Akka Mahādevi#Akka
A figure from the books
#Akka
Akka Mahādevi · c. 1130–1160 CE
In the books · 1 chapter
Who this is
Kannada saint-poet and mystic of the vachana movement — the boldest voice, male or female, of the Vīraśaiva (Lingayat) revolution.
“A hall full of India's most radical men cross-examined a naked woman on doctrine — and ended the session by naming her Akka, elder sister. The 350-odd poems she left behind are the most fearless things any Indian woman of the age put on record.”
The big idea, in the book's words:
“If God is the only real husband, then everything else — palace, marriage, clothing, gender, shame itself — is negotiable. She acted on that logic to the letter, walked out of all of it, and wrote the walk down.”
From the book
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