Prominent among the more than thirty women poets was Akka Mahadevi. Born to a merchant family in the town Udatadi (or Udugani) in the Shivamogga district, and possibly married against her wishes to a feudal chief called Kausika, she renounced worldly pleasures, opting for a life of devotion and asceticism. She is often compared to other such notable female saint-poets of Hinduism as Andal, Lalleswari and Meera Bai, and is considered one of the prominent female poets of the Kannada language.