Bahinabai
Bahinabai | |
---|---|
Born | 1628 Devgaon rangari near abhangas , Pundalika-Mahatmya |
Honors | Sant in Marathi, meaning "Saint" |
Bahinabai (1628–1700 AD) or Bahina or Bahini is a
Bahinabai's
Early life
Bahinabai has written an autobiographical work called Atmamanivedana or Bahinibai Gatha, where she describes not only her current birth but also twelve previous births.[1][2][3] The first 78 verses of the total 473 trace her current life.
As per the account, she was born in Deogaon (Rangari) or Devgaon (R) near
Bahinabai was married at the age of three with a thirty-year-old widower called Gangadhar Pathak, who she describes as a scholar and "an excellent jewel of a man", but stayed with parents until she reached puberty as per the custom. When Bahinabai was about nine years old, she with her parents and husband, had to leave Devghaon due to a family dispute. They wandered with pilgrims along the banks of river
Later life
In Kolhapur, Bahinabai was exposed to Hari-
Bahinabai's husband dissuaded her by saying that she being of a Brahmin, should not listen to the lower caste Shudra Tukaram. However, Bahinabai did not find happiness in the life of a dutiful wife and turns to bhakti, at the same time serving her husband. As her fame spread, her husband is portrayed to have been jealous of the attention Bahinabai received. Her hot-tempered husband is reported to have abused, beaten and confined Bahinabai to the cattle-shed. When all methods fail to deter her, he decided to leave Bahinabai, who was three months pregnant at the time.[8][9] However, he could not do so as he suffered a burning limbs sensation lasting a month, on the day of departure. Finally, he repented and was convinced of Bahinabai's faith and devotion to God.[10] At the same time, Bahinabai realised her neglect of her husband and decided "serving him was more important than devoting herself to (another) god." Bahinabai writes:[11]
I'll serve my husband – he's my god ...
My husband's my guru; my husband's my way this
is my heart's true resolve.
If my husband goes off, renouncing the world,
Pandurang (Vithoba), what good will it do me to live among men? ...
My husband's the soul; I'm the body ...
My husband's the water; I'm a fish in it.
How can I survive? ...
Why should the stone god Vitthal (Vithoba)
and the dream saint Tuka (Tukaram)
deprive me of the happiness I know?
The family of Bahinabai went to Dehu, the home-town of Tukaram and paid their respects to him. Here, the brahmin Bahinabai's acceptance of the lower caste Sudra Tukaram as her guru, agitated local brahmins, which led to harassment of the family and threatening of ostracism. In Dehu, Bahinabai gave birth to a daughter, who she named Kasibai. But, she was distressed and mediated suicide. Tukaram in her vision, stopped her and blessed her with poetic powers and prophesied that she would have a son who was a companion in her previous birth, thus Bahinabai is believed to have started composition of poetry, the first of which were dedicated to Vithoba.[12] Consequently, she had a son, who she named Vithoba, the exact time of his birth is not provided, but he is mentioned in a later part of her autobiography.
Finally the family moved to Shirur, where Bahinabai practised a vow of silence for a while. In 1649, on Tukaram's death, Bahinabai revisited Dehu and fasted for eighteen days where, according to the traditional account, she was blessed with a vision of Tukaram again. She then visited the saint Ramdas and stayed in his company until his death in 1681. Afterwards she returned to Shirur.[13]
In last sections of her autobiography, Bahinabai says she has "seen her death".[14] She prophesied her death and wrote a letter to Vithoba, her son, who had gone to Shukeshwar to perform last rites of his wife. On her death-bed, Bahinabai told Vithoba (her son) that he had been her son throughout her twelve previous births and also in her current (thirteenth) birth, which she believed was her last. Further, she narrated the tale of her twelve previous births, which are recorded in her autobiography.[15] She died in 1700, at the age of 72.[10][15]
Literary works
Apart from her autobiography, Bahinabai composed
Bahinabai also comments on the duties of a married woman. Some abhangas extol the merits of a pativrata, others advocate pure devotion to God which may lead to the ire of society. Others advocate the compromise. She also speaks of pravrtti (action) and nivrtti (quiescence), personified as wives of manas (the mind). Both of them argue over their own superiority, winning a particular moment in the debate and finally reconciling and together directing the mind to its ultimate goal. In her own life, Bahinabai sought to balance these two: pravrtti – the duties of a virtuous wife and nivrtti – renunciation of the world.[18]
Bahinabai sometimes curses her fate of being born as a woman, which author Tharu interprets as "her scepticism, her rebelliousness and her insistent refusal to abandon her aspiration for the truth". She regrets her female birth as she was kept away from the knowledge of the holy scriptures like Vedas and sacred mantras, by the male-dominated brahmin society.[10] Bahinabai sings in her abhanga:[19]
The Vedas cry aloud, the Puranas shout
"No good may come to woman."
