Andal and Mahadevi: The Semiotics of Patriarchy, Sainthood and Saguna Bhakti

This paper attempts to perform a postmodern reading of the semiotics of Saguna Bhakti defined as it is by the twin traditions of Shaiva and Vaishnav Bhakti in the works of two saint poets living in the ninth and twelfth centuries in south India. The paper attempts to examine the weave and waft of conceptual inputs that provide specific context to the work of the two women poets, through myth, history, socio-religious practises and other prevailing structures of culture and patriarchy. Subtleties of Vaishnav and Shaiva poetics are examined here through the work and lives of the saint-poets, namely Andal and Mahadevi.