BHAKTI-SUFI TRADITIONS:

THE INTEGRATION OF CULTS

 Historians suggest that there were at least two processes at work in
this period.
1) dissemination of Brahmanical ideas:- composition, compilation

and preservation of Puranic texts in simple Sanskrit verse(unlike
vedic Sanskrit)
They were meant to be accessible to women and Shudras who were
excluded from Vedic learning.
 2) Brahmanas accepting and reworking the beliefs and practices of
the so called lower and other categories.
example- a local deity, whose image was and continues to be made

of wood by local tribals, was recognized as a form of Vishnu
developing the Jagannath cult.
 The godesses were often incorporated within the puranic frame
work by providing them with an identity as a wife of the
principal male deities sometimes they were equated with
Lakshmi, the wife of Vishnu.

TANTRIC WORSHIP
 The forms of worship often associated with goddess were
classified as Tantric.
 Tantric worship was wide spread in the subcontinent especially
in the east, north & south.
 It was open to women and men.
 Those who followed Tantric rejected the caste and class within
the ritual context.
 Many of these ideas influenced Shaivism and the Buddhism.
 There were conflicts between followers of the Vedic tradition
and that of Tantricism.
 Followers of Vedic tradition often condemned the practices that
other than the performance of sacrifices and chanting of
mantras.
 Followers of Tantric practices ignored the authority of the
Vedas.
Nirguna
Saguna Bhakti
Bhakti

Bhakti of God
Bhakti of God with
Meaning without
attributes(features)
attributes
Worship of,
Worship of personal,
Form of abstract,
anthropomorphic(humanized)
Worship formless
deities
divine
The formless
Main Deities Specific deities like Shiva,
Absolute
Worshipped Vishnu and avatars, Devi
Being
Meditation,
Religious Rituals, idols, temples, inner
Expression devotional songs devotion,
poetry

Kabir,
Examples of
Tulsidas, Surdas, Mirabai Guru
Saints
Nanak
RISE OF BHAKTI TRADITION:
1. During 6th- 7th century onwards, there was a shift in the way
of worship in south India.
2. Focus was more on the interpersonal relationship
between god & the devotee- of love & devotion as a
means of liberation.
3. The singing and chanting of devotional compositions was
often a part of such modes of worship.
4. This devotional movement ignored the authority of the
Vedas.
5. devotees often tended to show their chosen deity, either
Vishnu or Shiva, as supreme.
6. Relations with other traditions, such as Buddhism or
Jainism, were also tensed.
7. poet-saints emerged as leaders around whom there
developed a community of devotees.
8. It accommodated and acknowledged women and the
“lower castes”

THE ALVARS AND NAYANARS OF TAMIL NADU

1. During the sixth century, some of the Bhakti
movements were led by the Alvars and the Nayanars.
2. The literal meaning of the Alvars is those who are
immersed in devotion to Vishnu.
3. The meaning of the word Nayanars is those who were
devotees of Shiva.
4. They travelled from place to place singing hymns in
Tamil in praise of their gods.
5. During their travels the Alvars and Nayanars identified
certain shrines as abodes of their chosen deities.
6. Later big temples were built at those places and
developed as pilgrimage centres.
7. Attitude towards caste  According to some historians,
the Alvars and the Nayanars started a movement of
protest against the caste system and the Brahmanas and
attempted to reform the system.
 The devotees came from the different social
backgrounds such as artisans, cultivators and even from
the caste that were considered “untouchable”
8. Compositions of the Alvars and Nayanars they
demanded these to be considered as important as the
Vedas.
 For example, one of the compositions of the
Alvars, the Nalayira Divyaprabandham was
described as the Tamil Veda and the text was
significant like the Vedas that were used by the
Brahmanas.
 This contradicts their attitude towards caste as
they are demanding acceptance from the
institution they started a protest against.
9. Women devotees.  One of the unique features of these
traditions was the presence of women.
For example, there was a saint-poet called Andal, a
woman Alvar. Her compositions were sung and sung even
today.
 Another woman, Karaikkal Ammaiyar, a devotee
of Shiva adopted the path of extreme asceticism
to attain her goal.  Her compositions were
preserved within the Nayanar tradition.
 These women renounced their social obligations,
but did not become nuns. Their presence was a
challenge to patriarchal norms.
10. Opposition to Buddhism and Jainism
This is well marked in their compositions particularly of
the Nayanars.
 Historians say that his conflict was due to competition
between members of different religious traditions for
royal patronage.

