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Akka Mahadevi was a famous female poet who lived in the 12th century and belonged to the Lingayat Shaiva sect. She is recognized for her 430 Vachana poems, which were mystical poems created spontaneously. Additionally, she wrote two short works called Mantrogopya and Yogangatrividhi. Despite composing fewer poems than other saints of her time, she was highly regarded by great Lingayat saints such as Basavanna,

Siddharama, and Allamaprabhu, who called her &quot;Akka,&quot; meaning &quot;elder sister.&quot; She was a spiritual inspiration to many and is considered a significant figure in Kannada literature and Karnataka&#39;s history. She regarded Shiva, also known as &#39;Chenna Mallikarjuna,&#39; as her husband, indicating her deep devotion to him.

Akka Mahadevi was born around 1130 in Udutadi, near Shivamogga in the Indian state of Karnataka. Her parents, Nirmalshetti and Sumati, were devotees of Para Shiva. While little is known about her life, her experiences are recorded in her own lyrics. One of her poems describes leaving her birthplace and family to pursue Shiva. According to popular claims, a Jain king named Kaushika wanted to marry her, but she rejected him in order to devote herself to Para Shiva. However, medieval sources are unclear on the matter. Some suggest that the marriage was purely nominal, while others state that it did not occur at all.

When King Kaushika violated the conditions she had laid down, Akka Mahadevi left the palace, renouncing all her possessions, including clothes, and travelled to Srisailam, the home of Para Shiva. It is likely that she met the prominent Lingayat figures Allama and Basava in the town of Kalyana en route. Towards the end of her life, she lived as an ascetic in the Srisailam mountains, where she eventually died. According to a vachana attributed to Akka Mahadevi, King Kaushika visited her there and sought her forgiveness.

Akka Mahadevi was a woman born in Udutadi, near Shivamogga in Karnataka, around 1130. Scholars suggest that she was born to a family of devotees of Para Shiva. Her life has been the subject of various claims based on oral traditions and her own lyrics. One of her lyrics records her experience of leaving her birthplace and family to pursue Shiva.

She is considered by modern scholars to be a prominent figure in the field of female emancipation. Her pursuit of enlightenment is recorded in poems that explore the rejection of mortal love in favour of the everlasting love of God. Her poetry also talks about the methods that the path of enlightenment demands of the seeker, such as conquering desires and the senses.

Akka rejected her life of luxury and became a wandering poet-saint, travelling throughout the region and singing praises to Lord Shiva. She found the company of fellow seekers or sharanas in Basavakalyana, Bidar district and composed many vachanas in praise of them.

She is said to have refused to wear any clothing, shocking the conservative society of the time. Legend has it that due to her true love and devotion to God, her whole body was protected by hair. All the sharnas of Anubhavamantapa greeted her with the word &quot;Akka&quot;, which means elderly sister.

Akka left Kalyana with a vachana that showed her the further way of attaining the transcendent bliss of ultimate union with Lord Chenna Mallikarjuna.

She was highly regarded by great Lingayat saints such as Basavanna, Siddharama, and Allamaprabhu, who called her &quot;Akka,&quot; meaning &quot;elder sister.&quot; She was a spiritual inspiration to many and is considered a significant figure in Kannada literature and Karnataka&#39;s history. She regarded Shiva, also known as &#39;Chenna Mallikarjuna,&#39; as her husband, indicating her deep devotion to him.

Akka Mahadevi left the palace, renouncing all her possessions, including clothes, and travelled to Srisailam, the home of Para Shiva. It is likely that she met the prominent Lingayat figures Allama and Basava in the town of Kalyana en route. Towards the end of her life, she lived as an ascetic in the Srisailam mountains, where she eventually died. According to a vachana attributed to Akka Mahadevi, King Kaushika visited her there and sought her forgiveness.

Akka left Kalyana with a vachana that showed her the further way of attaining the transcendent bliss of ultimate union with Lord Chenna Mallikarjuna.

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Akka Mahadevi&#39;s poems are attributed to her ankita, Chennamallikarjuna, which refers to the god Shiva. She wrote around 350 lyric poems or vachanas that frequently used metaphors of illicit love to express her devotion to Chennamallikarjuna. Her poetry was considered radical as it challenged social norms and institutions. She used sexual imagery to represent the union between the devotee and the object of devotion and challenged common understandings of sexual identity. Her works also touched on themes of alienation, both from the material world and from social expectations and mores concerning women.

A.K. Ramanujan translated her vachanas into a collection called &quot;Speaking of Siva,&quot; but his translations were criticised by postcolonial scholar Tejaswini Niranjana for rendering the vachanas into modern universalist poetry ready for consumption by the West. Vanamala Vishwanatha is currently working on a new English translation. Akka Mahadevi continues to be celebrated in popular culture and memory, with roads and universities named after her. In 2010, a bas relief dating to the 13th century was discovered near Hospet in Karnataka, believed to be a depiction of Akka Mahadevi.

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