Haunting Voices

This anthology is a stellar collection of handpicked verses penned by women saints ranging from well-known practitioners of the Bhakti movement: Meera Bai, Lal Ded, Rupa Bhavani, Janabai, Akka Mahadevi to lesser-known women-saints, Buddhist nuns, Sufi mystics, tantric adepts and Vaishnava and Shaiva devotees. While none of these, as the anthology shows, were meek followers but blazed a brazen trail of their own, one wonders, as did this reviewer, whether that was the reason Arundhati Subramaniam—a formidable poet in her own right, refers to them as ‘wild’? As I allowed the wisdom of the collection to seep within, what stood exposed were my own personal prejudices, whether inherent, innate or acquired. For instance, the very premise ‘saint’ is defined anew here as is ‘religion’ which has often been used to police women, keep them subjugated, meek and docile and into identities and roles as suits the male gender. To be born women means that the path is narrow and blinkered right from the get-go and worldly wisdom lies in allowing herself to be gently guided through life. The women of this anthology tell another story. This is what makes their verses all the more brazen. There is no shunning of the male gender but a sense of gender equality that comes through. If there is a shunning it is of constructions of caste; the high caste Brahmin, Bahinaba for instance, is tested and receives her initiation from Sant Tukaram, a low caste.