Brahminism based on caste-system was prominent during the
Medieval period. But there was opposition to the same as well.
Many
people were uneasy with such ideas and turned to the teachings
of the Buddha or the Jainas according to which it was possible to
overcome social differences and break the cycle of rebirth through
personal effort.
Others
felt attracted to the idea of a Supreme God who could deliver humans from such
bondage if approached with devotion (or bhakti). This idea, advocated in the Bhagavad-Gita,
grew in popularity in the early centuries of the Common Era.
Intense
devotion or love of God is the legacy of various kinds of bhakti and Sufi
movements that have evolved since the eighth century. The idea of bhakti
became so popular that even Buddhists and Jainas adopted these beliefs.
Sufi Movement and Islam
Later,
it spread into India and adopted various things like yogic postures, dance and
music into it, and turned itself into a pantheistic movement. The Sufi orders
were of two types – ba-shara and be-shara, where shara stood for the Islamic law. The former obeyed
the laws while the latter was more liberal.
The
saints organized themselves into twelve silsilas or
orders. The important among them were the Chisti and Suhrawardi silsilas, both of which belonged
to the ba-shara order.
The
Chisti Silsila was begun by Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti who
came to India around 1192. None of his records remain, and he is widely known
through the writings of his disciples and followers. The most famous of the
Chisti saints were Nizamuddin Auliya and Naziruddin
chirag-i-Delhi. They mingled freely with people of low classes,
even Hindus. The chistis didn’t want anything to do with the administration or
money. They led simple austere lives.
This
was just the opposite in the case of the suhrawardi saints who were rich, and
often held positions in the government. Bahauddin Zachariah suhrawardi is a
famous saint from this silsila.
There
were two streams in general – wahdat-ul-wujud (doctrine
of the unity of god) and wahdat-ul-shuhud (philosophy
of apprenticism). The
latter was found only in the nakshbandi silsila, which was a highly puritan
Islamic silsila.
THINGS TO NOTE:
·
Sufis were Muslim mystics and who composed poems.
·
They adopted many ideas of each other[religions].
·
They rejected outward religiosity and emphasized love and
devotion to God and compassion towards all fellow human beings.
·
Silsilas, a genealogy of Sufi teachers, each following a
slightly different method (tariqa) of instruction and ritual practice.
·
Islam propagated strict monotheism or submission to one God.
Muslim scholars developed a holy law called Shariat.
·
The Sufis often rejected the elaborate rituals and codes of
behaviour demanded by Muslim religious scholars.
Bhakti
cult
People
were no longer satisfied with a religion which emphasized only ceremonies. The
cult is the combined result of the teachings of various saints, through the
then times. Each of them had their own views, but the ultimate basis of the
cult was a general awakening against useless religious practices and
unnecessary strictness. The cult also emerged as a strong platform against
casteism.
Some
of the important leaders of the movement are:
·
Namadeva and Ramananda (Maharashtra and Allahabad) – Both of
them taught the concept of bhakti to all the four varnas and disregarded the
ban on people of different castes cooking together and sharing meals.
·
Sankara and Ramanuja – The propounders of Advaita (non-duality)
and vishishta
adwaitha (qualified non-duality) respectively. They believed
god to be nirguna
parabrahma and satguna parabrahma respectively.
·
Vallabhacharya – propounder of shuddha adwaitha or
pure non-duality.
·
Chaitanya (Bengal) – relied on the use of music, dance and
bhajans to get in touch with God. ‘love’ was the watchword of the chaitanya
cult.
·
Kabir – was a disciple of Ramananda, and was raised by a Muslim
weaver. He stood for doing away with all the unnecessary customs and rituals in
both religions and bringing union between these religions.
·
Guru Nanak.
·
Nimbakacharya – founder of the Radha-Krishna cult. He expressed
this relation to substantiate the importance of marriage. It was also used as
an example of God’s love to the people.
Nayanars and Alvars
·
In South India 7th to 9th centuries saw the emergence of new
religious movements, led by the Nayanars (saints devoted to Shiva) and Alvars
(saints devoted to Vishnu) who came from all castes including those considered
“untouchable” like the Pulaiyar and the Panars.
·
They were sharply critical of the Buddhists and Jainas.
·
They drew upon the ideals of love and heroism as found in the
Sangam literature (Tamil literature).
·
Between 10th and 12th centuries the Chola and Pandya kings built
elaborate temples around many of the shrines visited by the saint-poets,
strengthening the links between the bhakti tradition and temple worship.
