Akka Mahādevī
12th century · Uḍutaḍi, Karnataka · Vīraśaiva
Akka Mahādevī — “elder sister” Mahādevī — was born at Uḍutaḍi near Shivamogga and gave her whole heart to Śiva as Cennamallikārjuna, “the lord white as jasmine”, whom she called her only husband. Tradition says she left a royal marriage, gave up even her clothes, covered only by her long hair, and walked to Kalyāṇa.
There, at Basavaṇṇa’s Anubhava Maṇṭapa, she was questioned by Allama Prabhu and accepted as an equal among the saints. Her vacanas, fierce and tender, are among the finest poems in Kannada and in the world’s devotional literature. She spent her last days at Śrīśailam.
12th century · Vacanas to Cennamallikārjuna · Anubhava Maṇṭapa · Śrīśailam