@article{michael1983women,
  source = {jstor},
  ISSN = {0003-0279},
  abstract = {The South Indian Virasaivas are noted, both in India and among Western scholars, for their distinctiveness vis-a-vis their Brahminical Hindu context. Prominent among their distinct characteristics is their reputed sexual egalitarianism; and, in reality, the movement does disregard several common female taboos. Furthermore, in their compendious fifteenth-century text, the Sunyasampadane, the Virasaivas exhibit an equality of opportunity and of qualification in the quest for spiritual perfection. In five tales from that text, women demonstrate spiritual attainment, the equal of any man's, but only in one instance do they attempt to transfer that religious equality into an identity of social roles-to wit, the essential castelessness of the samnyasi. More commonly they remain within their ascribed roles as housewives and helpmates. Finally, it seems, the text emphasizes gender-free exaltation of service to the Lord in whatever may be one's ascribed role and proclaims the equal availability of spiritual advancement to male and female alike, but it does not attempt to promote an egalitarianism in the social or economic realms. Rather it promotes, within an ascribed status, the pursuit of a spiritual perfection.},
  author = {Michael, R. Blake},
  copyright = {Copyright 1983 American Oriental Society},
  journal = {Journal of the American Oriental Society},
  jstor_articletype = {Full Length Article},
  jstor_date = {198304/198306},
  jstor_formatteddate = {Apr. - Jun., 1983},
  month = {apr},
  number = {2},
  pages = {361--368},
  publisher = {American Oriental Society},
  title = {Women of the Sunyasampadane: Housewives and Saints in Virasaivism},
  url = {http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0003-0279%28198304%2F06%29103%3A2%3C361%3AWOTSHA%3E2.0.CO%3B2-6},
  volume = {103},
  year = {1983},
}