Introduction:
Different people show their devotion to God in different ways.
Some of them perform rituals, some sing bhajans, kirtans or qawwalis, and some are moved to tears when they do these or repeat the name of God in silence.
These forms of intense devotion towards God form the foundation of various kinds of Bhakti and Sufi movements that have evolved since the 8th century.
The Idea of Supreme God:
Before the emergence of large kingdoms, different groups worshipped different Gods.
We have read in the previous chapter about different tribes worshipping their tribal Gods.
New ideas regarding God began to develop when people were brought together through the growth of towns, trade and empires.
There was wide acceptance of the idea that all people passed through countless cycles of birth and rebirth performing good and bad deeds.
The idea of all human beings not being equal right from birth, also gained ground during this period.
Many learned texts dealt with the ideas of social privileges that came from birth in a ‘noble family’ or ‘high caste’.
Those people who were not comfortable (there were many such people) with the above ideas turned to the teachings of Buddha or the Jainas.
According to these teachings it was possible to break the cycle of rebirth through personal effort.
There were some who endorsed the idea of a Supreme God who could relieve people from such bondage if approached with devotion or bhakti.
This idea was advocated in the Bhagwadgita and became more popular in the early centuries of the Common Era.
Worship of Shiva, Vishnu and Durga as supreme deities through elaborate rituals became popular.
Also, at the same time, the gods and goddesses worshipped in different areas came to be identified with Shiva, Vishnu or Durga.
In the process, local myths and legends became a part of the Puranic stories.
Also methods of worship recommended in the Puranas were introduced into local cults.
It was also laid down in the Puranas that it was possible to receive the grace of God regardless of the caste status of the local cults.
There was so much increase in the idea of bhakti that even Buddhists and Jainas adopted these beliefs.
Concept of bhakti in South India:
A new kind of bhakti evolved in South India in the seventh to ninth century, comprising of the emergence of new religious movements which were led by Nayanars and Alvars.
Nayanars were saints devoted to Shiva and Alvars were saints devoted to Vishnu.
They belonged to all castes, including the ones who were considered untouchable like the Pulaiyar and Panars.
They were highly critical of the Buddhists and Jainas and preached the ardent love of Shiva or Vishnu as the path to salvation.
They preached the ideas of love and heroism found in the Sangam literature and blended them with the values of bhakti.
Sangam literature is the earliest example of Tamil literature, composed during the early centuries of the Common Era.
Nayanars and Alvars went from place to place composing exquisite poems in the praise of deities that were enshrined in the villages they visited, and set these poems to music.
The tenth to twelfth centuries:
Cholas and Pandya kings built many temples between the tenth and twelfth centuries.
These were built around many of the shrines visited by the saint-poets.
This helped in strengthening the links between the bhakti tradition and temple worship.
Hagiographies or religious biographies of the Alvars and Nayanars were also composed.
These texts are used today to write histories of the bhakti tradition.
PHILOSOPHY AND BHAKTI:
Advaita is the doctrine of oneness of the individual soul and the Supreme God which is the Ultimate Reality.
Shankara:
He was born in Kerala in the eighth century.
He was one of the most influential philosophers of India and an advocate of Advaita.
Shankara taught that the only or Ultimate Reality was the Brahman who was formless and without any attributes.
He considered the world around us to be an illusion or, in other words, maya.
He preached renunciation of the world and adoption of the path of knowledge to understand the true nature of Brahman and attain salvation.
Ramanuja:
He was born in Tamil Nadu in the eleventh century.
He was deeply influenced by the Alvars.
He firmly believed that intense devotion to Vishnu was the best means to attain salvation.
He propounded the doctrine of Vishishtadvaita.
The new strand of bhakti that developed in north India subsequently was greatly inspired by Ramanujam’s doctrine.
Basavanna’s Virashaivism:
The connection between the Tamil bhakti movement and temple worship led to a reaction that is best represented in the Virashaiva movement.
Virashaiva Movement:
This movement which began in Karnataka in the mid-twelfth century was initiated by Basavanna and his companions like Allama Prabhu and Akkamahadevi.
The Virashaivas strongly argued for equality of all human beings and against Brahmanical ideas about caste and the treatment of women.
They also opposed all forms of rituals and idol worship.
Forms of devotion in Maharashtra:
During the period between the 13th and 17th century; Maharashtra saw a great number of saint-poets.
Their songs in simply Marathi still continue to inspire people.
Jnaneshwar, Namdev, Eknath and Tukaram were the most important saint-poets.
Women like Sakhubai and the family of Chokhamela who belonged to the untouchable Mahar caste were also very prominent figures in this field during the period.
This regional tradition of bhakti focused on Vitthala (Vitthala is a form of Vishnu) temple in Pandharpur and also on the notion of a personal god residing in the hearts of all people.
These saint poets rejected:
Ritualism
Outward display of piety
Social differences that are based on birth.
The idea of renunciation: They preferred to live with their families and earn their livelihood like any other person, and at the same time serving fellow needy human beings.
