Lady Saints of Maharashtra

Religious philosophy was stranded in the clutches of the handful. The masses were disillusioned by these handful. The ancient sacred texts were uncomprehend by the masses. There was a need to reset the new definition of the Bhakti. It was to be made more and more congenial, so that any individual can gain mastery in it. The masses were divided. Divided by caste, creed, sect, gender, religion. There was a need of a reform that would include representatives from all the echelons of the society.

This need was addressed in the thirteenth century, by the pioneers - Sant Dnyaneshwar, Sant Namdev, Sant Savata, etc. Very unique in nature, named as Varkari movement, one didn’t need any prerequisites to be its part. A devotional mind, and a simple vice-free body, and a Vitthalised soul, that’s it! Although divided by castes, but everyone was a master in his/her path of devotion. This movement became an epitome of the Maharashtrian culture.

There were torchbearers of this movement in each of the strata of the society. The weakest sections of the then society consisted of the lower castes and the women. This movement was spectacularly propagated among the lower castes by Saints like Sant Chokhamela. The movement was carried forward by many prominent female saints. I am giving a short abstract about each of the saints.

Saint Muktabai : Muktabai, also known as Muktai, the younger sister of Sant Dnyaneshwar, belonged to the Deshastha Brahmin community. She has been eternalized here verses in her work ‘Tatiche Abhang’, in which she prompts Dnyaneshwar about his goal of the birth. The 1400 old yogi Changdev Maharaj, enlightened by her preachings, takes her as his spiritual guru. Changdev Maharaj notes Muktai’s preaching in another literary work.

Saint Janabai : Damasheti, a compassionate businessman adopts Janabai after seeing here alone in the Pandurang temple.She grows in the devotional environment, along with Saint Namdev, son of Damasheti. She was an excellent poet. Her poetic works are very profound. It was also said, that Lord Pandurang himself used to help her in her daily chores .Janabai belongs to the lowest caste. Janabai was a famous Marathi religious poetess who is believed to be born in the mid thirteenth century (uncertainty exists about the date) in Maharashtra. As per the available legends she died in the year 1350.

Janabai was born to the couples Karand and rand in the Gangākhed, locality of Maharashtra. Her parents belonged to lower caste and she had a troublesome childhood due to the existence of stringent caste rules during the period. Her mother expired at an early age and this made her father take her to Pandharpur. Janabai worked as a domestic help at the house of Dāmāsheti, the father of popular Marathi religious poet Namdev. Being older than Namdev, she looked after him for many years.

Sant Soyarabai: The fourteenth century witnessed a popular woman saint in Maharashtra. Sant Soyarabai, the wife of renowned saint Chokhamela belonged to the Mahar caste. She followed the path shown by her saint husband. Her popular literary works included blank verses of her own. She had written numerous verses out of which only sixty two are known presently. In her teachings, “Abhang”, she shows displeasure to God for ill treatment to the Untouchables and making their life miserable. She addresses herself as Chokha’s Mahari. The main themes in her poems are always the plight of untouchables and her devotion to God.

Saint Kanhopatra : A courtesan by caste, she was said to be attracted towards the Bhakti way of living. She was often forced by the Badshah of Bidar to dance for her. She kept on refusing, and completely submerged herself into the devotional practices. She sacrificed her life in a Vitthal temple, to save her sanctity being destroyed by the Badshah. She is the most magnificent example of the widespread of the Bhakti movement.

Sant Sakhu Bai,: an ardent devotee of Vitthal, lives with her husband and a cruel mother-in-law. The mother thinks that her daughter-in-law will spoil her only son and then he will start neglecting his mother. Her husband also does not say anything to his mother because he thinks that since he is her only son, people will disrespect him and his wife if he takes his wife's side. So Sakhu has to bear all the ill-treatment silently. She worships Vitthala with all her heart and forgets her daily sufferings. One day, her husband's sister returns from her home with her daughter. She tells her mother how she was beaten by her mother-in-law and her husband and how they threw her out of the house. Her mother tells her to live in her home with his brother. She also starts troubling Sakhu, because she envies how his brother loves her. One day, Sakhu's husband falls ill and Sakhu defies her mother-in-law's order and comforts her husband rather than doing her prescribed work. Sakhu's mother-in-law tells her son that he has to choose between his mother and her; he chooses his mother and throws Sakhu out of the house.

A sad Sakhu sees a group of Vitthala devotees doing Naam-Kirtan. She joins the group and starts doing Naam-Kirtan. Her husband's sister finds her and tells her mother about that. The mother-in-law arrives and drags her to her home and ties her to a pole. Sakhu starts crying and worships Vitthala and after some time, things take a different turn. The movie ends with two Sakhus. People get dumbfounded by seeing two Sakhus and start thinking that she is a ghost. The movie ends by clearing everyone's doubts.

Saint Bahinabai: Bahinabai - Bahinabai has written an autobiographical work called Atmamanivedana or Bahinabai Gatha, where she describes not only her current birth but also twelve previous births. The first 78 verses of the total 473 trace her current life.

The literary wealth evolved from the Bhakti movement is a warehouse of treasure. A treasure, which is unexplored, unknown. They depict the accurate issues that arise in an individual’s life and suggest some outstanding solutions to overcome them.