Bahinabai
She describes, in her autobiography Atmamanivedana, her spiritual experiences with a calf and visions of the Varkari's patron deity Vithoba and Tukaram.
She reports being subjected to verbal and physical abuse by her husband, who despised her spiritual inclination but who finally accepted her chosen path of devotion (bhakti).
Bahinabai's abhanga compositions, written in Marathi, focus on her troubled marital life and the regret being born a woman.
As per the account, she was born in Deogaon (Rangari) or Devgaon (R) near Ellora or Verul in northern Maharashtra, where she spent her childhood.
Her parents, Aaudev Kulkarni and Janaki were brahmins, the Hindu priest class, and considered their first child Bahinabai as a harbinger of good fortune.
[1][4] 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.
However, Bahinabai did not find happiness in the life of a dutiful wife and turns to bhakti, at the same time serving her husband.
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.
[10][15] Apart from her autobiography, Bahinabai composed abhangas, which deal with various subjects like praise of god Vithoba, Atman, Sad-guru, sainthood, Brahmanhood, and devotion.
[14] Unlike many of the woman-saints of the period, Bahinabai remained married her entire life, dutifully serving her husband, balancing her roles pativrata (a devoted wife) and virakta (the detached).
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.
At times, Bahinabai's abhangas call out to her god Vithoba (Panduranga, Hari) to help her to balance her twin roles.
"[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.
