabhudčvara ŠQnyasampadancya sangraba , Kannada
Sahitya Parishat, Bangalore, 1998, áaranasati sampãdane , Nos. 5 3-5 5.
18. F. Hardy, op. cit., p.340
19. Ibid., p. 422.
20. V. Rajur, op. cit., No. 156.
21. Ibid., No. 186.
22. G.V. Jaya Rajashekhar (ed), op. cit., áaranasati sampãdane, No. 15.
23. Vijaya Ramas wamy, Walking Naked: Women, Society and Spirituality in South
India , Indian Institute of Advanced Studies, Simla, 1997, p 174.
24. V.Rajur, op. cit., No. 787.
25. Ibid., No. 10.
26. Ibid., No. 800.

27. V. Rajur, op. cit., Introduction, pp.46-47.

28. Ibid, No. 12 12.
29. F.Hardy, op.cit., p. 333, for instance.
30. V. Rajur, op.cit., No. 1 227, translation follows Vijaya Ramaswamy, op.cit., p. 1 70.
31. Ibid., No.846.
32. Ibid., No.803.
33. Ibid., No.843.
34. Ibid., No. 1304.
35. Ibid., No. 1320.
36. Ibid, No. 11 99.

37. Ibid, No.579.

38. Kitty Scoular Datta, "Women, Authority and Mysticism: The Case of Dame
Gertrude More (1603-33)" in Supriya Chaudhuri and Sajni Mukherjee (eds;
Literature and Gender, Essays for Jasodhara Bagchi , Orient Longman, Delhi,
2002, pp. 50-68.

This content downloaded from

27.59.233.121 on Thu, 24 Sep 2020 05:25:38 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms