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A story of a karnataka saint

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adi_shakthi16

 

Our own beloved devi_bhakta has once written "lajja gowri's

shocking

birth posture". This had me thinking? why is "nudity" considered

so

obscene, vulgar or indecent ? is nudity erotic - no, not at all !

rather, a nude human body is an expression of utmost *purity* - it

is the perfection of god's work! Earlier in the old club, many

women members like erica, vicky and rose talked about feminism

and "burning of the bra" - today, i would like to share with you the

heroic story of sree AKKAMAHADEVI. (hindusim's own version of lady

godiva)

 

Akkamahadevi (12th century) was a Virashaiva woman saint who lived

in the south indian state of Karnataka, India. Once, when a certain

king tried to molest her, she suddenly threw away all her clothes and

stepped out into the streets nude. This act of purity so stunned the

king that he repented of his foolish lust.

 

Akkamahadevi wandered about as a naked ascetic, clad only in her

long hair, enduring the taunts of the men and teaching an example of

purity and devotion to God Shiva.

 

"Akka" (or "yakka" if attached at the end) means "respected elder

sister."

 

LEGEND says that although she wished to remain an unmarried devotee

of Shiva, her family insisted she marry the ruler of her land.

Asserting that Shiva, whom she called Cenna Mallikarjuna (Lord white

as jasmine), was her only lover and husband, she ran away FROM HOME

and joined a community of Virasaivas .

 

Akka Mahadevi's poems are called vacanas (literally, "sayings"), free

verse lyrics written in the Kannada language.

 

here is a sample...

 

Get back, I hate you!

Don't hold my sari, you fool!

A she-buffalo is worried of its life,

And the butcher, of its killing!

The pious think of virtues,

And the wicked, of vices;

I am worried of my soul,

And you, of lust....

 

Fie on this body!

Why do you damn yourself

In love of it--this pot of excrement,

The vessel of urine, the frame of bones,

This stench of purulence!

Think of Lord Shiva,

You fool!

 

another one...

 

You can confiscate money in hands;

Can you confiscate the body's glory?

Or peel away every strip you wear,

But can you peel the Nothing, the Nakedness

that covers and veils?

To the shameless girl

Wearing the white Jasmine,

Lord's light of morning

You fool,

Where is the need for cover and jewel?

 

well, gloria steinham and other feminists burned their bras in

public

in the 60s as an expression of rebellion against male-defined norms

of female beauty.

 

Mahadevi Akka "challenged social norms and discarded traditional

notions of femininity in ways explosive enough to shock both men

and women of her time."

 

akka shocked d the entire society of her time with her ideas and

with her sensuous poems. Today she is a presiding deity and an

icon to many women in india.

 

 

what does "shedding of clothes" or "burning the bras" mean? -

metaphorically and literally speaking ? Mahadevi akka had the

courage we do not have., the shedding of clothes and wandering

around naked in search of Lord Shiva (Chennamallikarjuna in

Kannada) was a mark of protest against the sexual claims made on

her body by the lechrous local king !

 

akkamadevi, meerabai and lallaleshweri- all women saints who had

the courage of their convictions and who embraced GOD as their

beloved- in a mystical union !

 

love

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  • 10 years later...

Hello ,

 

Am Sowmya here,and am new to this thread. Am excited on reading this article on Akkamahadevi.

Am badly looking for a Kannada version of the below quoted vachana. Can anyone kindly help me in tracing out the exact Kannada version of the same vachana as highlighted below.

 

 

Regards,

Sowmya

 

 

 

adi_shakthi16

 

Our own beloved devi_bhakta has once written "lajja gowri's

shocking

birth posture". This had me thinking? why is "nudity" considered

so

obscene, vulgar or indecent ? is nudity erotic - no, not at all !

rather, a nude human body is an expression of utmost *purity* - it

is the perfection of god's work! Earlier in the old club, many

women members like erica, vicky and rose talked about feminism

and "burning of the bra" - today, i would like to share with you the

heroic story of sree AKKAMAHADEVI. (hindusim's own version of lady

godiva)

 

Akkamahadevi (12th century) was a Virashaiva woman saint who lived

in the south indian state of Karnataka, India. Once, when a certain

king tried to molest her, she suddenly threw away all her clothes and

stepped out into the streets nude. This act of purity so stunned the

king that he repented of his foolish lust.

 

Akkamahadevi wandered about as a naked ascetic, clad only in her

long hair, enduring the taunts of the men and teaching an example of

purity and devotion to God Shiva.

 

"Akka" (or "yakka" if attached at the end) means "respected elder

sister."

 

LEGEND says that although she wished to remain an unmarried devotee

of Shiva, her family insisted she marry the ruler of her land.

Asserting that Shiva, whom she called Cenna Mallikarjuna (Lord white

as jasmine), was her only lover and husband, she ran away FROM HOME

and joined a community of Virasaivas .

 

Akka Mahadevi's poems are called vacanas (literally, "sayings"), free

verse lyrics written in the Kannada language.

 

here is a sample...

 

Get back, I hate you!

Don't hold my sari, you fool!

A she-buffalo is worried of its life,

And the butcher, of its killing!

The pious think of virtues,

And the wicked, of vices;

I am worried of my soul,

And you, of lust....

Fie on this body!

Why do you damn yourself

In love of it--this pot of excrement,

The vessel of urine, the frame of bones,

This stench of purulence!

Think of Lord Shiva,

You fool!

another one...

 

You can confiscate money in hands;

Can you confiscate the body's glory?

Or peel away every strip you wear,

But can you peel the Nothing, the Nakedness

that covers and veils?

To the shameless girl

Wearing the white Jasmine,

Lord's light of morning

You fool,

Where is the need for cover and jewel?

 

well, gloria steinham and other feminists burned their bras in

public

in the 60s as an expression of rebellion against male-defined norms

of female beauty.

 

Mahadevi Akka "challenged social norms and discarded traditional

notions of femininity in ways explosive enough to shock both men

and women of her time."

 

akka shocked d the entire society of her time with her ideas and

with her sensuous poems. Today she is a presiding deity and an

icon to many women in india.

 

 

what does "shedding of clothes" or "burning the bras" mean? -

metaphorically and literally speaking ? Mahadevi akka had the

courage we do not have., the shedding of clothes and wandering

around naked in search of Lord Shiva (Chennamallikarjuna in

Kannada) was a mark of protest against the sexual claims made on

her body by the lechrous local king !

 

akkamadevi, meerabai and lallaleshweri- all women saints who had

the courage of their convictions and who embraced GOD as their

beloved- in a mystical union !

 

love

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