Rani Abbakka Chowta#Rani
A figure from the books
#Rani
Rani Abbakka Chowta · d. c. 1570
In the books · 1 chapter
Who this is
Kannada poetry and devotional song — with Purandara Dāsa, the twin pillar of the Haridāsa movement born from Madhva's Dvaita school.
“The temple would not let Kanaka in, so — the tradition says — the god turned round to face him; and today every pilgrim at Udupi sees Kṛṣṇa through Kanaka's window, so that the wall built to shut one man out became the frame through which everyone now sees God.”
The big idea, in the book's words:
“A shepherd-caste soldier turned singer took the machinery of high devotion — epic, allegory, kīrtana — and aimed it straight at caste: rice and ragi argue nobility before Rāma, and the poor man's dark grain wins.”
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