Abstract

This research paper analyses the songs of Andal and Soyarabai who were women saints from the Bhakti period which lasted from 8th to the 17th century. Andal was a saint from Tamil Nadu who belonged to the Sri Vaishnava sect. She lived in the ninth century. She wrote two collections called Tiruppavai and Naciyar Tirumozhi. These compositions are a part of the Nalayira Divyaprabandam, a compilation of pasurams of all the twelve Azhwars. Azhwars were poet-saints from South India who were devotees of Vishnu and theirsongs called pasurams were drenched in their devotion and longing for their God. Soyarabai was a Mahar or Dalit by birth who lived in the early fourteenth century Maharashtra, near Pandharpur. She expressed her love for Vitthala, her chosen God through her compositions which belonged to the genre called abhanga. She is known to have written many abhangas but only sixty- two of them are known today. The paper studies a selected number of pasurams and abhangas with a view to understanding the devotion of Andal and Soyara, comparing and contrasting their songs.