Devi: The Great Goddess

				Full image and description. Yogini with Disciple. Lent by the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Woman Saints
India is a land of holy persons (one could call them living saints) who have abandoned home and family to wander the land seeking alms to maintain themselves. Because the ideal role assigned to women is that of wife and mother there are few women saints. Yet those who have made their mark as women saints are accorded honor and even deified. Women are also accepted as yoginis (adepts at yoga), a physical and spiritual discipline from which they are believed to acquire extraordinary powers. Thus, Devi can also be manifested as woman saints, born on earth but endowed with deep spirituality and other-worldly powers.