Template:Short description Template:Use Indian English Template:Use dmy dates Template:Hinduism Template:Hinduism in India Template:Sikhism sidebar
The Bhakti movement was a significant religious movement in medieval HinduismTemplate:Sfnp that sought to bring religious reforms to all strata of society by adopting the method of devotion to achieve salvation.<ref name="cbseindiatoday">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Originating in Tamilakam during 6th century CE,Template:Sfn<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> it gained prominence through the poems and teachings of the Vaishnava Alvars and Shaiva Nayanars in early medieval South India, before spreading northwards.Template:Sfnp It swept over east and north India from the 15th century onwards, reaching its zenith between the 15th and 17th century CE.Template:Sfnp
The Bhakti movement regionally developed around different Hindu gods and goddesses, and some sub-sects were Vaishnavism (Vishnu), Shaivism (Shiva), Shaktism (Shakti goddesses), and Smartism.<ref>Lance Nelson (2007), An Introductory Dictionary of Theology and Religious Studies (Editors: Orlando O. Espín, James B. Nickoloff), Liturgical Press, Template:ISBN, pages 562-563</ref><ref>SS Kumar (2010), Bhakti – the Yoga of Love, LIT Verlag Münster, Template:ISBN, pages 35-36</ref><ref name="donigerbrit">Wendy Doniger (2009), "Bhakti", Encyclopædia BritannicaTemplate:Cite book</ref> The Bhakti movement preached using the local languages so that the message reached the masses. The movement was inspired by many poet-saints, who championed a wide range of philosophical positions ranging from theistic dualism of Dvaita to absolute monism of Advaita Vedanta.Template:Sfnp<ref name=novetzke>Template:Cite journal</ref>
The movement has traditionally been considered an influential social reformation in Hinduism, as it provided an individual-focused alternative path to spirituality, regardless of one's birth or gender.Template:Sfnp Contemporary scholars question whether the Bhakti movement was ever a reform or rebellion of any kind.Template:Sfnp They suggest that the Bhakti movement was a revival, reworking, and recontextualisation of ancient Vedic traditions.Template:Sfnp
TerminologyEdit
The Sanskrit word bhakti is derived from the root Template:Transliteration, which means "divide, share, partake, participate, to belong to".<ref name="Prentiss">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Werner">Template:Cite book</ref> The word also means "attachment, devotion to, fondness for, homage, faith or love, worship, piety to something as a spiritual, religious principle or means of salvation".<ref name=monier>Monier Monier-Williams, Monier-Williams Sanskrit English Dictionary, Motilal Banarsidass, page 743</ref><ref>bhakti Sanskrit English Dictionary, University of Koeln, Germany</ref>
Bhakti, in contrast, is spiritual, a love for and devotion towards religious concepts or principles, that engages both emotion and intellect.Template:Sfnp The connotation of love in this context is not one of uncritical emotion but committed engagement.Template:Sfnp The Bhakti movement in Hinduism refers to ideas and engagement that emerged in the medieval era on love and devotion to religious concepts built around one or more gods and goddesses. The Bhakti movement preached against the caste system and used local languages and so the message reached the masses. One who practices bhakti is called a bhakta.Template:Sfnp
Textual rootsEdit
Ancient Indian texts, dated to the 1st millennium BCE, such as the Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad, the Kaṭha Upaniṣad, and the Bhagavad Gita mention Bhakti.<ref name=madeleine />
Śvetāśvatara UpaniṣadEdit
.jpg){kind=link}
The last of three epilogue verses of the Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad, 6.23, uses the word Bhakti as follows,
<templatestyles src="Template:Blockquote/styles.css" />
Template:ErrorTemplate:Main other{{#if:|{{#if:|}}
— {{#if:|, in }}Template:Comma separated entries}}
{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:Blockquote with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | author | by | char | character | cite | class | content | multiline | personquoted | publication | quote | quotesource | quotetext | sign | source | style | text | title | ts }}
This verse is notable for the use of the word Bhakti, and has been widely cited as among the earliest mentions of "the love of God".<ref name=paulcarus /><ref>WN Brown (1970), Man in the Universe: Some Continuities in Indian Thought, University of California Press, Template:ISBN, pages 38-39</ref> Scholars have debated whether this phrase is authentic or later insertion into the Upanishad, and whether the terms "Bhakti" and "God" meant the same in this ancient text as they do in the medieval and modern era Bhakti traditions found in India.<ref name="maxmullerinto">Max Muller, The Shvetashvatara Upanishad, Oxford University Press, pages xxxii – xlii</ref><ref name=pauldeussenintro>Paul Deussen, Sixty Upanishads of the Veda, Volume 1, Motilal Banarsidass, Template:ISBN, pages 301-304</ref> Max Muller states that the word Bhakti appears in only one verse of the epilogue at its end, may have been a later insertion and may not be theistic as the word was later used in much Sandilya Sutras.<ref name=maxmullerbhakti>Max Muller, The Shvetashvatara Upanishad, Oxford University Press, pages xxxiv and xxxvii</ref>
Grierson, as well as Carus, note that the first epilogue verse 6.21 is also notable for its use of the word Deva Prasada (देवप्रसाद, grace or gift of God), but add that Deva in the epilogue of the Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad refers to "pantheistic Brahman" and the closing credit to sage Śvetāśvatara in verse 6.21 can mean "gift or grace of his Soul".<ref name="paulcarus" />
