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FEMALE SAINTS (700-1700 CE): A STUDY OF THE SACRED FEMININE PRINCIPLE IN HINDUISM By Priscilla Gaye Sheehan A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the California Institute of Integral Studies in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Humanities with a concentration in Philosophy and Religion and an emphasis on Asian and Comparative Studies California Institute of Integral Studies San Francisco, CA 2008 UMI Number: 3333545 Copyright 2008 by Sheehan, Priscilla Gaye All rights reserved. INFORMATION TO USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleed-through, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. ® UMI UMI Microform 3333545 Copyright 2008 by ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC 789 E. Eisenhower Parkway PO Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 © 2008 Priscilla Gaye Sheehan CERTIFICATE OF APPROVAL I certify that I have read HINDU FEMALE SAINTS (700-1700 CE): A STUDY OF THE SACRED FEMININE PRINCIPLE IN HINDUISM by Priscilla Gaye Sheehan, and that in my opinion this work meets the criteria for approving a dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Humanities with a concentration in Philosophy and Religion and an emphasis on Asian and Comparative Studies at the California Institute of Integral Studies. James Ryan, Ph.D. Chair Program Director, Asian and Comparative Studies Mara Lynn Keller, Ph.D. Professor, Women's Spirituality Christopher Key Chappie, Ph.D. Doshi Professor of Indie and Comparative Theology Loyola Marymount University Priscilla Gaye Sheehan California Institute of Integral Studies, 2008 James Ryan, Ph.D., Committee Chair HINDU FEMALE SAINTS (700-1700 CE): A STUDY OF THE SACRED FEMININE PRINCIPLE IN HINDUISM ABSTRACT This study includes texts by six women: Karaikkal Ammayar (seventh century from Tamil Nadu), Antal (eighth century; Tamil Nadu), Mahadevi Akka (twelfth century, Karnataka), Lalla Ded (fourteenth century, Kashmir), Mirabai (sixteenth century, Rajasthan), and Bahina Bai (seventeenth century, Maharastra). These six Hindu women saints from 700-1700 CE left behind an oral tradition and a legacy of bhakti, devotional poetry. These poems reflect philosophical ideations that offered philosophical truths. This is a both a religious studies and a women's studies dissertation. I will be combining the religious studies' methodologies of exegesis of text and hermeneutics of text, with the women's studies in religion' methodology of close description of the subjective message, using empathy and close listening to the spiritual subjectivity of the women. Philosophically, the six women offer myriad insights regarding divinity. I have focused on their attitudes towards how to live; their ideas of the self, including the use of their bodies as tools for spiritual growth; their sense of iv placement within the phenomenal and metaphysical realms; and their theological ideas. It is evident that these educated women were philosophers; they took philosophical systems that had been established at the beginning of the Common Era and presented them to their devotees in an accessible manner so that their devotees could utilize them in their own religious traditions. These six Hindu female saints were key teachers who served as religious leaders. They were important links in a conduit from other philosophers who established philosophical schools to the people who delighted in the women's exegetic processes. Oral tradition in the local languages saved their work for posterity, passing it from generation to generation. The varieties of religious traditions depicted include Saivite and Vaisnavite, as well as local manifestations of these two personal deities. Lalla Ded represents the union of the great Goddess and great God. Since these women lived in peripheral areas of India, and they lived in a wide variety of time periods, they exhibit much of the strength of the vernacular tradition for which Hinduism is well known. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank the Archaeological Survey of India for their assistance in the study of the Indus Valley and the Museum fur Indische Kunst in Berlin for their assistance with figurines from the prehistoric period in India. My study in India was supported through an American Institute of Indian Studies grant. For advice, encouragement, helpful references, and editorial advice, I would like to thank my dissertation committee members: James Ryan, Chair, Mara Keller, and Christopher Chappie. vi DEDICATION To my father, Richard Lawrence Sheehan, who taught me the value of relationship. