Cultural Syncretism: Bhakti Movement in India Online Test 11th History Lesson 8 Questions in English

As a country with a long history, religion in India developed by interacting with various traditions. Vedic religion, which came with the advent of Aryan speaking peoples to India, absorbed many elements from the Indus civilization. Mother goddess worship had its origins in Harappa

An image found in the Indus script has been identified as that of Siva. The prime Vedic gods were Indra, Varuna, Agni, etc. and it was only later that the worship of Siva and Vishnu developed. In the mid-first millennium before the Common Era (B.C.) two great religions emerged in the Indo-Gangetic valley: Buddhism and Jainism (apart from other heterodox religions such as Ajivika) which challenged the orthodox Vedic religious practices.

The bhakti literature, mostly puranas and hagiographical texts, provide information about the religious conflicts in Tamilnadu. Thevaram consists of the hymns by the three Nayanmars: Appar (Thirunavukkarasar), Sambandar (Thirugnanasambandar) and Sundarar. Together these constitute the seven of the twelve Saiva Thirumurais. The Eighth Thirumurai consists of the hymns of Manickavasakar.

Periyapuranam by Sekkizhar which narrates the stories of the sixtythree Nayanmars is an important source for the study of the Bhakti movement. The hymns of the Vaishnava saints, Azhwars, are compiled as Nalayira Divya Prabandham. The importance of the bhakti poems lie in the fact that they are still read, sung and revered by people, and they also form an important part of Tamil literary tradition. Epigraphical sources and iconography also provide much information.

Mahendravarma Pallava I, a Jain by faith, persecuted those belonging to other religions. Appar, a Jaina in his early life, called Darmasena, later turned to Saivism under the influence of his sister. Mahendravarma at the instance of his Jaina advisers tried to reconvert Appar first by persuasion and then by persecution. But eventually it ended in the king himself conversion to Saivism.

According to tradition, Sambandar defeated the Jains in a theological debate and consequently his opponents were impaled. Maravarman Arikesari (640- 670), also known as Koon Pandyan, who converted from Saivism to Jainism, was later re-converted under the influence of Sambandar. According to a Saivite legend, after his re-conversion, he ordered a massacre of Jains in Samantham, a village in Madurai district.

Kabir is probably the most important cultural figure of medieval India. His iconoclastic poetry which ridiculed ostentatiousness and ritual, and emphasized the universality of god won many adherents. Little concrete historical evidence is available on his life. He was probably a weaver. Said to be a disciple of Ramananda, he learnt Vedanta philosophy from him.

According to the popular Tazkirah-i-Auliya-i-Hind (Lives of Muslim Saints), Kabir was a disciple of the Muslim Sufi, Shaikh Taqi. Kabir was a religious radical who denounced with equal zest the narrowness of sectarianism, both Hindu and Islam.

Ravidas was a poet saint of the bhakti movement during the 15th to 16th century. Venerated as a guru (teacher) in the regions of Punjab, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh, the devotional songs of Ravidas made a lasting impact upon the bhakti movement.

The life details of Ravidas are uncertain and contested. Most scholars believe he was born in a family of tanners.

Ravidas was one of the disciples of the bhakti saintpoet Ramananda. Ravidas’ devotional songs were included in the Sikh Scriptures. Ravidas spoke against social divisions of caste and gender, and promoted unity in the pursuit of personal spiritual freedoms.

The Saint Guru Nanak with the biggest institutional influence was Guru Nanak (1469–1539) who founded the Sikh religion which shows undoubted syncretic influence.

Over two centuries, under the leadership of its ten gurus, Sikhism expanded swiftly in the Punjab region winning numerous adherents.

Sikh teachings resulted in the creation of a strong sense of community. The politics of the times created conflicts with the Mughal empire leading to persecution which resulted in the martyrdom of its gurus. Guru Govind Singh was the last guru.

After the last Guru Govind singh, the Granth Sahib was considered the guru. While the teachings of Guru Nank is the Adi Granth.

The Guru Granth Sahib, part from the teachings of its other gurus, incorporates the writings of many Bhakti poets and Sufi saints such as Ramananda, Namadeva, Kabir and Sheikh Farid.

Chaitanya of Bengal represents an aspect of the bhakti movement that is very different from that seen in the lives and teachings of Kabir and his successors.