Doris Srinivasan states that the Upanishad is a treatise on theism, but it creatively embeds a variety of divine images, an inclusive language that allows "three Vedic definitions for a personal deity".<ref name="srinivasan">D Srinivasan (1997), Many Heads, Arms, and Eyes, Brill, Template:ISBN, pages 96-97 and Chapter 9</ref> The Upanishad includes verses wherein God can be identified with the Supreme (Brahman-Atman, Self, Soul) in Vedanta monistic theosophy, verses that support the dualistic view of Samkhya doctrines, as well as the synthetic novelty of triple Brahman where a triune exists as the divine soul (Isvara, theistic God), individual soul (self) and nature (Prakrti, matter).<ref name="srinivasan" /><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
Tsuchida writes that the Upanishad syncretically combines monistic ideas of the Upanishads and the self-development ideas of Yoga with personification of the deity Rudra.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Hiriyanna interprets the text to be introducing "personal theism" in the form of Shiva Bhakti, with a shift to monotheism but in the henotheistic context where the individual is encouraged to discover his own definition and sense of God.<ref>M. Hiriyanna (2000), The Essentials of Indian Philosophy, Motilal Banarsidass, Template:ISBN, pages 32-36</ref>
Bhagavad GitaEdit
Template:Main article The Bhagavad Gita, a post-Vedic scripture composed in 5th to 2nd century BCE,Template:Sfnp introduces bhakti marga (the path of faith/devotion) as one of three ways to spiritual freedom and release, the other two being karma marga (the path of works) and jnana marga (the path of knowledge).<ref name="Minor">Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
In verses 6.31 through 6.47 of the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna describes bhakti yoga and loving devotion as one of the several paths to the highest spiritual attainments.<ref name="Jacobsen">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="chapple">Christopher Key Chapple (Editor) and Winthrop Sargeant (Translator), The Bhagavad Gita: Twenty-fifth–Anniversary Edition, State University of New York Press, Template:ISBN, pages 302-303, 318</ref>
Devi MahatmyaEdit
Template:Main articleThe Devi Mahatmya embodies bhakti through three stories about the goddess Devi. In these narratives, devotion is vividly portrayed as the gods turn to Devi in times of crisis, emphasizing bhakti's central role in seeking divine aid and protection. The text prescribes rituals like recitation and worship to honor Devi, emphasizing that her Mahatmya should be recited "with bhakti" on specific days of each lunar fortnight and especially during the annual "great offering" (maha-puja) held in autumn, known today as Durga puja (Devi Mahatmya 12.4, 12.12).<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
HistoryEdit
Initial development in Tamil landsEdit
.jpg){kind=link}
The Bhakti movement originated in Tamilakam during the seventh to eighth century CE, and remained influential in South India for some time. In the second millennium, a second wave of bhakti spread northwards through Karnataka (c. 12th century) and gained wide acceptance in fifteenth-century Assam,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Bengal and northern India.Template:Sfnp<ref name=":0">Brockington, J. L. (1996). The Sacred Thread: Hinduism in Its Continuity and Diversity, p. 130. Edinburgh University Press.</ref>
According to Brockington, the initial Tamil Bhakti movement was characterized by "a personal relationship between the deity and the devotee", and "fervent emotional experience in response to divine grace".<ref name=":0" /> The Bhakti movement in Tamil Nadu was composed of two main parallel groups: Shaivas (who also worshipped local deities like Shiva or his son Murugan/Kartikeya) and Vaishnavas (who also worshipped local deities like Tirumāl). The Vaishnava Alvars and Shaiva Nayanars and, who lived between 5th and 9th century CE.<ref name="Embree">Template:Cite book</ref> They promoted love of a personal God first and foremost which is also expressed by love of one's fellow human beings. They also wrote and sang hymns of praise to their God, and came from numerous social classes, even shudras.<ref>Brockington, J. L. (1996). The Sacred Thread: Hinduism in Its Continuity and Diversity, pp. 130-33. Edinburgh University Press.</ref> These poet saints became the backbone of the Sri Vaishnava and Shaiva Siddhanta traditions.<ref>Brockington, J. L. (1996). The Sacred Thread: Hinduism in Its Continuity and Diversity, pp. 139-140. Edinburgh University Press.</ref>
The Alvars, which literally means "those immersed in God", were Vaishnava poet-saints who sang praises of Vishnu as they traveled from one place to another.<ref name=olson /> They established temple sites such as Srirangam, and spread ideas about Vaishnavism. Various poems were compiled as Alvar Arulicheyalgal or Divya Prabandham, developed into an influential scripture for the Vaishnavas. The Bhagavata Purana's references to the South Indian Alvar saints, along with its emphasis on bhakti, have led many scholars to give it South Indian origins though some scholars question whether that evidence excludes the possibility that Bhakti movement had parallel developments in other parts of India.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Like the Alvars, the Shaiva Nayanars were Bhakti poet saints. The Tirumurai, a compilation of hymns on Shiva by sixty-three Nayanar poet-saints, developed into an influential scripture in Shaivism. The poets' itinerant lifestyle helped create temple and pilgrimage sites and spread spiritual ideas built around Shiva.<ref name=olson>Template:Cite book</ref> Early Tamil-Shiva Bhakti poets influenced Hindu texts that came to be revered all over India.Template:Sfnp
Spread throughout India in the 2nd millenniumEdit
The influence of the Tamil bhakti saints and those of later northern Bhakti leaders ultimately helped spread bhakti poetry and ideas throughout all the Indian subcontinent by the 18th century CE.<ref name="Embree" /><ref name="Flood">Template:Cite book</ref> However, outside of the Tamil speaking regions, the Bhakti movement arrived much later, mostly in the second millennium.
