Akka Mahadevi
Twelfth-century Kannada poet-saint of the Lingayat (Veerashaiva) tradition, one of the most radical female voices in medieval Indian devotional literature. Born in Karnataka around 1130, she was, by tradition, married against her will to a king but renounced her marriage and her clothing alike, walking through the world covered only by her hair, addressing all her vachanas (free-verse devotional poems) to her chosen lord, the formless Shiva called Chenna Mallikarjuna ("the beautiful jasmine-white lord"). Her work — direct, unornamented, defiant — has become a touchstone for both modern Kannada literature and contemporary feminist spiritual writing.
105
quotes in library
Quotes by Akka Mahadevi
105 quotes“The lust of the body is small. The hunger of the soul is great.”
hungerVachanas
“In the dance of jasmine, every petal is the Lord.”
danceVachanas
“O Lord, why do you hide? You are everywhere. You are no one. You are the Lord.”
hiddenVachanas
“What I have, I owe to him. What I am, I am because of him.”
gratitudeVachanas
“Whoever has tasted the love of the Lord cannot taste the love of mortals.”
tasteVachanas
“I will follow him barefoot. The thorns of the world cannot reach me.”
barefootVachanas
“O Lord of jasmine, you are my country. You are my city. You are my home.”
homeVachanas
“My body is a small temple. My breath is the priest. My beloved is the One worshipped.”
worshipVachanas
“Whoever fears my nakedness, fears truth.”
truthVachanas
“My hair, knotted, is His mantra. My breath, exhaled, is His song.”
unityVachanas
“O Lord, in the marketplace, you sit. In the temple, you sit. In my heart, you sit.”
omnipresenceVachanas
“Lord, I have given you my body. Take care of it for me.”
surrenderVachanas
“The Lord is my mother. The Lord is my father. The Lord is my husband. The Lord is everything.”
totalityVachanas
“In the dark night of the heart, the Lord lights the lamp.”
lampVachanas
“What is shame to one who has the Lord? Only the lordless feel shame.”
shameVachanas
“My body is dust. My beloved is jasmine. The wind moves both.”
unityVachanas
“Whoever has not known the Lord, has not known himself.”
self-knowledgeVachanas
“In the silence between heartbeats, the Lord whispers.”
silenceVachanas
“Take this earring of pride and give it to the wind. Take this necklace of self and give it to the river.”
renunciationVachanas
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