Akka Mahadevi Quotes
Akka Mahadevi was a twelfth-century Kannada Bhakti poet and philosopher in the Lingayat tradition of southern India, one of the most striking female voices in classical South Asian devotional literature. Her vacanas, short philosophical lyrics in Kannada, articulate a radical ethics of renunciation, in which the wandering soul has only one true husband, the god Shiva, and abandons in turn caste, family, marriage, clothing, and conventional morality for the sake of the divine. The quotes below are attributed to Akka Mahadevi, organized by topic.
Akka Mahadevi on Freedom
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Attributed to Akka Mahadevi:
“I have set fire to the house of family; what is left for any worldly bond to claim?”
Akka Mahadevi on God
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Attributed to Akka Mahadevi:
“When the divine is the only beloved, all other companies become deserts.”
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Attributed to Akka Mahadevi:
“Caste is a wall built by men; the lover of God passes through it.”
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Attributed to Akka Mahadevi:
“What is body? What is shame? Both are forgotten in the gaze of the One.”
Akka Mahadevi on Love
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Attributed to Akka Mahadevi:
“He alone is my husband; let the world call my body shameless.”