page_title: Kanhopatra
section_title: Literary works and teachings
hierarchical_section_title: Kanhopatra / Literary works and teachings
caption_attribution_description: English: A picture of the Syambhu Vithoba idol at the Pandharpur Temple.
context_page_description: Kanhopatra was a 15th-century Marathi saint-poet, venerated by the Varkari sect of Hinduism.
  Little is known about Kanhopatra. According to most traditional accounts, Kanhopatra was a courtesan and dancing-girl. These accounts typically concentrate on her death when she chose to surrender to the Hindu god Vithoba—the patron god of the Varkaris—rather than becoming a concubine of the Badshah of Bidar. She died in the central shrine of Vithoba in Pandharpur. She is the only person whose samadhi is within the precincts of the temple.
  Kanhopatra wrote Marathi ovi and abhanga poetry telling of her devotion to Vithoba and her struggle to balance her piety with her profession. In her poetry, she implores Vithoba to be her saviour and release her from the clutches of her profession. About thirty of her abhangas have survived, and continue to be sung today. She is the only female Varkari saint to have attained sainthood based solely on her devotion, without the support of any guru, male Varkari saint, or parampara.
context_section_description: Kanhopatra is believed to have composed many abhangas, but most were not in written form: only thirty of her abhangas or ovis survive today. Twenty-three verses of her poems are included in the anthology of Varkari saints called Sakal sant-gatha. Most of these verses are autobiographical, with an element of pathos.  Her style is described as unadorned by poetic devices, easy to understand, and with a simplicity of expression. According to Deshpande, Kanhopatra's poetry reflects the "awakening of the downtrodden" and the rise of female creative expression, ignited by the sense of gender equality enforced by the Varkari tradition.
  Kanhopatra's abhangas frequently portray her struggle between her profession and her devotion to Vithoba, the patron deity of the Varkaris. She presents herself as a woman deeply devoted to Vithoba, and pleads for him to save her from the unbearable bondage of her profession. Kanhopatra speaks of her humiliation and her banishment from society owing to her profession and social stature. She expresses disgust for the society which adored her as an object of beauty rather than as a human being, and abhorred her for profession. She describes how she has been the object of lustful thoughts. She worries that she was beyond the "scope of God's love". In Nako Devaraya Anta Aata—believed to be the last abhanga of her life—unable to bear the thought of separation from her Lord, Kanhopatra begs Vithoba to end her misery.
  In the abhanga Patita tu pavanahe, she acknowledges her Lord as the saviour of the fallen and asks him to save her as well:
  O Narayana, you call yourself
  
  savior of the fallen...
  
  My caste is impure
  
  I lack loving faith
  
  my nature and actions are vile.
  
  Fallen Kanhopatra
  
  offers herself to your feet,
  
  a challenge
  
  to your claims of mercy.
  Kanhopatra refers to Vithoba by names such as Narayana (a name of Vishnu, who is identified with Vithoba),  Krishna (an incarnation of Vishnu, identified with Vithoba), Sripati ("husband of goddess Sri," an epithet of Vishnu) and Manmatha (a name of Kamadeva, the god of love, used by Vaishnava saints to describe Vishnu). She refers to Krishna-Vithoba as the "champion of the low", and as a mother. Kanhopatra also asserts the importance of repeating the names of God and reveals how chanting His names has helped her. She says that even Death would fear God's name, which purified the sinner king Ajamila – who ascended to heaven when he coincendentally called to God at his death bed, the "robber" Valmiki – who was transformed into a great sage by utterance of God's name – and even the prostitute Pingala. Kanhopatra says, she wears the garland of His names. She hoped that her chanting would ultimately lead her to salvation. Kanhopatra also extols the deeds of Dnyaneshwar—the first great saint of the Varkaris—and his siblings.
  Kanhopatra's abhangas also show her concern for her body, her sense of vulnerability and her will to "remain untouched in the midst of turbulence". She compares herself to food being devoured by wild animals – an expression never used by male saints:
  If you call yourself the Lord of the fallen,
  
  why do O Lord not lift me up?
  
  When I say I am yours alone,
  
  who is to blame but yourself
  
  if I am taken by another man.
  
  When a jackal takes the share of the lion,
  
  it is the great, who is put to shame.
  
  Kanhopatra says, I offer my body at your feet,
  
  protect it, at least for your title.
  According to Ranade, this abhanga was composed by Kanhopatra when invited by the Bidar king.
  Kanhopatra advises against seeking mere sexual pleasure; she speaks of the evils of sexual attraction, citing mythological characters who suffered the consequences of sexual temptation: the demon-king Ravana, the demon Bhasmasura, the god-king of heaven Indra and the moon-god Chandra.
caption: Kanhopatra's patron deity: Vithoba, the Pandharpur image at whose feet, Kanhopatra died.
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