Bhakti Movement & Sufism

 Introduction

• perform rituals of worship, or singing bhajans, kirtans or qawwalis, or even repeating the name of God in silence - bhakti and Sufi movements.
• Bhagavad Gita talk about the path of bhakti, or bhakti-marga.

Bhakti Movement

• Gods and goddesses worshipped with Shiva, Vishnu or Durga.
• Process of disseminating Brahmanical ideas, accessible to all women, Men and Shudras.
• Brahmanas accepting and reworking the beliefs and practices of these and other social categories.
• Adi Sankara provided Hinduism with a philosophic doctrine of Advaita to counter the heterodox religions it remained at the intellectual level. 
• Seventh to ninth centuries, Saiva Nayanmar (Saints devoted to Shiva) and Azhwars (Saints devoted to Shiva) came from all caste supported by the ruling kings, made a deep and lasting impact on all aspects: social, political, religious, cultural and linguistic.
• South India home of Religious 7th to 10th Century.
• “Great” & “Little” traditional – cultural practices of peasant societies.
• Ramanujar it turned into a philosophical and ideological movement in the eleventh century.
• Bhakti cult became widespread from 14th century in whole India.
• principal deities, Vedic pantheon, Agni, Indra and Soma visible in textual or visual representations. Local deity made of wood by local tribal specialists.
• Forms of worship that were classified as Tantric.

Poems of Prayer Early Traditions of Bhakti

• Brahmanas remained important intermediaries between gods and devotees in several forms of bhakti.
• Accommodated and acknowledged women and the “lower castes”
• Two broad categories: saguna (with attributes) and nirguna (without attributes).
• The former included traditions that focused on the worship of specific deities such as Shiva, Vishnu and his avatars (incarnations) and forms of the goddess or Devi, all often conceptualized in anthropomorphic forms.
• Nirguna bhakti on the other hand was worship of an abstract form of god.
• Movement of protest against the caste system and the dominance of Brahmanas or at least attempted to reform the system.

Bhakti Movement in the South

Conflict with Buddhism & Jainism

• Buddhism and Jainism were predominantly patronized by the merchant class and they were also supported by the state. The Bhakti movement originated among the landholding castes, and it was critical of Buddhists and Jains.
• Major themes in Tamil bhakti hymns is the poets’ opposition to Buddhism and Jainism.

Alvars and Nayanars of Tamil Nadu

• Bhakti movements (c. sixth century) led by Alvars (devotion to Vishnu) & Nayanars (devotion to Shiva).
• Two set of compilation of songs Thiruvacakam & Thevaram (hymus of three Nayanmars: Appar (Thirunavukkarasar), Sambandar (Thirugnanasambandar) and Sundarar - 7of 12 Saiva Thirumurais)
• 8th - hymns of Manickavasakar
• 3 Women Nayanmars – Mangayarkkarasiysr, Isaignaaniyar, Karaikkal Ammaiyar.
• Periyapuranam by Sekkizhar about 63 Nayanmars
• 12 Alvars - Periyalvar, his daughter Andal, Tondaradippodi Alvar and Nammalvar.
• Hymns of Vaishnava saints, Azhwars compiled as Nalayira Divya Prabandham, significant as the four Vedas in Sanskrit that were cherished by the Brahmanas.
• Tenth and twelfth centuries Chola and Pandya kings support Brahmanical & Bhakti, built elaborate temples for Vishnu & Shiva.
• Chidambaram, Thanjavur, Gangaikondacholapuram by Chola ruler.

Other Conflict

• Appar, a Jaina later turned Saivism under influence of his sister.
• Sambandar, defeated the Jains in a theological debate.
• Maravaramam Arikesari (Koon Pandiyan), Convert from saivism to Jainism, later re-convert under the influence of Sambabdar.
• Saiva Siddhanta texts "parapakkam" contain elaborate disputations of Buddhist and Jain philosophies.
• Performance of sacrifices or precisely chanted mantras, frequently ignored the authority of the Vedas.
• Sophisticated philosophical disputation, nature of the Bhakti movement and the royal patronage downfall of Buddhism & Jainism by 11th Century.
• The idea of renunciation, which is central to Buddhism and Jainism, was adopted by Saivites and Vaishnavites.

Spread of Bhakti Movement to the North

• After the thirteenth century. Islam, Brahmanical Hinduism, Sufism, various strands of Bhakti.
• Several Rajput states emerged - Brahmanas occupied positions of importance, performing a range of secular and ritual functions.
• Ramanujar, Vishistadvaita. His teaching qualified Adi Sankara’s emphasis on absolute monism or the oneness of the ‘supreme’ and the ‘souls’.
• Independent of dominant religions of the time, Hinduism and Islam.
• Advent of Islam with the Turkish conquest posed a challenge to Vedic scholars and priests.
• New political and social situation created conditions for the growth of non-conformist movements with anti-caste, anti-vedic and anti-puranic traditions.
• Hindu response to Muslim political power was complex, tendency to internal reform to strengthen Hinduism, rise of syncretic sects and major poets and Saints such as Kabir, Guru Nanak, Tulsidas, Surdas, & Ravidas.