Philosophy and Bhakti
·
Shankara, from Kerala in the 8th century, salvation .was an
advocate of Advaita or the doctrine of the oneness of the individual soul and
the Supreme God which is the Ultimate Reality.
·
He taught that Brahman, the only or Ultimate Reality, was
formless and without any attributes.
·
He considered the world around us to be an illusion or maya, and
preached renunciation of the world and adoption of the path of knowledge to
understand the true nature of Brahman's salvation.
·
Ramanuja, from Tamil Nadu in the 11th century, propounded the
doctrine of Vishishtadvaita or qualified oneness in that the soul, even when
united with the Supreme God, remained distinct.
·
Ramanuja’s doctrine inspired the new strand of bhakti which
developed in north India subsequently.
Basavanna’s Virashaivism
·
This movement began in Karnataka in the 12th century which
argued for the 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.
Saints of Maharashtra
·
The most important among them were Janeshwar, Namdev,
Eknath and Tukaram as well as women like Sakkubai and the family of Chokhamela,
who belonged to the “untouchable” Mahar caste.
·
This regional tradition of bhakti focused on the Vitthala (a
form of Vishnu) temple in Pandharpur, as well as on the notion of a personal
god residing in the hearts of all people.
·
These saint-poets rejected all forms of ritualism, outward display
of piety and social differences based on birth.
·
It is regarded as a humanist idea, as they insisted that bhakti
lay in sharing others’ pain.
Nathpanthis, Siddhas, and Yogis
·
Criticized the ritual and other aspects of conventional religion
and the social order, using simple, logical arguments.
·
They advocated renunciation of the world.
·
To them, the path to salvation lay in meditation on the formless
Ultimate Reality and the realization of oneness with it.
·
To achieve this they advocated intense training of the mind and
body through practices like yogasanas, breathing exercises and meditation.
·
These groups became particularly popular among “low” castes.
Saint Kabir
·
Probably lived in the 15th-16th centuries.
·
We get to know of his ideas from a vast collection of verses
called sakhis and pads 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, Panch Vani, and Bijak.
·
Kabir’s teachings were based on a complete, rejection of the
major religious traditions and caste systems. He believed in a formless Supreme
God and preached that the only path to salvation was through bhakti or
devotion.
·
The language of his poetry was simple which could even be
understood by ordinary people.
·
He sometimes used cryptic language, which was difficult to
follow.
·
He drew his followers from among both Hindus and Muslims.
Baba
Guru Nanak (1469-1539) and Sikhism
·
Established a center at Kartarpur named Dera Baba Nanak on the river
Ravi.
·
The sacred space thus created by Guru Nanak was known as dharmsal. It is
now known as Gurdwar.
·
Before his death, Guru appointed Lehna also known as Guru Angad as
his successor.
·
Guru Angad compiled the compositions of Guru Nanak, to which he added
his own in a new script known as Gurmukhi.
·
The three successors of Guru Angad also wrote under the name of “Nanak”
and all of their compositions were compiled by Guru Arjan [5th
Guru who was executed by Jehangir]in 1604.
·
The compilation was added with the writings of other figures like Shaikh
Farid, Sant Kabir, Bhagat Namdev and Guru Tegh Bahadur.
·
In 1706 this compilation was authenticated by Guru Gobind Singh.
It is now known as Guru Granth Sahib.
·
Due to Guru Nanak’s insistence that all the followers should adopt
productive and useful occupations had received wider support during 16th
century and followers increased, henceforth.
·
By the beginning of the 17th century, the town of Ramdaspur (Amritsar)
had developed around the central Gurdwara called Harmandar Sahib (Golden
Temple). It was virtually self-governing and also referred as ‘a state within
the state’ community. This fumed Mughal emperor Jahangir which led to the
execution of Guru Arjan in 1606.
·
The Sikh movement began to get politicized in the
17th century, a development which culminated in the institution of the Khalsa
by Guru Gobind Singh in 1699 and this entity is called as Khalsa Panth.
·
Guru Nanak’s idea of equality had social and political implications
because his idea of liberation was not that of a state of inert bliss but
rather the pursuit of active life with a strong sense of social commitment.
Summary
The coming of the Turks to the Indian sub-continent led to a revamp of culture, religion, architecture and almost all fields of life. This was due to the two strongly established religious views that confluence here. The strong Islamic views of the Turks combined with the established Hinduistic culture already prevalent in India. Both Sufism and Bhakti cult were out-of-the-box thoughts on religion. They were mainly against the common religious views, and most importantly, they both were strongly against the caste system.
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