I was born with a woman's body
How am I to attain Truth?
"They are foolish, seductive and deceptive –
Any connection with a woman is disastrous."
Bahina says, "If a woman's body is so harmful,
How in this world will I reach Truth?"
At times, Bahinabai's abhangas call out to her god Vithoba (Panduranga, Hari) to help her to balance her twin roles.[10] Bahinabai's wisdom can be summed up in her words as: "A woman's body is a body controlled by somebody else. Therefore the path of renunciation is not open to her."[20] Bahinabai's philosophy reveals the social status of the seventeenth century Indian woman, who was supposed to no existence apart from her husband.[16]
She has also composed a text called Pundalika-Mahatmya, which details the legend of Vithoba and devotee Pundalik, a central figure in Varkari tradition.[21]
Notes
- ^ a b c d e Tharu & Lalita 1991, p. 108
- ^ For account of her previous lives, see Feldhaus 1982, pp. 598–9
- ^ For complete English translation of Bahinabai's abhangas see Bahinabai: A Translation of Her autobiography and Verses by Justin E. Abbot (Poona, Scottish Mission, 1929). Some verses are given in Tharu & Lalita 1991, pp. 109–115
- ^ a b c Anandkar 1979, p. 64
- ^ a b Aklujkar 2005, p. 121
- ^ Feldhaus 1982, pp. 595–6
- ^ Anandkar 1979, pp. 66–7
- ^ a b Anandkar 1979, p. 67
- ^ Feldhaus 1982, p. 596
- ^ a b c d Aklujkar 2005, p. 122
- ^ Feldhaus 1982, pp. 596–7
- ^ Anandkar 1979, pp. 68–9
- ^ Anandkar 1979, p. 70
- ^ a b Tharu & Lalita 1991, p. 109
- ^ a b Anandkar 1979, pp. 70–1
- ^ a b Anandkar 1979, p. 71
- ^ Pandharipande 2000, pp. 169–170
- ^ Feldhaus 1982, p. 599
- ^ Tharu & Lalita 1991, p. 107
- ^ Aklujkar 2005, p. 129
- ISBN 90-04-09318-4. p. 56
References
- Aklujkar, Vidyut (2005). "5: Between Pestle and Mortar: Women in Marathi Sant tradition". In Sharma, Arvind (ed.). Goddesses and women in the Indic religious tradition. The Netherlands: ISBN 9789004124660.
- Anandkar, Piroj (1979). "IX: Bahinabai". Women Saints of East and West. Hollywood, CA: LCCN 79065731.
- Feldhaus, Anne (1 December 1982). "Bahiṇā Bāī: Wife and Saint". Journal of the American Academy of Religion. 50 (4). JSTOR 1462944.
- Pandharipande, Rajeshwari V. (2000). "V: Janabai: A Woman Saint of India". In Sharma, Arvind (ed.). Women Saints in World Religions. ISBN 9780791446195.
- Tharu, Susie J.; Lalita, K., eds. (1991). "Bahinabai (1628-1700) Marathi". Women Writing in India: 600 B.C. to the Present. Vol. 1. New York: ISBN 9781558610279.