Erotic Spirituality of Women in Hinduism: A Study on Akkamahādevi

Abstract

A feeling of respect, love and devotion are common phenomenon in religious life, which comes out from the heart of devotee that has taken a shape of devotional movement. As a full fledge devotional movement, it worked its way through India starting in the far south in the sixth century CE, spreading through the middle and the western region around the twelfth century, and flourishing in the north by the seventeenth century. Hindu women voices emerge in full force in this movement. Some bhaktas were passionate lover of God with attributes. Akkamahādevi, a twelfth-century Kanada saint who worshipped Śiva in his in iconic form, where she alludes on her relational spirituality and accentuates what is more significant than Śiva. Akkamahādevi vacanas are generally considered to be the most poetic amongst Vīraśaivas. What is most characteristic of her vacanas is her desperate searching for Siva, simultaneously what she expresses her love toward her beloved Channamalikarjuna, and her spirituality is highly erotic, which have been delved into Vacana of Akkamahādevi.