Poetry of India 41/100: Akka Mahadevi and the Fierce Freedom of Kannada Vachanas
Part 41 of The Poetry Pulse’s 100-part journey through Indian poetry. Akka Mahadevi, a major woman poet of the Kannada vachana tradition, wrote with startling directness about devotion, freedom and the limits imposed by worldly status. Her vachanas are compact poetic utterances rather than elaborate courtly compositions. Their force often comes from the tension between an inner spiritual commitme…