Nathpanthis, Siddhas and Yogis

• Number of religious groups that emerged during this period criticised the ritual and other aspects of conventional religion and the social order, using simple, logical arguments.
• Advocated renunciation of the world.
• Groups became particularly popular among “low” castes.

Salient Features of Bhakti Movement

• Monotheism (Oneness of God).
• Cycle of life and death.
• Self-Surrender.
• Gurus could act as guides and preceptors.
• Universal brotherhood.
• Idol worship, singing of hymns.
• Strongly denounced caste system.
• Condemned ritualism, pilgrimages and fasts.
• Language of the common people.

Proponents of Bhakti Movement

Shankaracharya

• Most influential philosophers of India.
• Advocate of Advaita or the doctrine of the oneness of the individual soul and the Supreme God which is the Ultimate Reality.
• Consider world Illusion or Maya.

Ramanuja

• Born in TN in 11^th Century, Influenced by the Alvars.
• Propounded the doctrine of Vishistadvaita or Qualified oneness.
• Developed in north India subsequently.

Kabir

• 15^th – 16^th Centuries, Family of Muslim julahas or Weaver, disciple of Ramananda. learnt Vedanta philosophy from him.
• Kabir Bijak is preserved by the Kabirpanth.
• According to the popular Tazkirah-i-Auliya-i-Hind (Lives of Muslim Saints), he was a disciple of the Muslim Sufi, Shaikh Taqi.
• Formless Supreme God - only path to salvation was through bhakti or devotion.
• Salient features of Teaching - Denunciation of polytheism, idolatry, and caste.
• Break the barriers that separated Hindus from Muslims.
• Ideas from a vast collection of verses called sakhis and pads composed by him and sung by wandering bhajan singers.
• Later collected and preserved in the Guru Granth Sahib, Panch Vani and Bijak.
• Kabir drew his followers from among both Hindus and Muslims.
• Used terms drawn from Vedantic traditions, alakh (the unseen), nirakar (formless), Brahman, Atman, etc. Other terms with mystical connotations such as shabda (sound) or shunya (emptiness).
• Islamic ideas - sufi concept of zikr and ishq (love) to express the Hindu practice of nam-simaran.
• Kabir Granthavali is associated with the Dadupanth in Rajasthan, and many of his compositions are found in the Adi Granth Sahib. All these manuscript compilations were made long after the death of Kabir.
• Verses attributed to Kabir use the words guru and satguru.

Ravidas

• 15^th to 16^th Century, Venerated as a guru (teacher) in the regions of Punjab, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh.
• Believe that born in a family of tanners.
• Disciples of saint-poet Ramananda.
• Devotional Songs include Sikh Scriptures.
• Spoke against social divisions of caste and gender, and promoted unity.

Babu Guru Nanak

• Guru Nanak (1469–1539) Hindu merchant, who founded the Sikh religion.
• Emphasized the oneness of god and adherence to a strict morality.
• Conflicts with the Mughal empire.
• Advocated a form of nirguna bhakti. He firmly repudiated the external practices of the religions he saw around him.
• Irrespective of their former creed, caste or gender, his followers ate together in the common kitchen room (langar).
• Scared spaces – Dharmasal now Gurdwara.
• Guru Angad successor of Baba Guru Nanak.
• His own in a new script – Gurmukhi
• Compositions in various ragas while his attendant Mardana played the rabab.
• Organized his followers into a community. He set up rules for congregational worship (sangat) & Succeed as Preceptor (guru)
• After his death his followers consolidated, distinguished themselves from both Hindus and Muslims.
• Teachings are now remembered as nam-japna, kirt-karna and vandchhakna, which also underline the importance of right belief and worship, honest living, and helping others.
• 17^th Century at town of Ramdaspur develop Harmandar Sahib (Golden Temple).
• Totally Ten Gurus, Guru Govind Singh was the last guru. After him Granth Sahib (Holy scripture of the Sikhs) consider the guru.
• Institution of the Khalsaby Guru Gobind Singh in 1699. The community of the Sikhs, called the KhalsaPanth (army of the pure), became a political entity and defined its five symbols: uncut hair, a dagger, a pair of shorts, a comb and a steel bangle.
• 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.
• Fifth preceptor, Guru Arjan, compiled Baba Guru Nanak’s hymns along with those of his four successors and other religious poets like Baba Farid, Ravidas (also known as Raidas) and Kabir in the Adi Granth Sahibis.