Chaitanya’s concern, unlike that of Kabir, was not with bringing people to an understanding of a God, beyond all creeds and formulations; it was to exalt the superiority of Krishna over all other deities. It was, in other words, a revivalist, not a syncretic movement, a return to a worship of Vishnu under one of his most appealing forms, the loving ecstatic Krishna. The Bengal Vaishnavites did not try to reform Hinduism. Instead, they emphasized devotion to Krishna. Chaitanya, however, made disciples from all classes. He popularised the practice of group devotional singing accompanied by ecstatic dancing. His movement became popular in Bengal and Orissa.

Namadeva, a son of a tailor and an inhabitant of the village of Naras-Vamani in Satara district of Maharashtra.

Under the influence of Saint Janadeva, Namadeva was converted to the path of bhakti. A staunch devotee of Vitthala of Pandarpur, Namdeva spent much of his time in worship along with his followers, chanting mostly in his own verse.

Ramananda was of Ramanuja’s philosophical thought. Ramananda was born at Prayag (Allahabad) and received his higher education in Hindu religious philosophy at Banaras and joined the school of Ramanuja as a preacher.

Ramananda visited the holy places of North India and preached Vaishnavism. Ramananda introduced radical changes in Vaishnavism by founding his own sect based on the doctrine of love and devotion to Rama and Sita. He preached equality before God. He rejected caste system, particularly the supremacy of Brahmins as the sole custodians of Hindu religion.

The people from the lower strata of the society became Ramananda followers. His twelve disciples included Ravidas, Kabir and two women. His followers were divided into conservative and radical schools.

Mirabai was born in Kudh of Merta district of Rajasthan. She was married to Bhoj Raj, son of Rana Sanga of Mewar. Mirabai preached the worship of God in the name of Krishna and stressed that no one should be deprived of His divine grace on the ground of birth, poverty, age and sex.

Mirabai was the great granddaughter of Rana Jodhaji, founder of Jodhpur. Her devotional songs and lyrics constitute a rich cultural heritage. Her bhajans are sung with fervour to this day. Her teachings carried the message of divine worship to almost every Hindu household.

Sur Das lived at the court of Akbar and was popularly known as the blind bard of Agra. Sur Das is believed to have been a disciple of Vallabacharya who was a Vaishnava preacher in the Sultanate period.

Vallabhacharya was the founder of Pushtimarga (way of grace). Sur Das preached religion of love and devotion to a personal God.

According to Sur Das, love is a sublimated theme representing the irresistible attraction of the gopis of Brindavan towards Krishna. The intensity of passion displayed by the gopis is an expression of the natural attraction of the human spirit towards the divine soul. Sur Das popular works are Sur Sagar, Sur Saravali and Sahitya Lehari.

Sur Das monumental work Sur Sagar or Sur’s Ocean is a story of Lord Krishna from the birth to the departure for Mathura.

Tuka Ram was born in 1608 in a village near Poona, Maharashtra. According to him, it was not possible to enjoin spiritual joy with worldly activities.

Tuka Ram was a contemporary of Maratha Shivaji and saints like Eknath and Ramdas. After his early life as a trader he started spending his time singing devotional songs in praise of his favourite deity Lord Vithoba of Pandarpur.

Tuka Ram believed in a formless God. According to him, it was not possible to enjoin spiritual joy with worldly activities. He stressed the all-pervasiveness of God. He rejected Vedic sacrifices, ceremonies, pilgrimages, idol worship, etc. He also preached the virtue of piety, forgiveness and peace of mind.

Tuka Ram spread the message of equality and brotherhood. He tried to foster Hindu-Muslim Unity. Some of his verses are devoted to this theme. He wrote his abhangas in Marathi.

Salvation which was previously considered attainable, only by people of the first three orders in the social hierarchy became available to everyone. Bhakti movement provided women and members of the lower strata of the society an inclusive path to spiritual salvation. Literature on devotional songs in regional languages became profuse. The poetsaints of this movement championed a wide range of philosophical positions, ranging from theistic dualism of Dvaita, to absolute monism of Advaita. Much of the regional practices such as community singing, chanting together of deity names, conducting festivals, going on pilgrimages, performing rituals relating to Saivism, and Vaishnavism have survived to this day.