Relation with the state Patronage of Chola rulers

 The Chola rulers supported the bhakti traditions and built temples
for Shiva and Vishnu.
Some of the magnificent temples for Shiva such as temples in

Chidambaram, Thanjavur and Gangaikondacholpuram were
constructed under their patronage.
The Chola rulers built temples often to claim divine support and
proclaim their own power and status. Also Both Nayanars and
Alvars were revered by the Vellala peasants.
 They made the spectacular representations of Shiva in bronze
sculpture.
 The Chola kings introduced the singing of Tamil Shaiva hymns
under royal patronage, taking the initiative to collect and organize
them into a text (Tevaram).
 According to Inscriptions, the Chola king Parantaka I had
constructed the metal images of Appar,Sambandar and Sundarar in a
Shiva temple. These were carried in procession during the festivals of
these saints.

THE VIRASHAIVA TRADITION IN KARNATAKA

1. During the 12th century, started by a Brahmana named
Basavanna
2. He was a minister in the court of a Kalachuri king.  His
followers were known as Virashaivas(heroes of Shiva) or
Lingayats(wearers of the linga)
3. They worship Shiva in the form of linga.
4. They wear a small linga in a silver case over the left shoulder.
 5. The Jangama or wandering monks are revered.
6. Lingayats believe that after death, the devotee will be united
with Shiva and will not return to this world.
7. Therefore, they do not practice cremation as prescribed in the
Dharmashastras. Instead; they ceremonially bury their dead
body.
8. The Lingayats challenged the Brahmanical idea of caste and
social “pollution”- so support of marginal groups.
9. They also questioned the theory of rebirth.
10. The Lingayats also practiced certain practices such as
post-puberty marriage and the remarriage of widows that were
against dharmashastra.
11. Sources of the Virashaiva tradition = vachanas
(literally,sayings) composed in kannada by those who joined the
movement.

Religious condition of north India :

1. several Rajput states emerged and in most of these states
Brahmanas occupied important place by performing rituals.
2. There was no attempt to question their position directly.
3. there were other religious leaders who were out of the orthodox
Brahmanical systems, and were gaining support
4. These included the Naths, Jogis and Siddhas. Many of them
came from artisanal groups such as weavers who were well
organized.
5. These religious leaders questioned the authority of the Vedas.
However, they were unable to win the support of the ruling
elites.

COMING OF ISLAM:
 Muhammed bin Qasim conquered Sind in 711 AD into the
caliph’s domain.
 Turkish conquest resulted in the establishment of the Delhi
Sultanate in 1206.
 The power of many Rajput rulers was thus reduced and
also of the Brahmanas who were associated with those
kingdoms.
 The coming of the Sufis was a significant part of these
developments.
 Sultanates were also formed in the Deccan and other parts
of the subcontinent.
 Islam was recognized as the religion of several areas. This
continued with the establishment of the Mughal Empire.

ULEMA: Muslim rulers were to be guided by the Ulema,

which were expected to ensure that they ruled according to
the Shari’a.
 Ulema (plural of alim, or one who knows) are scholars of
Islamic studies. As preservers of this tradition they
perform various religious, juridical and teaching functions.
 The shari‘a is the law governing the Muslim community. It
is based on the Qur’an and the hadis.
 The Zimmi means “protected” and is derived from the
Arabic word zimma, protection. It referred to non-muslims
lived under Islamic rule-the Hindus here.
 They paid a tax called jizya and received protection from
Sultans.
 In general, rulers often adopted a flexible policy towards
their subjects.For example, several rulers gave land
endowments and granted tax exemptions to Hindu, Jaina,
Zoroastrian, Christian and Jewish religious institutions.
 They also showed respect and devotion towards non-
Muslim religions.-example Akbar.