For example, in Kannada-speaking regions (roughly modern Karnataka), the Bhakti movement arrived in the 12th century, with the emergence of Basava and his Shaivite Lingayatism, which were known for their total rejection of caste distinctions and the authority of the Vedas, their promotion of the religious equality of women, and their focus on worshipping a small lingam, which they always carried around their necks, as opposed to images in temples run by elite priesthoods.<ref>Brockington, J. L. (1996). The Sacred Thread: Hinduism in Its Continuity and Diversity, pp. 145-47. Edinburgh University Press.</ref> Another important Kannada figure in the Bhakti movement was Madhvacharya (c. 12-13th centuries), a great and prolific scholar of Vedanta, who promoted the theology of dualism (Dvaita Vedanta).<ref>Brockington, J. L. (1996). The Sacred Thread: Hinduism in Its Continuity and Diversity, p. 148. Edinburgh University Press.</ref>
Similarly, the Bhakti movement in Odisha (known as Jñanamisrita bhakti or Dadhya Bhakti) also began in the 12th century. It included various scholars including Jayadeva (the 12th-century author of the Gita Govinda), and it had become a mass movement by the 14th century.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Figures like Balarama Dasa, Achyutananda, Jasobanta Dasa, Ananta Dasa and Jagannatha Dasa preached Bhakti through public sankirtans across Odisha. Jagannath was and remains the center of the Odisha Bhakti movement.
The Bhakti movements also spread to the north later, particularly during the flowering of northern Bhakti yoga of the 15th and the 16th centuries. Perhaps the earliest of the northern bhakti figures was Nimbārkāchārya (c. 12th century), a Brahmin from Andhra Pradesh who moved to Vrindavan. He defended a similar theology to Ramanuja, which he called Bhedābheda (difference and non-difference).<ref>Brockington, J. L. (1996). The Sacred Thread: Hinduism in Its Continuity and Diversity, p. 151. Edinburgh University Press.</ref> Other important northern bhaktas include Nāmdev (c. 1270-1350), Rāmānanda, and Eknath (c. 1533-99).<ref>Brockington, J. L. (1996). The Sacred Thread: Hinduism in Its Continuity and Diversity, p. 152. Edinburgh University Press.</ref>
Another important development was the rise of the Sant Mat movement, which drew from Islam, Nath tradition and Vaishnavism from which the famous 15th-century Kabir arose. Kabir was a saint known for Hindi poetry that expressed a rejection of external religion in favor of inner experience. After his death, his followers founded the Kabir panth.<ref>Brockington, J. L. (1996). The Sacred Thread: Hinduism in Its Continuity and Diversity, p. 157. Edinburgh University Press.</ref> A similar movement sharing the same Sant Mat Bhakti background that drew on both Hinduism and Islam, was founded by the Guru Nānak (1469-1539), the first Guru of Sikhism.<ref>Brockington, J. L. (1996). The Sacred Thread: Hinduism in Its Continuity and Diversity, p. 158. Edinburgh University Press.</ref>
In Bengal, the most famous composer of Vaishnava devotional songs was Candīdās (1339–1399).<ref name=":2">Brockington, J. L. (1996). The Sacred Thread: Hinduism in Its Continuity and Diversity, p. 162-65. Edinburgh University Press.</ref> He was celebrated in the popular Bengali Vaishnava-Sahajiya movement. One the most influential of the northern Hindu Bhakti traditions was the Krishnaite Gaudiya Vaishnavism of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (1486–1534) in Bengal. Chaitanya eventually came to be seen by the Bengali Vaishnavas as an avatara of Krishna himself.<ref name=":2" /> Another important leader of northern Vaishnava Bhakti was Vallabhacharya Mahaprabhu (1479–1531 CE) who founded the Pushtimarg tradition in Braj (Vraja).<ref>Brockington, J. L. (1996). The Sacred Thread: Hinduism in Its Continuity and Diversity, pp. 165-166. Edinburgh University Press.</ref>
Some scholars state that the Bhakti movement's rapid spread in India in the 2nd millennium was in part a response to the arrival of Islam<ref>Note: The earliest arrival dates are contested by scholars. They range from the 7th to 9th century, with Muslim traders settling in coastal regions of the Indian subcontinent, to Muslims seeking asylum in Tamil Nadu, to Muslim raids in northwestern India by Muhammad bin Qasim. See: Annemarie Schimmel (1997), Islam in the Indian subcontinent, Brill Academic, Template:ISBN, pages 3-7; Andre Wink (2004), Al-Hind: the Making of the Indo-Islamic World, Brill Academic Publishers, Template:ISBN</ref> and subsequent Islamic rule in India and Hindu-Muslim conflicts.<ref name="donigerbrit" /><ref name=karen>Karen Pechelis (2011), "Bhakti Traditions", in The Continuum Companion to Hindu Studies (Editors: Jessica Frazier, Gavin Flood), Bloomsbury, Template:ISBN, pages 107-121</ref>Template:Sfnp That view is contested by some scholars,Template:Sfnp with Rekha Pande stating that singing ecstatic Bhakti hymns in local language had been a tradition in South India before Muhammad was born.<ref name=rekhapande /> According to Pande, the psychological impact of Muslim conquests may have initially contributed to community-style Bhakti by Hindus.<ref name=rekhapande>Rekha Pande (2014), Divine Sounds from the Heart—Singing Unfettered in their Own Voices, Cambridge UK, Template:ISBN, page 25</ref> However, other scholars state that Muslim invasions, the conquests of Hindu Bhakti temples in South India and the seizure and the melting of musical instruments such as cymbals from local people were part responsible for the later relocation or demise of singing Bhakti traditions in the 18th century.<ref>Vasudha Narayanan (1994), The Vernacular Veda: Revelation, Recitation, and Ritual, The University of South Carolina Press, Template:ISBN, page 84</ref>