The philosophical treatises such as the Saiva Siddhanta texts contain elaborate disputations of Buddhist and Jain philosophies. Some of the Saiva Siddhanta texts, such as Sivagnana Sithiyar, contain a separate section called ‘parapakkam’ which essentially refute Buddhist and Jain theological arguments.

Despite the sophisticated philosophical disputation, it was the nature of the Bhakti movement and the royal patronage that it received that ultimately led to the downfall of Buddhism and Jainism. By the eleventh century, both these religions were effectively defeated.

While Buddhism was wiped out in the Tamil country as in much of India Tamil speaking Jain communities have survived in pockets in Tamil Nadu to this day. Temples and shrines were destroyed or fell into disuse while many artefacts were lost due to neglect and vandalism. To this day one can see decapitated statues of Buddha and the Jain thirthankaras in many parts of Tamil Nadu.

Despite this, the orthodox and heterodox interacted with each other and they have left a mark. The idea of renunciation, which is central to Buddhism and Jainism, was adopted by Saivites and Vaishnavites.

In response to the simplicity and life negation of the heterodox sects bhakti movement celebrated life with festivals and rituals. Similarly, the high value accorded to vegetarian food habits and the prohibition on killing of animals may be traced to this influence. The supremacy accorded to the Tamil language was a response to the fact that the heterodox religions used north India Prakrits. Most importantly, bhakti exponents posited that, unlike the fatalistic religions of Buddhism and Jainism, devotion to Vishnu and Siva could overcome fate. Thus, Vedic Hinduism was transformed by the conflict with Buddhism and Jainism.

When the popularity of the bhakti movement in south India reached its peak, the doctrine of bhakti was expounded at the philosophical level by a series of Vaishnava scholars and saints. Ramanujar expounded the philosophy known as Vishistadvaita, or qualified monism. His teaching qualified Adi Sankara’s emphasis on absolute monism or the oneness of the ‘supreme’ and the ‘souls’.

The advent of Islam with the Turkish conquest posed a challenge to Vedic scholars and priests. By the end of the fourteenth century Islam had spread to large parts of India.

In parallel with the Bhakti movement in Hinduism, Sufism played a similar role in Islam. By the 12th century, Sufism had become an influential aspect of Islamic social life as it extended over almost the entire Muslim community.

Sufis believed that God is ‘Mashuq’ (beloved) and Sufis are the ‘Ashiqs’ (lovers). Sufism crystallized into various ‘Silsilahs’ or orders.

Sufism took root in both rural and urban areas, and exercised a deep social, political and cultural influence on the masses. The most popular Sufi orders were Chistis, Suhrawardis, Qadiriyahs and Naqshbandis.

Sufis regarded God as the supreme beauty and believed that one must admire it, take delight in His thought and concentrate his attention on Him only. It rebelled against all forms of religious formalism, orthodoxy, falsehood and hypocrisy, and endeavoured to create a new world order in which spiritual bliss was the ultimate goal. At a time when struggle for political power was the prevailing trend, the Sufi saints reminded people of their moral obligations.

Salient Features of Bhakti Movement: The bhakti reformers preached the principles of monotheism (oneness of God) 2. They believed in freedom from the cycle of life and death. They advocated that the salvation could be attained only by deep devotion and faith in God. 3. They emphasized the self-surrender for obtaining the bliss and grace of God. 4. Gurus could act as guides and preceptors. 5. They advocated the principle of Universal brotherhood. 6. They criticized idol worship. 7. They stressed the singing of hymns with deep devotion. 8. Arguing that all living beings, including humans, were god’s children, they strongly denounced caste system which divided people according to their birth. 9. They condemned ritualism, pilgrimages and fasts. 10. They did not consider any language as sacred and composed poems in the language of the common people.

The terms Sufi, Wali, Darvesh and Fakir are used for Muslim saints who attempted to develop their intuitive faculties through ascetic exercises, contemplation, renunciation and self-denial.

While Chaitanya of Bengal belonged to the philosophical school of Madhavacharya (a chief advocate of Dvaita school of vedhanta).

Ramananda was the first to preach his doctrine of devotion in Hindi, the vernacular language. It gained him a good deal of popularity among the people of all classes.