THE FIVE PILLARS OF FAITH IN ISLAM:

 1.There is one God, Allah, and Prophet Muhammad is his
messenger (shahada)
2.Offering prayers five times a day (namaz/salat)
3.Giving alms (zakat)
4.Fasting during the month of Ramzan(sawam)
5.Performing the pilgrimage to mecca(hajj)

The influence of local customary practices- For

example, Arab Muslim traders who settled Malabar Coast
adopted Malayalam language and matriliny system.
 The best example of the blending of a universal features
and local traditions is mosques.
 The architectural features of mosques are universal
(orientation towards Mecca and the placement of the
mihrab (prayer niche) and the minbar (pulpit).
 There are variations such as roofs and building materials.

The Growth of Sufis: group of religious minded people in Islam

who were critical of rigid interpretations and overly academic ways of
understanding the Quran.
 They emphasized interpretation of Quran on the basis of
personal experience.
 Sufism is a modern English word & the word used for Sufism in
Islamic texts is tasawwuf.
 Sufism was organized in an institution around the hospice or
Kanqah controlled by a teaching master known as sheikh, pir or
murshid.
 He enrolled disciples and appointed a successor.
 He established rules for spiritual conduct and interaction
between inhabitants and the master.

Silsilas
 Silsila literally meaning a chain signifies a continuous link
between master and disciple.
 It is an unbroken genealogy of spiritual knowledge from the
Prophet Muhammed.

Dargah
 Dargah is a Persian term meaning tomb-shrine.
 When the sheikh died, his tomb shrine became the centre of
devotion for his followers.
 This encouraged the practice of pilgrimage or ziyarat to his
grave, particularly on his death anniversary (urs).
 It was believed that, after death the soul of sheikh get united
with the soul of Allah.
 People sought their blessings to attain material and spiritual
benefits. Thus evolved the cult of the sheikh revered as wali.

The Chishtis – one of the sufi silsilas.

 The khanqah was the centre of social life. It comprised several
small rooms and a big hall where inhabitants and visitors lived
and prayed.
 The Shaikh lived in a small room on the roof of the hall.
 In the hall, he met visitors in the morning and evening.
 There was an open kitchen (langar).
 people from all communities came to seek the blessings from
the Shaikh in various matters.
 Visitors included poets such as Amir Hasan Sijzi and Amir
Khusru and the court historian Ziyauddin Barani and all of them
wrote about the Shaikh.
 The practices that were adopted by the Chishtis in their kanqah-
 Bowing before the Shaikh
 Offering water to visitors
 Shaving the heads of inmates.
 Yogic exercises.
 Shaikh Nizamuddin appointed his disciple to set up hospices in
various parts of the sub continent. In this way they came in
touch with the people which led to the popularization of chishti
practices: Ziyarat and qawwali.
 Pilgrimage called Ziyarat tombs of Sufi saints is prevalent all
over the Muslim world. This practice is an occasion for seeking
the Sufi’s spiritual grace (barakat).
 The use of music and dance performed by specially trained
musicians or qawwals to feel a deep connection with the divine
is also part of ziyarat.
 The Sufis remember God either by reciting the zikr(the Divine
Names)or through sama or performance of mystical music
known as qawwali.
Dargah of Khwaja Muinuddin  The most popular dargah is that
of Khwaja Muinuddin, popularly known as “Gharib Nawaz”
(comforter of the poor)
The dargah became so popular because of the following reasons.
 The austerity and piety of the Shaikh, greatness of his spiritual
successors.
 Location of Ajmer was another factor for its popularity. As it was
located on the trade route connecting Delhi and Gujarat, it attracted
number of travellers.
The patronage of royal visitors= Muhammad bin Tughlaq was

the first Sultan to visit the dargah. Akbar, the Mughal emperor
visited dargah at Ajmer fourteen times in his life. He gave generous
gifts on each visit
 He offered a huge vessel to facilitate cooking for pilgrims.
 He even got a mosque constructed within the dargah.

SUFI-STATE RELATIONS:
1. The Sufis accepted grants and donations from the political
elites.
2. The sultans set up charitable trusts for hospices and granted
tax-free land (inam).
3. The chishtis accepted donations in cash and kind and used
for their immediate requirements such as food, clothes, living
quarters and ritual necessities such as sama.
4. The kings wished to secure their support for legitimacy due
to their morally high status.
5. When the Turks set up the Delhi Sultanate, Sufis resisted the
insistence of the ulama on imposing shari’a as state law
because they feared opposition from their subjects.
6. The sultans also came to depend on the sufis to interpret the
Sahri’a.
7. It was believed that Nizamuddin Auliya could plead with god
to improve the material and spiritual conditions of the
people. As a result, kings got the shrines of the Sufis near
built near their tombs.
8. There were instances of conflict between the Sultans and the
sufis. To assert their authority both expected certain rituals
performed like kissing of the feet etc.