According to Wendy Doniger, the nature of the Bhakti movement may have been affected by the daily practices to "surrender to God" of Islam when it arrived in India.<ref name="donigerbrit" /> In turn, that influenced devotional practices in Islam such as Sufism,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> and other religions in India from the 15th century onwards, such as Sikhism, Christianity,<ref name="Neill 2002 412">Stephen Neill (2002), A history of Christianity in India, 1707–1858, Cambridge University Press, Template:ISBN, page 412</ref> and Jainism.<ref name="Kelting 2001 87">Mary Kelting (2001), Singing to the Jinas: Jain laywomen, Maṇḍaḷ singing, and the negotiations of Jain devotion, Oxford University Press, page 87, Template:ISBN</ref>
Klaus Witz, in contrast, traces the history and nature of the Bhakti movement to the Upanishadic and the Vedanta foundations of Hinduism. He writes that in virtually every Bhakti movement poet, "the Upanishadic teachings form an all-pervasive substratum, if not a basis. We have here a state of affairs that has no parallel in the West. Supreme Wisdom, which can be taken as basically non-theistic and as an independent wisdom tradition (not dependent on the Vedas), appears fused with the highest level of bhakti and with the highest level of God-realization."<ref>Klaus G Witz (1998), The Supreme Wisdom of the Upaniṣads: An Introduction, Motilal Banarsidass, Template:ISBN, page 10</ref>
Key figuresEdit
.jpg){kind=link}
The Bhakti movement witnessed a surge in Hindu literature in regional languages, particularly in the form of devotional poems and music.Template:Sfnp<ref>Guy Beck (2011), Sonic Liturgy: Ritual and Music in Hindu Tradition, The University of South Carolina Press, Template:ISBN, Chapters 3 and 4</ref><ref>David Kinsley (1979), The Divine Player: A Study of Kṛṣṇa Līlā, Motilal Banarsidass, Template:ISBN, pages 190-204</ref> This literature includes the writings of the Alvars and Nayanars, poems of Andal,<ref name=richardgeorge /> Basava,Template:Sfnp Bhagat Pipa,Template:Sfnp Allama Prabhu, Akka Mahadevi, Kabir, Guru Nanak (founder of Sikhism),Template:Sfnp Tulsidas, Nabha Dass,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Gusainji, Ghananand,<ref name=richardgeorge /> Ramananda (founder of Ramanandi Sampradaya), Ravidass, Sripadaraja, Vyasatirtha, Purandara Dasa, Kanakadasa, Vijaya Dasa, Six Goswamis of Vrindavan,<ref>Peasants and Monks in British India, University of California Press, Template:ISBN, pages 2–3, 53-81</ref> Raskhan,<ref>Rupert Snell (1991), The Hindi Classical Tradition: A Braj Bhāṣā Reader, Routledge, Template:ISBN, pages 39-40</ref> Ravidas,Template:Sfnp Jayadeva Goswami,<ref name="richardgeorge" /> Namdev,Template:Sfnp Eknath, Tukaram, Mirabai,<ref name=smpandey /> Ramprasad Sen,<ref>Rachel McDermott (2001), Singing to the Goddess: Poems to Kālī and Umā from Bengal, Oxford University Press, Template:ISBN, pages 8-9</ref> Sankardev,<ref>Maheswar Neog (1995), Early History of the Vaiṣṇava Faith and Movement in Assam: Śaṅkaradeva and his times, Motilal Banarsidass, Template:ISBN, pages 1-4</ref> Vallabha Acharya,Template:Sfnp Narsinh Mehta,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Gangasati<ref name="Pande2010">Template:Cite book</ref> and the teachings of saints like Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.Template:Sfnp
The writings of Sankaradeva in Assam, however, included an emphasis on the regional language and also led to the development of an artificial literary language called Brajavali.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Brajavali is, to an extent, a combination of medieval Maithili and Assamese.<ref>'The Brajabuli idiom developed in Orissa and Bengal also. But as Dr Sukumar Sen has pointed out "Assamese Brajabuli seems to have developed through direct connection with Mithila" (A History of Brajabuli Literature, Calcutta, 1931 p1). This artificial dialect had Maithili as its basis to which Assamese was added.' Template:Harv</ref><ref>Template:Harv</ref> The language was easily understood by the local populace, in line with the Bhakti movement's call for inclusion, but also retained its literary style. A similar language, called Brajabuli was popularised by Vidyapati,<ref name="Majumdar1960">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Banglapedia-Brajabuli">Template:Cite book</ref> which was adopted by several writers in Odisha<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Paniker1997">Template:Cite book</ref> in the medieval times, and in Bengal during its renaissance.<ref name="Banglapedia-Vidyapati">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Paniker1997"/>
The earliest writers from the 7th to 10th centuries, who are known to have influenced the movements driven by poet-saints, include Sambandar, Tirunavukkarasar, Sundarar, Nammalvar, Adi Shankara, Manikkavacakar and Nathamuni.<ref name="axelmichaels" /> Several 11th- and 12th-century writers developed different philosophies within the Vedanta school of Hinduism that were influential to the Bhakti tradition in medieval India, and they include Ramanuja, Madhva, Vallabha and Nimbarka.<ref name="richardgeorge">Richard Kieckhefer and George Bond (1990), Sainthood: Its Manifestations in World Religions, University of California Press, Template:ISBN, pages 116-122</ref><ref name="axelmichaels">Axel Michaels (2003), Hinduism: Past and Present, Princeton University Press, Template:ISBN, pages 62-65</ref> These writers championed a spectrum of philosophical positions ranging from theistic dualism, qualified nondualism and absolute monism.Template:Sfnp<ref name="novetzke" />
The Bhakti movement also witnessed several works getting translated into various Indian languages. Saundarya Lahari was written in Sanskrit by Adi Shankara and was translated into Tamil in the 12th century by Virai Kaviraja Pandithar, who titled the book Abhirami Paadal.<ref name="Nagaswamy_Vol19">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Similarly, the first translation of the Ramayana into an Indo-Aryan language was by Madhava Kandali, who translated it into Assamese as the Saptakanda Ramayana.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Shandilya and Narada are credited with two Bhakti texts, Shandilya Bhakti Sutra and Narada Bhakti Sutra, but both have been dated to the 12th century by modern scholars.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
TheologyEdit
