Akka Mahadevi was one of the early female poets of the Kannada language and a well-known personality in the Veerashaiva Bhakti movement of the 12th century. Her ‘Vachanas’ in Kannada, in the form of didactic poetry, are considered her greatest contribution to Kannada Bhakti literature. In total she wrote about 430 ‘Vachanas’ which is relatively fewer than that compared to some other saints of her time. Yet the term 'Akka' (elder Sister), which is an honorific given to her by great Veerashaiva saints like Basavanna, Chenna Basavanna, Kinnari Bommayya, Siddharama, Allamaprabhu and Dasimayya, speaks volumes of her contribution to the movement that was underway.
Early Life of Akka Mahadevi
Akka Mahadevi was born in Udutadi (or Udugani) near the ancient city of Banavasi (in Shikaripura taluk Shimoga district of Karnataka). She was born in 1130 and throughout her life she mainly worked for the welfare of women. Some scholars suggest that she was born to a couple named Nirmalshetti and Sumati, who were both devotees of Lord Shiva. She displayed her religious proclivities which she possibly inherited from her parents even when a young child. She was a shining example of beauty and princess of lyrical poetry.
Works of Akka Mahadevi
Akka Mahadevi’s experiences, both spiritual and household, come out in the type of simple stanzas (vachanas) in Kannada. Set in conversational language and filled with realistic similes, her vachanas go in the ethics 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 works, like many other Bhakti movement poets, can be sketched through the use of her ‘ankita’, or the signature name by which she addressed the figure of her devotion. She uses the name ‘Chennamallikarjuna’ to devote to Lord Shiva. About 350 lyrical poems or ‘vachanas’ are ascribed to Akka Mahadevi. Her works regularly use the metaphor of a prohibited love to explain her devotion to Lord Shiva.
The lyrics of her works have been described as symbolizing an "essential illegitimacy" that re-examines the position of women. At times she used strong sexual descriptions to symbolize the unification between the devotee and the object of devotion. In some ‘vachanas’ she explains herself as both, feminine and masculine. Her works, like the works of various other female Bhakti poets, also touch the themes of estrangement: both, from the material world, and from social hopes and mores regarding women. She describes her love for Lord Shiva as traitorous, viewing her husband (King Koushika) and his parents as obstacles to her union with her Lord Shiva.