Kabir:
 During the 14th-15th centuries, Kabir was a poet-saint.
Verses ascribed to Kabir have been compiled in three
distinct traditions.
 The Kabir Bijak is preserved by the Kabirpanth (the path
or sect of Kabir) in Varanasi and in Uttar Pradesh.
 The Kabir Granthavali is associated with the Dadupanth
in Rajasthan.
  many of his compositions are found in the Adi Granth
Sahib. All these compilations were made after the death of
Kabir.
 Kabir’s poems have survived in several languages and
dialects and sometimes with special language of nirguna
poets (the sant bhasha) and others known as
ulatbansi(upside-down sayings)
 Teachings of Kabir – a mix of Islamic & hindu tradition.
 According to him the Ultimate Reality was Allah, Khuda,
Hazrat and Pir.
 He also used certain Vedic terms such as Brahman and
Atman from vedas-upanishads.
 He also used some yogic traditional terms such as
shabda(sound) or shunya(emptiness).
 Some poems of Kabir expressed conflicting and diverse
ideas. Some poems attacked Hindu polytheism and idol
worship and others use sufi concept of zikr and ishq(love)
to express the Hindu practice of nam-
simaran(remembrance of God’s name).
 Debates about whether Kabir was a Hindu or a Muslim by
birth are well reflected in hagiographies.
 Hagiographies within the Vaishnava tradition suggest that
he was born a Hindu, Kabirdas but brought up by a poor
Muslim community of weavers.
 They also suggest that he was initiated into bhakti by a
guru, Ramananda.
 The poems of Kabir used words guru and satguru but do
not mention the name of any specific guru.
Baba Guru Nanak-
 born in a village called Nankana Sahib near Ravi in Punjab in
1469.He trained to be an accountant and studied Persian.
 He spent most of his time among sufis and bhaktas.He also
travelled widely.
 Teachings of Guru Nanak are well reflected in his hymns.
 These hymns suggest that he advocated a form of nirguna
bhakti.
 He rejected sacrifices, ritual baths, image worship and the
scriptures of Hindus and Muslims.
 According to him, the Absolute or ‘rab’ had no gender or form.
He proposed a simple way to connect to the Divine by
remembering the Divine Name.
 He expressed his ideas through hymns called “shabad” in
Punjabi, the language of the region and sang with different
ragas.
 He organized his followers into a community. He set up rules for
congregational worship (sangat).
 He appointed one of his disciples, Angad, to succeed him as the
preceptor (guru).
 Guru Nanak did not want to establish a new religion.  After his
death, his followers consolidated their own practices to form a
distinct community.
 The fifth guru, Guru Arjun compiled Guru Nanak”s hymns
along with those of his four successors and other religious poets
like Baba Farid, Ravidas and Kabir in the Adi Granth Sahib.
These hymns called “gurbani” are composed in various
languages.
 The tenth Guru, Guru Gobind Singh, included the compositions
of the ninth guru; Guru Tegh Bahadur.This scripture was called
the Guru Grantha Sahib.
 Guru Gobind Singh also laid the foundation of the Khalsa Panth
(army of the pure).He also defined its five symbols:  Uncut hair,
a dagger, a pair of shorts, a comb and a steel bangle. It was
under the leadership of Guru Gobind Singh that the community
became a religious and military force.

Mirabai- the best known woman poet within the bhakti tradition.
 She was a Rajput princess from Merta in Marwar.
 She was married to a prince of the Sisodia clan of Mewar.
 She defied her husband and not submit to the traditional role
of wife and mother.
 She recognized Krishna, the avatar of Vishnu as her lover.
Her in-laws tried to poison her, but she escaped and lived as
wandering singer composing songs with intense expressions
of emotion.
 Her most famous preceptor was Raidas; a leather worker. It
shows her defiance of the norms of caste society.
 She wore the white robes of a widow or the saffron robe of
the renouncer.
 Did not develop a cult of own but important woman poet
saint.