The Bhakti movement of Hinduism saw two ways of imaging the nature of the divine (Brahman): Nirguna and Saguna.Template:Sfnp Nirguna Brahman was the concept of the ultimate reality as formless and without attributes or quality.Template:Sfnp Saguna Brahman, in contrast, was envisioned and developed as with form, attributes and quality.Template:Sfnp
Both views had parallels in the ancient pantheistic formless and theistic traditions, respectively, and are traceable to a dialogue in the Bhagavad Gita.Template:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp These two may be considered to be the same Brahman, as viewed from two perspectives: a formless mode focused on wisdom (jñana) and a form mode, focused on love.Template:Sfnp Nirguna Bhakti poetry is more focused on jñana, and Saguna bhakti poetry focuses on love (prema).Template:Sfnp In Bhakti, the emphasis is reciprocal love and devotion in which the devotee loves God, and God loves the devotee.Template:Sfnp
The concepts of Nirguna and Saguna Brahman, which is at the root of Bhakti theology, underwent more profound developments with the ideas of the Vedanta schools, particularly those of Adi Shankara's 8th-century Advaita Vedanta (absolute nondualism / monism), Ramanuja's 12th-century Vishishtadvaita Vedanta (a qualified nondualism that posits unity and diversity), and Madhvacharya's (c. 12th-13th century) Dvaita Vedanta (which posits a true dualism between God and the Ātman).Template:Sfnp
According to David Lorenzen, the idea of bhakti for a Nirguna Brahman has been a baffling one to scholars since it offers "heart-felt devotion to a God without attributes, without even any definable personality".<ref name="davidlorenzenns" /> However, given the "mountains of Nirguni bhakti literature", Bhakti for Nirguna Brahman has been a part of the reality of the Hindu tradition along with the Bhakti for Saguna Brahman.<ref name="davidlorenzenns">David Lorenzen (1996), Praises to a Formless God: Nirguni Texts from North India, State University of New York Press, Template:ISBN, page 2</ref> Thus, these were two alternate ways of imagining God even in the Bhakti movement.Template:Sfnp
The Nirguna and Saguna forms of Bhakti may be found in two 12th-century treatises on bhakti: the Sandilya Bhakti Sutra and Narada Bhakti Sutra. Sandilya leans towards Nirguna Bhakti, and Narada leans towards Saguna Bhakti.<ref name=":1">Jessica Frazier and Gavin Flood (2011), The Continuum Companion to Hindu Studies, Bloomsbury Academic, Template:ISBN, pages 113-115</ref>
SalvationEdit
According to J. L. Brockington, the Sri Vaishnavas had split into two subsects in the 14th century:
the dispute was over the question of human effort versus divine grace in achieving salvation, a controversy often and not unreasonably compared to the Arminian and Calvinist standpoints within Protestantism. The Northern school held that the worshipper had to make some effort to win the grace of the Lord and emphasised the performance of karma, a position commonly summed up as being ‘on the analogy of the monkey and its young’, for as the monkey carries her young which cling to her body so Visnu saves the worship per who himself makes an effort. The Southern school held that the Lord’s grace itself conferred salvation, a position ‘on the analogy of the cat and its kittens’, for just as the cat picks up her kittens in her mouth and carries them off willy-nilly, so Visnu saves whom he wills, without effort on their part.<ref>Brockington, J. L. (1996). The Sacred Thread: Hinduism in Its Continuity and Diversity, p. 139. Edinburgh University Press.</ref>
Social impactEdit
The Bhakti movement led to devotional transformation of medieval Hindu society, and Vedic rituals or alternatively ascetic monk-like lifestyle for moksha gave way to individualistic loving relationship with a personally-defined god.Template:Sfnp Salvation, which had been considered attainable only by men of the Brahmin, Kshatriya and Vaishya castes, became available to everyone.Template:Sfnp Most scholars state that Bhakti movement provided women and members of the Shudra and untouchable communities an inclusive path to spiritual salvation.Template:Sfnp Some scholars disagree that the Bhakti movement was premised on such social inequalities.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>Template:Sfnp
Poet-saints grew in popularity, and literature on devotional songs in regional languages became profuse.Template:Sfnp These poet-saints championed a wide range of philosophical positions within their society, ranging from the theistic dualism of Dvaita to the absolute monism of Advaita Vedanta.Template:Sfnp Kabir, a poet-saint, for example, wrote in Upanishadic style, the state of knowing truth:Template:Sfnp
<templatestyles src="Template:Blockquote/styles.css" />
<poem> There's no creation or creator there, no gross or fine, no wind or fire, no sun, moon, earth, or water, no radiant form, no time there, no word, no flesh, no faith, no cause and effect, nor any thought of the Veda, no Hari or Brahma, no Shiva or Shakti, no pilgrimage and no rituals, no mother, father, or guru there... </poem> {{#if:Kabir, Shabda 43Translated by K Schomer and WH McLeodTemplate:Sfnp|{{#if:|}}
— {{#if:|, in }}Template:Comma separated entries}}
{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:Blockquote with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | author | by | char | character | cite | class | content | multiline | personquoted | publication | quote | quotesource | quotetext | sign | source | style | text | title | ts }}
The early-15th-century Bhakti poet-Sant Pipa stated:<ref name=nirmal>Nirmal Dass (2000), Songs of the Saints from the Adi Granth, State University of New York Press, Template:ISBN, pages 181-184</ref>
<templatestyles src="Template:Blockquote/styles.css" />
<poem> Within the body is the god, the temple, within the body all the Jangamas<ref>A term in Shaiva Hindu religiosity, referring to an individual who is always on the go, seeking, learning; See: Winnand Callewaert (2000), The Hagiographies of Anantadas: The Bhakti Poets of North India, Routledge, Template:ISBN, page 292</ref> within the body the incense, the lamps, and the food-offerings, within the body the puja-leaves.
