Actually as we stroll through the mela itself we quickly note that a substantial minority of the makeshift ashrams that have sprouted over the Allahabad floodplain are devoted to women spiritual masters. Not only male voices but female tones resound from the numberless loudspeakers blaring 24 hours a day with religious instruction or devotional singing. Still, female renunciates are rare in this part of the country. You are more likely to encounter women sadhus, called bhairavis, in Bengal and Assam in the far northeast of India where the fierce forms of the Goddess are particularly venerated and independent women are more readily accepted.

We know from the Vedic literature that in ancient times the spiritual status of women here was quite high. Women like Ambhrini, Lopamudra, Anasuya, and Maitreyi were represented as adepts or scholars. Lopamudra, a princess from the area around Benares, became the spiritual preceptor of her husband, the great Vedic teacher Agastya. That exceptional scholarship among women in India continued into medieval times is evident from a well known story about Shankaracharya, the best known exponent of Vedantic philosophy. The only time he was almost defeated in debate was by Bharati Mishra, a leading women practitioner of Mimansa, ritualistic spiritual practice.

Many women in Indian culture prefer to do their practices in the privacy of their own homes. Their saintly nature may be recognized in their local area but women saints known throughout the subcontinent were few till the 20th century.

The last century saw the breakthrough of many women to leadership positions. Sarada Devi, wife of Ramakrishna Paramahansa, is considered the mother of Bengal, and it’s unusual to find a Bengali home where her picture isn’t displayed. Anandamayi Ma, born in the portion of Greater India now called Bangladesh, counted some of India’s top scholars, including Gopinath Kaviraj, among her followers. Numerous books are available in English detailing her amazing life and teachings.

Amritanandamayi Ma may be the best known woman saint in India today-her ashram has a booth here at the mela. Born in abject poverty in Kerala in southwestern India, Ammachi (“beloved mother” as her devotees call her) today heads a massive charitable effort that includes building hospitals, hospices, vocational training institutes, orphanages, and temples throughout India. She has recently committed to constructing 5000 new homes each year which are offered free of charge to destitute women and their families.

Western feminists, basing their theories on distorted notions of Indian history concocted by 19th century Orientalists, helped perpetuate the myth that India was once largely Dravidian and matriarchal, and that the Vedic Aryans invaded the northern subcontinent around 1500 BC, driving the native population south, and initiating strict patriarchy. Scholars with more respect for the Indians’ own version of their history, as well as with better knowledge of the archeological evidence which has emerged over the past few decades, now realize this picture is false.

It now appears that the Aryans have been in northern India from time immemorial and that the Dravidians were always based in the south, as their own traditions affirm. However, sometime between 1000 BC and 500 AD waves of invaders from Mongolia, Indochina and Turkey entered the country, introducing their pastoral culture which overvalued male roles and undercut women’s rights. The sad consequences of these incursions are still evident in women’s diminished status in India today.

Over the centuries some tantric teachers undertook to restore a balance in male/female relationships, at least spiritually. Some tantric groups waived requirements for initiation such as high caste and male gender in favor of adhikara, “worthiness.” By this fairer standard anyone who proved spiritually worthy, regardless of caste or gender, could be initiated into the group’s practices.

The bhakta movement of fervent devotion for God that swept India in medieval times also helped bring to prominence numbers of great spiritual women. Many great bhaktas were female, of whom the most famous example is Mira Bai, the passionate devotee of Krishna from northwestern India.

More recently the yoga masters themselves have been at work redressing the sexual disparities in Indian culture today. Many highly noted male gurus have passed the leadership of their lineages to female disciples. These gurus include Sri Aurobindo, Ramakrishna Paramahansa, Ram Das, Muktananda, and the famous humanitarian Madhusudhan Das.

Some Buddhists and Jains deny that women are capable of enlightenment. But the earliest and most authoritative Indian scripture, the Veda, was composed by both male and female seers, called brahma rishis and brahma vadinis respectively. To deny the full spiritual potential of women would be the equivalent of denying the Veda, or at least those portions of it originally cognized by extraordinary women mystics such as Ambhrini.