Cracow Indological Studies Vol. XXII, No. 1 (2020), pp. 95–134 https://doi.org/10.12797/CIS.22.2020.01.05 Suganya Anandakichenin suganya.anandakichenin@gmail.com (CSMC, Universität Hamburg, Germany) The Female Voice and the Crossing of the Boundaries of Scholarship: A Note on the Rahasyam of the Lady from Tirukkōḷūr, with a Complete, Annotated Translation* SUMMARY: The Śrīvaiṣṇavas are prolifc writers, who masterfully used multiple languages for composing works in a range of genres, from commentaries to esoterical works, from devotional poetry to hagiography. But while this community, roughly half of which consists of women, claims equality with a diference for women—which includes the right to liberation at death and to religious, albeit non-Vedic, learning—it hardly seems to have encouraged them to emulate the male authors and produce works of any kind. Despite this attitude, a few female voices, sometimes mufed as they can be, are heard across the centuries. One such voice belongs to Tirukkōḷūr peṇpiḷḷai (“the woman from Tirukkōḷūr,” 12 th c.?), who allegedly spoke words betray- ing her scholarly knowledge, and that, too, to the great Rāmānuja himself. Who this woman—who ventured into the jealously-guarded male domain of * I thank Lidia Sudyka for encouraging me to write this article; Elisa Freschi, who read an early draft and made useful suggestions; and the two anonymous review- ers, who helped me improve it. This research work was conducted within the scope of my work for the Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures (CSMC), University of Hamburg.