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS vi DEDICATION vii GUIDE TO TRANSLITERATION AND PRONUNCIATION 1 CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION 2 Methodology 5 Hermeneutical Context 19 Literature Review 28 The Context of Sacred Female Value and Influence 36 CHAPTER TWO: WOMEN AND THE DIVINE FEMININE 40 Indus Valley 46 The Vedic and Upanisadic Period 55 Epics 66 Divine Feminine Archetypes from 700-1700 CE 69 Sakta 73 DevT/devT 74 Saktiplthas 79 Saptamatrkas 80 Tantra 84 Yoginls 88 Other Sacred Feminine Representations of this Era 90 Conclusion 94 CHAPTER THREE: KARAIKKAL AMMAYAR-THEOLOGIAN 96 Hagiography 97 Southern Saivism 105 Karaikkal's Ammayar's Philosophy 110 How to Live Ill Self 112 View of Phenomenal World and Metaphysical World 116 Theology 119 Conclusion 126 viii CHAPTER FOUR: ANTAL-BRIDE 128 Hagiography 129 South Indian Vaisnavas 134 Antal's Philosophy 138 How to Live 140 Self 143 View of the Phenomenal World and Metaphysical World 147 Theology 150 Conclusion 157 CHAPTER FIVE: AKKA MAHADEVl- ACARYA, TEACHER, AND MYSTIC 159 Hagiography 160 Vlrasaivas 162 AcaryaVTeacher 165 Ethics 170 Self 172 View of the Phenomenal World and the Metaphysical World 178 Theology 181 Path 184 Love and Marriage 194 Mysticism 196 Women and the Role of Gender 199 Conclusion 202 CHAPTER SEX: LALLA DED AND HER BODY 203 Hagiography , 204 Kashmir Saivism 207 Philosophy 211 Ethics 213 Self 216 View of the Phenomenal World and Metaphysical World 226 Theology 230 Conclusion 232 CHAPTER SEVEN: MIRA BAI—SINGER 235 Philosophy 241 How to Live 242 Self 244 View of the Phenomenal World and Metaphysical Realm 245 Theology 247 Conclusion 253 ix CHAPTER EIGHT: BAHINABAI—WIFE 254 Autobiography 254 The Vaisnava Philosophy of Her Time 260 Ethics.! 262 Self 270 View of Phenomenal World and Metaphysical World 275 Theology 277 Conclusion 279 CHAPTER NINE: CONCLUSION 282 How to Live 282 The Self 287 Views of the Phenomenal World and Metaphysical World 290 Theology 290 Bhakti 293 Marriage 295 Women Saints as Philosophical Teachers 300 REFERENCES 304 x GUIDE TO TRANSLITERATION AND PRONUNCIATION Sanskrit words are transliterated into the Latin alphabet through several different writing styles. I have used the most comprehensive style available, outside of the devanagari alphabet. All Sanskrit terms within the text will include full diacritical marks and italicization. The letter c is pronounced ch. A sis pronounced s as in sit. A dot under a consonant, like t d n sis pronounced with a palatal sound, the s having a palatal sh sound. The symbol r has an inherent ri sound. The letter s is pronounced sh with a dental sound. The letter n is pronounced like the Spanish senor. I realize that inconsistencies in transliteration do occur in the document. When quoting from a person who used a different transliteration system from the one I used, I left it as is in order to not change the person's work. Note that definitions of Sanskrit words are from Monier-Williams (1976). 1 CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION This dissertation examines the experience of six remarkable spiritual women within the classical Hindu tradition from 700-1700 CE by studying poems and songs attributed to them. I have chosen to refer to these women as Hindu saints. Since there is no canonization of saints in Hinduism, I will draw upon the definition of a saint in the West, according to the Oxford English Reference Dictionary, a saint is "a very virtuous person; a person of great real or affected holiness" (Pearsall and Trumble 2003). It is my contention that these women saints were philosophical leaders in their community as well as singers of songs. I agree with University of Texas at Austin professor Robert Solomon's view regarding world philosophy in his analysis that "Anglo-American and most European philosophers have simply ignored the rich philosophical traditions of Africa, Asia, Latin, and Native America, and the rest of the world," which is "a subtle form of ethnic chauvinism" (Solomon 2001,100). In order to understand philosophies from other cultures, it is necessary, according to him, to "accept metaphor, mythologizing, conscientious ambiguity, and 'analogical thinking' as legitimate modes of philosophizing" (103). This is the view I use when I analyze each of the six women in regard to the philosophical/theological categories of how to live, the Self, one's place within the phenomenological and metaphysical realms, and theology. It is important to note that in Asia, theology and philosophy