Sant Nirmala Explained

Sant Nirmala
Native Name:	संत निर्मळा
Native Name Lang:	mr
Birth Date:	14th Century
Years Active:	14th Century
Spouse:	Sant Banka

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 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]

Notes and References

1. Book: Kher , B.G. . Maharashtra Women Saints . Women Saints, East & West . Swami Ganananda . John . Steward-Wallace . 1979 . Vedanta . Hollywood, Calif. . 0874810361 . 61–62 . https://archive.org/details/womensaintseastw0000unse/page/61 .
2. Book: Zelliot, Eleanor . Sant Sahitya and its Effect on Dalit Movements . Intersections: Socio-cultural Trends in Maharashtra . Meera. Kosambi . 2000 . Orient Longman . New Delhi . 8125018786 . 190.
3. Book: Ghokale-Turner, Jayashree B. . Bakhti or Vidroha: Continuity and Change in Dalit Sahitya . Lele. Jayant . Tradition and modernity in Bhakti movements . 1981 . Brill . Leiden . 9004063706 . 29.
4. Book: Zelliot, Eleanor . Chokhamela, His Family and the Marathi Tradition . From Stigma to Assertion: Untouchability, Identity and Politics in Early and Modern India . Mikael. Aktor . Robert. Deliège . 2008 . Museum Tusculanum Press . Copenhagen . 978-8763507752 . 76–86.