BHAKTI MOVEMENT

Bhakti Movement in South

The Bhakti Movement originated in the seventh-century in Tamil, South India (now parts of Tamil
Nadu and Kerala), and spread northwards. It swept over east and north India from the 15th century
onwards, reached its peak between the 15th and 17th century CE.

The Alvars and Nayanars of Tamil Nadu

 The Alvars and Nayanars led some of the earliest bhakti movements (c. sixth century).

 Alvars – those who are “immersed” in devotion to Vishnu.

 Nayanars -those who are devotees of Shiva.

 They travelled from place to place singing hymns in Tamil praising their gods.

 The Alvars and Nayanars initiated a movement of protest against the caste system and the
dominance of Brahmanas or at least attempted to reform the system. This is supported by
the fact that bhaktas or disciples hailed from diverse social backgrounds ranging from
Brahmanas to artisans and cultivators and even from castes considered “untouchable”.

 The Nalayira Divya Prabandham (“Four Thousand Sacred Compositions”) – one of the major
anthologies of compositions of the 12 Alvars collected and compiled in the 10th Century
by Nathamuni.

 Tevaram – a collection of first seven volumes of Tirumurai (Saiva Devotional poetry) contains
the work of Tamil poets – Appar, Sambandar, and Sundarar.

Women Devotees of Bhakti Movement

Andal

 Only female Alwar

 Andal saw herself as the beloved of Vishnu; her verses express her devotional love for the
deity.

Karaikkal Ammaiyar

 One of the 3 women Nayanars amongst the 63 nayanars

 Devotee of Shiva, adopted the path of asceticism in order to attain her goal.

Important Bhakti Movement Saints

Adi Shankaracharya

 A Hindu revivalist movement giving a new placement to Hinduism was started by Sankara.
  Kaladi in Kerala is his birthplace.

 His doctrine was of Monoism or Advaita Vedanta.

 The Advaita Concept of Nirgunabrahman (God without attributes) received contradictory

Ramanuja

 He was born at Sriperumbudur near modern Chennai.

 He preached Visishtadvaita in the12th century.

 According to him, God is Sagunabrahman.

 He encouraged Prabattimarga or path of self-surrender to God.

 He invited the downtrodden to Vaishnavism.

Madhvacharya

 Madhava is from Kannada region whose preaching prevailed in the 13th Century.

 He preached doctrine of dvaita (dualism) and was the chief proponent of dvaita school of
vedanta.

 His philosophy was that the world is not an illusion but a reality. God, soul, matter is unique
in nature.

Nimbarka and Vallabhacharya

 Nimbarka and Vallabhacharya were also other preachers of Vaishnavite Bhakti.

Surdas

 He was the disciple of Vallabhacharya

 He popularized Krishna cult in the Northern part of India

Mirabai

 She was a great devotee of Krishna.

 She became popular in Rajasthan for her bhajans.

Tulsidas

 He was a worshipper of Rama.

 He composed the famous Ramcharitmanas, the Hindi version of Ramayana.

Ramananda

 He was born at Allahabad.

 Later he founded his own sect and preached his principles in Hindi at Banaras and Agra.

 Ramananda was the first to employ the vernacular medium to spread his ideas.

 He opposed the caste system and chose his disciples from all sections of society irrespective
of caste.

Ramananda’s disciples were:

 Anantananda

 Kabir

 Sen

 Ravidas

 Kabir

 Kabir was the most famous disciple of Ramananda.

 He was brought up by a Muslim couple who were weavers by profession.

 He had a curious mind in learning new things and he learned much about Hinduism in
Benares.

 Kabir’s aim was to reunite Hindus and Muslims and form harmony between them.

 He is regarded as the greatest of the mystic saints.

 His followers are called Kabirpanthis.

 In the 14th and 15th centuries, Ramananda, Kabir and Nanak remained the great apostles of
the Bhakti cult.

 They aided the common people to shed age-old superstitions and attain salvation through
Bhakti or pure devotion.

 Criticized all forms of worship of idols.

Guru Nanak

 Guru Nanak was born in Talwandi near Lahore.

 He was the founder of the Sikh Religion.

 He condemned caste differences and rituals like bathing in holy rivers.

 He established a centre at Kartarpur named Dera Baba Nanak on the river Ravi. His idea of
religion was highly practical and strictly moral.
  His one of the famous sayings was “Abide pure amidst the impurities of the world”.

Guru Angad

 Guru Angad also is known as Lehna was appointed by Guru Nanak before his death.

 Guru Angad compiled the compositions of Guru Nanak in a new script known as Gurmukhi
and added his own compositions as well.

Guru Arjan

 He was the 5th Guru.

 He compiled the writings of the three successors of Guru Angad who wrote under the name
of “Nana”.

 He was executed by Jehangir in 1604.

Guru Gobind Singh

 He was the 10th Guru.

 In 1706, he authenticated the compilation which was added with the writings of other
figures like Shaikh Farid, Sant Kabir, Bhagat Namdev and Guru Tegh Bahadur, which is now
known as Guru Granth Sahib.

The town of Ramdaspur (Amritsar) had developed around the central Gurdwara called Harmandar
Sahib (Golden Temple) by the beginning of the 17th century. It was almost self-governing and also
referred as ‘a state within the state’ community.

Chaitanya

 Chaitanya was another renowned saint and reformer of Bengal who popularised the Krishna
cult.

 He believed that a devotee can feel the presence of God through song and dance and love
and devotion.

Gnanadeva

 He was the founder of the Bhakti Movement in Maharashtra in the 13th century.

 Also known as Sant Dnyaneshwar.

 He wrote Gnaneswari a commentary of Bhagavad Gita.

Namadeva

 In the 16th Century, Namadeva preached the gospel of love.

 He opposed idol worship and the dominance of priests.

 He criticized the Caste System.

 He was a prominent Marathi Sant, a scholar and religious poet of the Varkari Sampradaya.

 He opposed caste differences and was kind towards the lower castes.

 He is known as a bridge between his predecessors Dnyaneshwarand Namdev and the

Tukaram

 Tukaram was another Bhakti saint of Maharashtra and said to be a contemporary of Shivaji.

 Tukaram also referred to as Sant Tukaram, Bhakta Tukaram, Tukaram

 He was a 17th-century poet-saint of the Bhakti movement.

 Tukaram is best known for his Abhanga (Devotional poetry) and kirtans (Community-
oriented worship with spiritual songs.)

 His poetry was devoted to Vitthala or Vithoba, an avatar of Hindu god Vishnu.

 Responsible for creating a background for Maratha nationalism

Nathpanthis, Siddhas, and Yogis

 They condemned the ritual and other aspects of orthodox religion and the social order, using
simple, logical arguments.

 They encouraged the renunciation of the world.

 To them, the path to salvation lay in meditation and to achieve this they advocated intense
training of the mind and body through practices like yogasanas, breathing exercises and
meditation.

Importance of the Bhakti Movement

 Bhakti movement provided a spur for the development of regional languages such as Hindi,
Marathi, Bengali, Kannada, etc.

 The lower classes rose to a position of great importance.

 The Bhakti movement gave equal importance to men and women which gave way to the
importance of women in society.