Let us come back to this question after considering three short narratives, all
well known in local regions of India.
There is only one male in Brindavan A popular story about the woman saint Mı ̄ra ̄
(fifteenth century) narrates her meeting with Jı ̄v Goswa ̄mi, a holy man and a
theologian. Jı ̄v Goswa ̄mi refuses to have anything to do with her – or any woman
- even though she is filled with love for Lord Kr.s.n.a. She gently chides him and
reminds him that there is only one “Male” in all of Brindavan (the land where
Kr.s.n.a played with the “gopis”) and, indeed, the universe – Kr.s.n.a. All other beings
are “female” in relationship to him (Hawley, 1988: 126 and 203).^6 Goswa ̄mi saw
the point and saw her.
Tresses, not dresses Mahadeviakka, a woman poet of the eleventh century,
in the Karnataka region, walks out on her husband, a king. She goes in search
of her lover, Lord S ́iva, and his devotees. In time, she is so focused on S ́iva that
she loses all sense of her own appearance; “she appears to have thrown away
even modesty and clothing, those last concessions to the male world, in a
gesture of ultimate social defiance, and wandered about covered in her tresses”
(Ramanujan 1967: 112). She goes to Kalyana where the saints Allama and
Basava have a congregation of devotees and run a school for them. Ramanujan
calls the dialog between Allama and Mahadeviakka as one between “sceptic
and love child which turned into a catechism between guru and disciple” (112).
When Allama asked Mahadeviakka who her husband was, she said she was
married forever to S ́iva-Chennamallikarjuna (“S ́iva who is white as jasmine”).
Allama then asked her why she had taken off her clothes as though by that act
she had peeled off her illusions; and yet, she was covered with her hair. He asks:
if she was so free and pure in heart, why did she have to replace her sari with a
covering of tresses? Mahadeviakka replies that “Till the fruit is ripe inside the
skin will not fall off ” and goes on to say dryly that if she were to display her body,
it would hurt him! (Ramanujan 112–13). She is accepted into the company of
saints; but restless, she leaves them in search of her divine lover. While
Mahadeviakka is apparently not self-conscious about her own body and female
nakedness she recognizes that others do not have the same perception – but
when they do, she implies, her femaleness and her body should not matter.
No admission, without permission A story in the epic Maha ̄bha ̄rata (XII.321)
speaks about Sulabha ̄, a woman with great religious knowledge, who apparently
wants to see if King Janaka is truly enlightened. At her request, Janaka expands
on his spiritual attainment and affirms that he is enlightened. He concludes by
saying that his soul is free of all attachment, is fixed on the supreme truth, and
that he treats all creatures equally. Sulabha ̄ wants to see if this is true and
through her own yogic powers enters his mind. Janaka accuses her of trying to
580 vasudha narayanan