Sant Nirmala

Sant Nirmala (Marathi: संत निर्मळा) was a poet in 14th century Maharashtra, India. As the younger sister of Chokhamela, she was deemed equally holy with her brother and thus is also deemed a Hindu saint.[1] Nirmala was married to Banka, of the Untouchable Mahar caste.[2] Her writings consist largely of abhangs that describe the injustice and inequalities she suffered as a result of the caste system.[3]

Nirmala regretted worldly married life and reveled in the god of Pandharpur. She never mentions her husband, Banka, in her poems.[4]

References
  1. Kher, B.G. (1979). "Maharashtra Women Saints". In Swami Ganananda; Steward-Wallace, John (eds.). Women Saints, East & West. Hollywood, Calif.: Vedanta. pp. 61–62. ISBN 0874810361.
  2. Zelliot, Eleanor (2000). "Sant Sahitya and its Effect on Dalit Movements". In Kosambi, Meera (ed.). Intersections: Socio-cultural Trends in Maharashtra. New Delhi: Orient Longman. p. 190. ISBN 8125018786.
  3. Ghokale-Turner, Jayashree B. (1981). "Bakhti or Vidroha: Continuity and Change in Dalit Sahitya". In Lele, Jayant (ed.). Tradition and modernity in Bhakti movements. Leiden: Brill. p. 29. ISBN 9004063706.
  4. Zelliot, Eleanor (2008). "Chokhamela, His Family and the Marathi Tradition". In Aktor, Mikael; Deliège, Robert (eds.). From Stigma to Assertion: Untouchability, Identity and Politics in Early and Modern India. Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum Press. pp. 76–86. ISBN 978-8763507752.
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