After searching so many lands, I found the nine treasures within my body, Now there will be no further going and coming, I swear by Rama. </poem> {{#if:Pīpā, Gu dhanasari|{{#if:|}}
— {{#if:|, in }}Template:Comma separated entries}}
{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:Blockquote with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | author | by | char | character | cite | class | content | multiline | personquoted | publication | quote | quotesource | quotetext | sign | source | style | text | title | ts }}
The Bhakti movement also led to the prominence of the concept of female devotion, poet-saints such as Andal coming to occupy the popular imagination of the common people along with her male counterparts. Andal went a step further by composing hymns in praise of God in vernacular Tamil, rather than Sanskrit, in verses known as the Nachiyar Tirumoli, or the Woman's Sacred Verses:<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
<templatestyles src="Template:Blockquote/styles.css" />
Clouds that spill lovely pearls
what message has the dark-hued lord of Venkatam sent through you? The fire of desire has invaded my body I suffer. I lie awake here in the thick of night, a helpless target for the cool southern breeze.{{#if:AndalVerse 8.2Nachiyar Tirumoli|{{#if:|}}
— {{#if:|, in }}Template:Comma separated entries}}
{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:Blockquote with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | author | by | char | character | cite | class | content | multiline | personquoted | publication | quote | quotesource | quotetext | sign | source | style | text | title | ts }}
The impact of the Bhakti movement in India was similar to that of the Protestant Reformation of Christianity in Europe.Template:Sfnp It evoked shared religiosity, direct emotional and intellection of the divine and the pursuit of spiritual ideas without the overhead of institutional superstructures.Template:Sfnp Practices emerged bringing new forms of spiritual leadership and social cohesion among the medieval Hindus such as community singing, the chanting together of deity names; festivals; pilgrimages; and rituals relating to Saivism, Vaishnavism and Shaktism.<ref name="Embree" /><ref>Karen Pechelis (2011), The Bloomsbury Companion to Hindu Studies (Editor: Jessica Frazier), Bloomsbury, Template:ISBN, pages 22-23, 107-118</ref> Many of these regional practices have survived into the modern era.Template:Sfnp
Seva, dāna, and community kitchensEdit
{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} The Bhakti movement introduced new forms of voluntary social giving such as Seva (service, for example to a temple or guru school or community construction), dāna (charity), and community kitchens with free shared food.<ref>Jill Mordaunt et al, Thoughtful Fundraising: Concepts, Issues, and Perspectives, Routledge, Template:ISBN, pages 20-21</ref> Of community kitchen concepts, the vegetarian Guru ka Langar, which was introduced by Nanak, became a well-established institution over time, started with northwest India, and expanded to everywhere Sikh communities are found.<ref>Gene Thursby (1992), The Sikhs, Brill Academic, Template:ISBN, page 12</ref> Other saints such as Dadu Dayal championed the similar social movement, a community that believed in the concepts of ahimsa (non-violence) towards all living beings, social equality, a vegetarian kitchen and mutual social service.Template:Sfnp Bhakti temples and matha (Hindu monasteries) of India adopted social functions such as relief to victims after a natural disaster, helping the poor and marginal farmers, providing community labor, feeding houses for the poor, free hostels for poor children and promoting folk culture.<ref>Helmut Anheier and Stefan Toepler (2009), International Encyclopedia of Civil Society, Springer, Template:ISBN, page 1169</ref>
In other Indian religionsEdit
JainismEdit
Bhakti has been a prevalent practice in various Jaina sects in which learned Tirthankara (Jina) and human gurus are considered superior beings and venerated with offerings, songs and Arti prayers.<ref name=johncort /> The Bhakti movement in later Hinduism and Jainism may share roots in vandal and puja concepts of the Jaina tradition.<ref name=johncort>John Cort, Jains in the World: Religious Values and Ideology in India, Oxford University Press, ISBN, pages 64-68, 86-90, 100-112</ref>
BuddhismEdit
Medieval-era Bhakti traditions among non-theistic Indian traditions such as Buddhism and Jainism have been reported by scholars in which the devotion and prayer ceremonies were dedicated to an enlightened guru, primarily Buddha and Jina Mahavira, respectively, as well as others.<ref>Karen Pechelis (2011), The Bloomsbury Companion to Hindu Studies (Editor: Jessica Frazier), Bloomsbury, Template:ISBN, pages 109-112</ref> Karel Werner notes that Bhatti (Bhakti in Pali) has been a significant practice in Theravada Buddhism, and states that "there can be no doubt that deep devotion or bhakti / Bhatti does exist in Buddhism and that it had its beginnings in the earliest days".<ref>Karel Werner (1995), Love Divine: Studies in Bhakti and Devotional Mysticism, Routledge, Template:ISBN, pages 45-46</ref>
SikhismEdit
Some scholars call Sikhism a Bhakti sect of Indian traditions.<ref>W. Owen Cole and Piara Singh Sambhi (1997), A Popular Dictionary of Sikhism: Sikh Religion and Philosophy, Routledge, Template:ISBN, page 22</ref>Template:Sfnp In Sikhism, "nirguni Bhakti" is emphasised: devotion to a divine without Gunas (qualities or form),Template:Sfnp<ref name="hardip">Hardip Syan (2014), in The Oxford Handbook of Sikh Studies (Editors: Pashaura Singh, Louis E. Fenech), Oxford University Press, Template:ISBN, page 178</ref><ref>A Mandair (2011), "Time and religion-making in modern Sikhism", in Time, History and the Religious Imaginary in South Asia (Editor: Anne Murphy), Routledge, Template:ISBN, page 188-190</ref> but it accepts both nirguni and saguni forms of the divine.<ref>Mahinder Gulati (2008), Comparative Religious and Philosophies: Anthropomorphism and Divinity, Atlantic, Template:ISBN, page 305</ref>
