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Dr Poojya Maate Mahadevi MA, B.Sc.(13 March 1946 – 14 March 2019) was an Indian Spiritual leader, scholar, mystic, writer and first female Jagadguru, spiritual head of the Indian Lingayat community.

Early life

Following initiation in 1965 by Lingananda Swami, Maate Mahadevi began writing vachanas, a form of didactic poetry. In 1966 she received her Jangama initiation as an ascetic in the Lingayat order of wandering mendicants. In 1970 she was installed as a jagadguru in the Lingayat community, the first time a woman had been placed in that position. She held the 12th century woman poet Akka Mahadevi, who also wrote vachanas, as her role model.

By 1983 she had published twenty books and started an educational and religious institution called Jaganmata Akka Mahadevi Ashrama in Dharwad, Karnataka, whose focus is education and spiritual upliftment of girls and women. Among her many books is Basava Tatva Darshana, on the life and teachings of Basava, a 12th-century social reformer and philosopher who fought against the caste system.

References

1. "Lingayat seer Jagadguru Mate Mahadevi is dead". 15 March 2019.
2. Werner, Karel (1989). The Yogi and the mystic: studies in Indian and comparative mysticism. Surrey: Curzon. ISBN 0-7007-0272-5.
3. Tahira Basharat (July–December 2009). "The Contemporary Hindu Women of India: An Overview" (PDF). South Asian Studies: A Research Journal of South Asian Studies. 24 (2): 242–249.
4. ^ Sharma, Arvind; Young, Katherine K. (1999). Feminism and World Religions. New York: SUNY Press. pp. 45–46. ISBN 0-7914-4024-9.
5. Lingayathism website Archived 2010-08-09 at the Wayback Machine

v t e Lingayatism Topics
Origins	History
Saints	Basavanna Allama Prabhu Akka Mahadevi Siddharama Channabasavanna Palkuriki Somanatha Sarvajna
Beliefs and practices	Ashtavarana Shatsthala Panchachara Kayaka Daasoha
Scriptures	Karana Hasuge Mantra Gopya Shunyasampadane Vachanas Shaivaite Agamas Basava purana Basavarajavijaya Channabasavapurana Prabhulingaleele
Pilgrim centers	Koodalasangama Basava Kalyana Ingaleshwara Srisailam Ulavi Yedeyur Basavana Bagewadi Solapur
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