Sant Nirmala was a 14th-century poet fromMaharashtra,India. As the younger sister ofChokhamela, she was deemed equally holy with her brother and thus is also deemed aHindu saint.[1] Nirmala was married toBanka, of theMahar caste.[2] Her writings consist largely ofabhangs that describe the injustice and inequalities she suffered as a result of thecaste system.[3]
Nirmala regretted worldly married life and reveled in the god ofPandharpur. She never mentions her husband, Banka, in her poems.[4]
^Zelliot, Eleanor (2000). "Sant Sahitya and its Effect on Dalit Movements". In Kosambi, Meera (ed.).Intersections: Socio-cultural Trends in Maharashtra. New Delhi: Orient Longman. p. 190.ISBN8125018786.
^Ghokale-Turner, Jayashree B. (1981). "Bakhti or Vidroha: Continuity and Change in Dalit Sahitya". In Lele, Jayant (ed.).Tradition and modernity in Bhakti movements. Leiden: Brill. p. 29.ISBN9004063706.
^Zelliot, Eleanor (2008). "Chokhamela, His Family and the Marathi Tradition". In Aktor, Mikael; Deliège, Robert (eds.).From Stigma to Assertion: Untouchability, Identity and Politics in Early and Modern India. Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum Press. pp. 76–86.ISBN978-8763507752.