The Guru Granth Sahib, the scripture of the Sikhs, contains the hymns of the Sikh gurus, 13 Sikh gurus or Hindu bhagats and two Muslim bhagats.<ref>E Nesbitt (2014), in The Oxford Handbook of Sikh Studies (Editors: Pashaura Singh, Louis E. Fenech), Oxford University Press, Template:ISBN, pages 360-369</ref> Some of the bhagats whose hymns were included in the Guru Granth Sahib, were Bhakti poets who taught their ideas before the birth of Guru Nanak, the first Sikh guru. The thirteen Hindu bhagats or Sikh gurus whose hymns were entered into the text were poet saints of the Bhakti movement, and included Namdev, Pipa, Ravidas, Beni, Bhikhan, Dhanna, Jayadeva, Parmanand, Sadhana, Sain, Surdas and Trilochan, and the two Muslim bhagats were Kabir and Sufi saint Baba Farid.<ref name="shapiro924">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Mahinder Gulati (2008), Comparative Religious and Philosophies: Anthropomorphism and Divinity, Atlantic, Template:ISBN, page 302;
HS Singha (2009), The Encyclopedia of Sikhism, Hemkunt Press, Template:ISBN, page 8</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Most of the 5,894 hymns in the Sikh scriptures came from the Sikh gurus, the rest from the Bhagats. The three highest contributions in the Sikh scripture of non-Sikh bhagats were from Bhagat Kabir (292 hymns), Bhagat Farid (134 hymns) and Bhagat Namdev (60 hymns).<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Sikhism was influenced by Bhakti movement,<ref name="David Lorenzen 1995 pages 1-2">Template:Harvp Quote: "Historically, Sikh religion derives from this nirguni current of bhakti religion"</ref><ref name="Louis Fenech 2014 page 35">Louis Fenech (2014), in The Oxford Handbook of Sikh Studies (Editors: Pashaura Singh, Louis E. Fenech), Oxford University Press, Template:ISBN, page 35, Quote: "Technically this would place the Sikh community's origins at a much further remove than 1469, perhaps to the dawning of the Sant movement, which possesses clear affinities to Guru Nanak's thought sometime in the tenth century. The predominant ideology of the Sant parampara in turn corresponds in many respects to the much wider devotional Bhakti tradition in northern India."</ref><ref name="encyclobritannicasikh">Sikhism, Encyclopædia Britannica (2014), Quote: "In its earliest stage Sikhism was clearly a movement within the Hindu tradition; Nanak has raised a Hindu and eventually, belonged to the Sant tradition of northern India,"</ref> and incorporated hymns from the Bhakti poet-saints, it was not simply an extension of the Bhakti movement.<ref name="Pruthi">Template:Cite book</ref> For instance, it disagreed with some of the views of the Bhakti sants Kabir and Ravidas.<ref group="note">These views include Sikhs believing in achieving blissful mukhti while alive, Sikhs emphasizing the path of the householder, Sikh's disbelief in Ahinsa, and the Sikhs afterlife aspect ofTemplate:Clarification needed merging with God rather than physical heaven.</ref><ref name="Pruthi" />
Guru Nanak, the first Sikh Guru and the founder of Sikhism, was a Bhakti saint.<ref name="richard">Template:Cite journal</ref> He taught, states Jon Mayled, that the most important form of worship is Bhakti.<ref name="Mayled2002">Template:Cite book</ref> Nam-simran – the realisation of God – is an important Bhakti practice in Sikhism.<ref name="Dhillon1988">Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Guru Arjan, in his Sukhmani Sahib, recommended the true religion is one of loving devotion to God.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The Sikh scripture Guru Granth Sahib includes suggestions for a Sikh to perform constant Bhakti.<ref name="Mayled2002" /><ref name="Jhutti-Johal2011">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Refn The Bhakti themes in Sikhism also incorporate Shakti (power) ideas.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
Some Sikh sects outside Punjab, such as those found in Maharashtra and Bihar, practice Arti with lamps in a gurdwara.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Arti and devotional prayer ceremonies are also found in Ravidassia sect<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Debates in contemporary scholarshipEdit
Contemporary scholars question whether the 19th- and early 20th-century theories about the Bhakti movement in India, its origin, nature and history are accurate. Pechilis in her book on the Bhakti movement, for example, states:Template:Sfnp
<templatestyles src="Template:Blockquote/styles.css" />
Scholars writing on bhakti in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries were agreed that bhakti in India was preeminently a monotheistic reform movement. For these scholars, the inextricable connection between monotheism and reform has both theological and social significance in terms of the development of Indian culture. The orientalist images of bhakti were formulated in a context of discovery: a time of organized cultural contact, in which many agencies, including administrative, scholarly, and missionary – sometimes embodied in a single person – sought knowledge of India. Through the Indo-European language connection, early orientalists believed that they were, in a sense, seeing their own ancestry in the antique texts and "antiquated" customs of Indian peoples. In this respect, certain scholars could identify with the monotheism of bhakti. Seen as a reform movement, bhakti presented a parallel to the orientalist agenda of intervention in the service of the empire.