They insisted that bhakti lay in sharing others’ pain. This was a new idea that emerged during the period. This principle is rightly stated by the Gujarati saint Narsi Mehta as –“They are Vaishnavas who understand the pain of others”.
Nathpanthis, siddhas, yogis:
There was strong criticism of rituals and other aspects of conventional religion and social order by a number of religious groups that emerged during the period.
They used simple logical arguments to support their ideas.
Nathpanthis, Siddhacharas and Yogis were few such groups who criticized rituals as mentioned above.
They became particularly popular among ‘low’ castes and their criticism of existing practices created the ground for devotional religion to become a popular force in north India.
Ideas of Nathpanthis, Siddhas and Yogis:
They advocated renunciation of the world.
According to them, the path to salvation lay in meditation on the formless Ultimate Reality and the realization of oneness with it.
For putting their ideas into practice, they suggested intense training of the mind and body through practices; like yogasanas, breathing exercises and meditation.
Islam:
Islam propagated strict monotheism which means submission to one God.
It rejected idol worship and simplified rituals of worship considerably, into collective prayers.
At the same time, Muslim scholars developed a holy law that was called Shariat.
Sufis:
Sufis were Muslim mystics.
The sants had a lot in common with the Sufis.
It is believed that they adopted many ideas of each other.
They rejected outward religiosity, elaborate rituals and codes of behavior demanded by Muslim religious scholars.
They advocate:
Devotion to God
Union with God just like a lover seeks his beloved with a disregard for the world
Compassion towards all fellow human beings
They also composed poems like the saint-poets.
Even their poems expressed their feelings.
By including anecdotes and fables, a rich literature in prose developed around them. Ghazzali, Rumi and Sadi were the great Sufis of Central Asia.
The Ideas of Sufis:
They also, like the Nathpanthis, Siddhas and Yogis, believed that the heart can be trained to look at the world in a different way.
Methods of Sufis:
For implementing their ideas and beliefs they developed elaborate methods of training using:
- Zikr(chanting of a name or sacred formula)
- Contemplation
- Sama(singing)
- Raqs(dancing)
- Discussion of parables
These were developed under the guidance of a master or pir.
This led to the emergence of silsilas, a genealogy of Sufi teachers, each following a slightly different method of instruction and ritual practice.
Sufis in Hindustan:
Eleventh century onwards, many Sufis from Central Asia settled in Hindustan.
The establishment of the Delhi Sultanate strengthened the process when major Sufi centres developed all over the subcontinent.
One of the most influential orders was the Chishti silsila.
It had a long line of teachers such as:
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Teachers
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Region
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Khwaja Muinuddin Chishti
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Ajmer
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Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki and Khwaja Nizammudin Auliya
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Delhi
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Baba Farid
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Punjab
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Bandanawaz Gisudaraz
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Gulbarga
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Sufi Masters:
People often attributed Sufi masters with miraculous powers that could relieve others of their illnesses and troubles.
Sufi masters held their assemblies in their khanqahs or hospices.
A variety of devotees including members from the royalty and nobility, and the ordinary, flocked to these assemblies.
They discussed spiritual matters, sought the saints’ blessings in solving their worldly problems, or simply attended the music and dance sessions.
The tomb or dargah of a Sufi saint became a place of pilgrimage to which people of all faiths thronged in very large numbers.
Tulsi, Kabir, Surdas:
A new wave of bhakti movement started in north India in the 13th century.
In this period, there was an influence of various streams of faith, on each other, like Islam, Brahmanical Hinduism, Sufism, various strands of bhakti, and the Nathpanthis, Siddhas and Yogis.
New towns and kingdoms were emerging and people were taking up new professions and roles for themselves.
Such people thronged to listen to these new saints and spread their ideas.
Mainly such people were craftspersons, peasants, traders and labourers.
Some of them like Baba Guru Nanak and Kabir rejected all orthodox religions.
Tulsidas and Surdas:
They did not outrightly reject all existing beliefs.
They in fact accepted all beliefs that existed and wanted to make them accessible to all.
Tulsidas:
He conceived God in the form of Rama.
The composition of Tulsidas, the Ramcharitmanas, is important both as an expression of his devotion and as a literary work.
It was written in Awadhi.
Surdas:
He was a devotee of Krishna.
His compositions that are compiled in the Sursagara, Surasaravali and Sahitya Lahari express his devotion.
Shankaradeva:
He was another contemporary of the period.
He belonged to Assam and composed poems and plays in Assamese.
He emphasized devotion to Lord Vishnu.
He began the practice of setting up namghars or houses of recitations and prayers.
This practice still continues.
This tradition also includes saints like Ravidas, Dadu Dayal and Mirabai.
Mirabai:
She was a Rajput princess married into a royal family of Mewar in the 16th century.
She became the disciple of a saint named Ravidas who was considered untouchable.
She was devoted to Krishna and expressed her devotion by composing many bhajans.
Her songs openly challenged the existing norms of the ‘upper castes’.
They also became very popular among the masses in Rajasthan and Gujarat.