Chaitanya (1485–1533)

• Chaitanya of Bengal, exalt the superiority of Krishna over all other deities.
• Bengal belonged to the philosophical school of Madhavacharya (a chief advocate of Dvaita school of vedhanta)
• Bengal Vaishnavites did not try to reform Hinduism. Instead, they emphasized devotion to Krishna.
• Chaitanya, dicpline from all Class.
• Popularised the practice of group devotional singing accompanied by ecstatic dancing – Popular in Bengal & Orissa.

Namadeva

• son of a tailor, village of Naras-Vamani in Satara district of Maharashtrs.
• Under influence of Saint Janadeve.
• Staunch devotee of Vitthala of Pandarpur.
• Wrote many abhangs (songs composed and sung by saints in Maharashtra in praise of God’s glory) in Marathi and Hindi.
• Absorbed in the Guru Granth.

Ramananda (1400-1470)

• Ramananda was of Ramanuja’s philosophical thought.
• born at Prayag (Allahabad), joined the school of Ramanuja as a preacher.
• Visited the holy places of North India and preached Vaishnavism. Radical change by founding his own sect based on the doctrine of love and devotion to Rama and Sita.
• Rejected caste system, particularly the supremacy of Brahmins.
• His twelve disciples included Ravidas, Kabir and two women.
• First to preach his doctrine of devotion in Hindi

Tulsidas

• Conceived of God in the form of Rama. Compose Ramcharitmanas.

Mirabai (1498-1546)

• Born in Kudh of Merta. Great granddaughter of Rana Jodhaji, founder of Jodhpur.
• disciple of Ravidas
• Became Devotee of Lord Krishna. left the palace and began singing her songs (bhajans) & preaching the path of love on God.
• His divine grace on the ground of birth, poverty, age and sex.
• Not attract a sect or group of followers.

Sur Das

• Lived in court of Akbar.
• Disciple of Vallabacharya (Founder of Pushtimarga (way of grace)) who was a Vaishnava preacher in the Sultanate period. Devoted to krishn (avatar of Vishnu).
• Krishna’s bal lila constitutes the first great theme of Sur Das poetry.
• His popular works are Sur Sagar, Sur Saravali and Sahitya Lehari.

Tuka Ram

• Born in 1608, near poona, Maharashtrs.
• Contemporary of Maratha Shivaji and saints like Eknath and Ramdas.
• Trader singing song of favorite deity Lord Vithoba of Pandarpur.
• Believed in Formless God.
• Rejected Vedic sacrifices, ceremonies, pilgrimages, idol worship, etc.
• foster Hindu-Muslim Unity.
• Abhangas in Marathi.

Shankaradeva of Assam

• Devoted to Vishnu.
• Setting up namghars or houses of recitation & Prayer.
• Bhagavati dharma because they were based on the Bhagavad Gita and the Bhagavata Puran

Basavanna’s Virashaivism in Karnataka

• Twelfth century, new movement in Karnataka, led by a Brahmana named Basavanna (1106-68). His followers were known as Virashaivas (heroes of Shiva) or Lingayats (wearers of the linga).
• Worship Shiva in his manifestation as a linga, revered include jangama or wandering monks.
• Lingayats also encouraged certain practices disapproved in the Dharmashastras, such as post-puberty marriage and the remarriage of widows.
• Equality of all human beings and against Brahmanical ideas about caste and the treatment of women. They were also against all forms of ritual and idol worship.
• Virashaiva tradition is derived from vachanas (literally, sayings) composed in Kannada by women and men who joined the movement.

Saints of Maharashtra

• 13^th to 17^th Centuries
• Important Saint-poets, Dnyaneshwar (Gyaneshwar), Namdev, Eknath and Tukaram as well as women like Sakhubai and the family of Chokhamela, who belonged to the “untouchable” Mahar caste.
• Rejected all forms of ritualism, outward display of piety and social differences based on birth.
• Famous Gujarati saint Narsi Mehta said, “They are Vaishnavas who understand the pain of others”.

Impact of the Bhakti Movement

• Salvation 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.

Islam and Sufism

• Strengthened with the Establishment of the Delhi Sultanate (13^th century) - coming of the sufis.
• 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.
• Muslim rulers were to be guided by the ulama, Rule of the Holy Law (Shariat - law governing the Muslim community based on Quran & hadis) and theology of Islam.
• Sufis often rejected the elaborate rituals and codes of behaviour demanded by Muslim religious scholars.
• Great Sufis of Central Asia were Ghazzali, Rumi and Sadi.
• Sufi methods of training using zikr (chanting of a name or sacred formula), contemplation, sama (singing), raqs (dancing), discussion of parables, breath control, etc.
• Sufi teachers follow slightly different method (tariqa) of instruction & ritual Practice.
• Many Sufi center, Chishti silsila – Influence order.
• Long line of teachers like Khwaja Muinuddin Chishti of Ajmer, Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki of Delhi, Baba Farid of Punjab, Khwaja Nizamuddin Auliya of Delhi and Bandanawaz Gisudaraz of Gulbarga.