{{#if:Karen PechilisThe Embodiment of BhaktiTemplate:Sfnp|{{#if:|}}
— {{#if:|, in }}Template:Comma separated entries}}
{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:Blockquote with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | author | by | char | character | cite | class | content | multiline | personquoted | publication | quote | quotesource | quotetext | sign | source | style | text | title | ts }}
Madeleine Biardeau states, like Jeanine Miller, that the Bhakti movement was neither reform nor a sudden innovation but the continuation and expression of ideas to be found in Vedas, Bhakti Marga teachings of the Bhagavad Gita, the Katha Upanishad and the Shvetashvatara Upanishad.<ref name=madeleine>Madeleine Biardeau (1994), Hinduism: The Anthropology of a Civilization (Original: French), Oxford University Press, Template:ISBN (English Translation by Richard Nice), pages 89-91</ref><ref>J Miller (1996), Does Bhakti appear in the Rgveda?: An enquiry into the background of the hymns, Template:ISBN; see also J Miller (1995), in Love Divine: Studies in 'Bhakti and Devotional Mysticism (Editor: Karel Werner), Routledge, Template:ISBN, pages 5, 8-9, 11-32</ref>
John Stratton Hawley describes recent scholarship that questions the old theory of the Bhakti movement's origin and story of art coming from the south and moving north". He states that the movement had multiple origins by mentioning Brindavan in North India as another centre.Template:Sfnp Hawley describes the controversy and disagreements between Indian scholars and quotes Hegde's concern of Bhakti movement being a reform a theory that has been supported by "cherry-picking particular songs from a large corpus of Bhakti literature". He states that if the entirety of the literature by any single author like Basava is considered along with its historical context, there is neither reform nor a need for reform.Template:Sfnp
Sheldon Pollock writes that the Bhakti movement was neither a rebellion against Brahmins and the upper castes nor a rebellion against Sanskrit since many of the prominent thinkers and earliest champions of the Bhakti movement were Brahmins or from other upper castes. Also, early and later Bhakti poetry and other literature werre in Sanskrit.<ref>Sheldon Pollock (2009), The Language of the Gods in the World of Men, University of California Press, Template:ISBN, pages 423-431</ref> Further, Pollock considers that evidence of Bhakti trends in ancient Southeast Asian Hinduism in the 1st millennium CE, such as those in Cambodia and Indonesia, where the Vedic period was unknown, and upper-caste Tamil Hindu nobles and merchants introduced Bhakti ideas of Hinduism, suggest that the roots and the nature of the Bhakti movement were primarily spiritual and political quests, rather than the rebellion of some form.<ref>Sheldon Pollock (2009), The Language of the Gods in the World of Men, University of California Press, Template:ISBN, pages 529-534</ref><ref>Keat Gin Ooi (2004), Southeast Asia: A Historical Encyclopedia, Template:ISBN, page 587</ref>
John Guy states that the evidence of Hindu temples and Chinese inscriptions from the 8th century CE about Tamil merchants presents Bhakti motifs in Chinese trading towns, particularly Quanzhou's Kaiyuan Temple.<ref name=johnguy /> They show that Saivite, Vaishnavite and Hindu Brahmin monasteries revered Bhakti themes in China.<ref name=johnguy>John Guy (2001), The Emporium of the World: Maritime Quanzhou, 1000–1400 (Editor: Angela Schottenhammer), Brill Academic, Template:ISBN, pages 283-299</ref>
Scholars increasingly drop, according to Karen Pechilis, the old premises and the language of "radical otherness, monotheism and reform of orthodoxy" for the Bhakti movement.Template:Sfnp Many scholars now characterise the emergence of Bhakti in medieval India as a revival, reworking and recontextualization of the central themes of Vedic traditions.Template:Sfnp
See alsoEdit
NotesEdit
ReferencesEdit
SourcesEdit
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite journal
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite book
Further readingEdit
- John Hawley (1984), "The Music in Faith and Morality", Journal of the American Academy of Religion, Vol. 52, No. 2, pages 243–262
- John Hawley (1988), "Author and Authority in the Bhakti Poetry of North India", The Journal of Asian Studies, Vol. 47, No. 2, pages 269–290
- S. M. Pandey (1965), "Mīrābāī and Her Contributions to the Bhakti Movement", History of Religions, Vol. 5, No. 1, pages 54–73
- Karen Pechilis (2015), "Female Gurus and Ascetics", in Brill's Encyclopedia of Hinduism. Edited by: Knut A. Jacobsen et al. (Requires subscription)
- Vijay Pinch (May 2003), "Bhakti and the British Empire", Past & Present, No. 179, pages 159–196
- George Spencer (1970), "The Sacred Geography of the Tamil Shaivite Hymns", Numen, Vol. 17, Fasc. 3, pages 232–244
- Glenn Yocum (1973), "Shrines, Shamanism, and Love Poetry: Elements in the Emergence of Popular Tamil Bhakti", Journal of the American Academy of Religion, Vol. 41, No. 1, pages 3–17
External linksEdit
Template:Sister project Template:Sister project
- Bhakti bibliography Template:Webarchive, Harvard University Archive (2001)
- Definition of Bhakti, Swami Vivekananda, Wikisource