The compositions of all saints were in their regional languages and could be sung.
They gained popularity and were passed on from generation to generation.
These songs were transmitted mostly by the poorest, most deprived communities and women, also by adding their own experiences to them.
These songs that exist even today are compositions of saints as well as the people who transmitted them.
Kabir:
He was one of the most influential saints.
We have little reliable information about him.
He probably lived in the 15th and 16th centuries.
He was brought up in a family of Muslim Julahas or weavers settled in or near the city of Banaras.
We get to know about his ideas from a vast collection of verses called sakhis and pads.
These are said to have been composed by him and sung by wandering bhajan singers.
Some of these were later collected and preserved in the Guru Granth Sahib, Bijak and Panch Vani.
Kabir’s Teachings:
Kabir’s teachings were based on vehement rejection of major religious traditions and openly ridiculed all forms of external worship of both Brahmanical Hinduism and Islam, the pre-eminence of the priestly classes and the caste system.
His language in poetry was spoken Hindi that was widely understood but he sometimes also used cryptic language that was difficult to follow.
He believed in formless Supreme God and preached that bhakti or devotion was the only path to salvation. He had both Hindus and Muslims as his followers.
SIKH MOVEMENT:
Followers of Baba Guru Nanak:
The number of followers of Baba Guru Nanak increased through the 16th century under his successors.
They belonged to various castes, predominantly traders, agriculturists, artisans and craftsmen.
This could have some relation with Baba Guru Nanak’s insistence that his followers should be householders and must adopt productive and useful occupations.
They were also expected to contribute to the general funds of the community of followers during the period.
Baba Guru Nanak (1469-1539):
He was born in Talwandi (Nankana Sahib in Pakistan).
He travelled widely before establishing a centre at Kartarpur (Dera Baba Nanak on the river Ravi).
He established a regular worship for his followers there that consisted of singing of his own hymns.
They ate together in the common kitchen called langar irrespective of their caste, creed or gender.
The sacred space thus created by him was called dharmsal, now called Gurudwara.
Before his death, he appointed one of his followers, Lehna as his successor.
Lehna came to be known as Guru Angad, signifying that he was a part of Baba Guru Nanak himself.
Guru Angad compiled Guru Nanak’s compositions and also added his own compositions in a new script called Gurumukhi.
Guru Arjan in 1604 compiled the compositions of all the three successors of Guru Angad.
To this compilation were added the writings of other people like Shaikh Farid, Sant Kabir, Bhagat Namdev and Guru Tegh Bahadur.
This compilation was authenticated in 1704 by his son and successor Guru Gobind Singh.
It is now called Guru Granth Sahib, the holy scripture of Sikhs.
Amritsar:
The town of Ramdaspur (Amritsar), by the 17th century, had developed around the central Gurudwara called Harmandar Sahib (Golden Temple).
It was virtually self-governing.
The early seventeenth century Sikh community is called ‘a state within a state’ by modern historians.
The Mughal emperor Jahangir considered them as a potential threat and ordered the execution of Guru Arjan in 1606.
The Sikh movement:
The changes in the historical situation during the 16th and 17th centuries influenced the development of the Sikh movement.
The Sikh movement began to get politicised in the 17th century, a development which culminated in the institution of the Khalsa by Guru Gobind Singh in the year 1699.
The Khalsa Panth, a community of Sikhs, became a political entity.
Guru Nanak’s teachings:
He emphasized the importance of worshipping one God and also that for attaining liberation; caste, creed or gender was irrelevant.
His idea of liberation was not that of a state of inert bliss but that of pursuit of active life with a strong social commitment.
The essence of his teachings used words like nam, dan and isnan which meant right worship, welfare of others and purity of conduct.
His teachings are now remembered as nam-japna, kirt-karna and vand-chhakna.
These also underline the importance of right belief and worship, honest living, and helping people.
The ideas of Baba Guru Nanak had a deep impact on the development of the Sikh movement from the very beginning.
His idea of equality had social and political implications.
Nayanars and Alvars:
There were 63 Nayanars who came from different caste backgrounds like potters, untouchable workers, peasants, hunters, soldiers, Brahamanas and chiefs.
Appar, Sambandar, Sundarar and Manikkavasagar were the best known among them.
Tevaram and Tiruvacakam were the two sets of compilations of their songs.
Alvars also came from equally diverse backgrounds.
There were twelve of them. Periyalvar, his daughter Andal, Tondaradippodi Alvar and Nammalvar were the best known among them.
Their songs were compiled in the Divya Prabandham.
Martin Luther:
There was transformation in the religious front in Europe as well, in the 16th century.
Martin Luther (1483-1546) was the most important leader of the changes that took place within Christianity.
He felt that many teachings in the Roman Catholic Church went against the teachings in Bible.
He translated the Bible into German since he wanted the language of ordinary people rather than Latin.
He was against donations to the Church as a means to gain forgiveness from sins.
Many Protestant Christians sects trace their origins to his teachings.
The growing use of the printing press helped in wide dissemination of his writings.