Growth of Sufism

• Islam a group of religious minded people called Sufis.
• Sufism in Islamic texts is tasawwuf.
• They were critical of the dogmatic definitions and scholastic methods of interpreting the Qur’an and sunna (traditions of the Prophet) adopted by theologians.
• Suhrawardi under the Delhi Sultans & Naqshbandi under the Mughals.
• Khanqahs and silsilas - Khanquah Maner Sharif has been the centre of fourteen Sufi's Order. Of them, Soharvardia order (silsila) and Firdausia order have spread vastly throughout the Indian sub-continent.
• Quranic studies and sufi practices – organize community controlled by a teaching master known as shaikh (in Arabic), pir or murshid (in Persian). He enrolled disciples (murids) and appointed a successor (khalifa).
• shaikh died, his tomb-shrine centre of devotion for his followers. Practice of pilgrimage or ziyarat.
• Evolved the cult of the shaikh revered as wali.
• Scorned the khanqah and took to mendicancy and observed celibacy. – Qalandars, Madaris, Malangs, Haidaris, etc. Because of their deliberate defiance of the shari‘a they referred to as be-shari‘a,

Impact of Sufis

• Imposing shari’a as state law. derived their authority directly from God – and did not depend on jurists to interpret the shari’a.
• 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.
• God is ‘Mashuq’ (beloved) and Sufis are the ‘Ashiqs’ (lovers).
• Popular Sufi order - Chistis, Suhrawardis, Qadiriyahs and Naqshbandis.
• Sufism took root in both rural and urban areas, and exercised a deep social, political and cultural influence on the masses.
• 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.
• Blunt the edge of Hindu-Muslim conflicts and prejudices.
• Followed revealed scriptures, such as the Jews and Christians, and lived under Muslim rulership. They paid a tax called jizyaand gained the right to be protected by Muslims.
• Several rulers gave land endowments and granted tax exemptions to Hindu, Jaina, Zoroastrian, Christian and Jewish religious institutions and also expressed respect and devotion towards non-Muslim religious like Akbar & Aurangzeb.

Popular practice of Islam

• five “pillars” of the faith there is one God, Allah, and
• Prophet Muhammad is his messenger (shahada);
• offering prayers five times a day (namaz/salat);
• Giving alms (zakat);
• Fasting during the month of Ramzan (sawm); and
• Performing the pilgrimage to Mecca (hajj)
• Sectarian affiliations (Sunni, Shi’a)
• special ragas during daily prayer meetings
• Arab Muslim traders who settled along the Malabar coast (Kerala) adopt matriliny & matrilocal residence.
• Mosques - orientation towards Mecca, evident in the placement of the mihrab(prayer niche) and the minbar(pulpit).
• Migrant communities were mlechchha, indicating that they did not observe the norms of caste society and spoke languages that were not derived from Sanskrit.

Chishtis in the Subcontinent

• Chishtis were the most influential.
• Chishti khanqah (Center of Social life) - Shaikh Nizamuddin’s hospice. big hall (jama’at khana) where visitors lived and prayed.
• On one occasion, fearing a Mongol invasion.
• Poets such as Amir Hasan Sijzi and Amir Khusrau and the court historian Ziyauddin Barani, all of whom wrote about the Shaikh.
• Not just in sama that the Chishtis adopted local languages.
• Prem-akhyan (love story) Padmavat composed by Malik Muhammad Jayasi.
• Poems were probably sung by women, lurinama or lullabies and shadinama or wedding songs. sufis of this region were inspired by the pre-existing bhakti tradition.

Chishti devotionalism

• ziyarat and qawwali - Pilgrimage, called ziyarat, to tombs of sufi saints is prevalent all over the Muslim world.
• Ziyarat is the use of music and dance by specially trained musicians or qawwals.
• Dargahs of the five great Chishti saints – Amongst these, the most revered shrine is that of Khwaja Muinuddin, popularly known as “Gharib Nawaz” (comforter of the poor). Muhammad bin Tughlaq (ruled, 1324-51) was thefirst Sultan to visit the shrine.
• Chishti tradition was austerity, Sultans charitable trusts (auqaf) tax-free land (inam).
• Conflict between the Sultans and the sufis.
• Martin Luther and the Reformation.
• Several Practices in the Roman Catholic Church went against the teaching of the Bible.
• Translated the Bible into German.