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The Bhakti MovementRevival of Grassroot Hinduism through Singer SaintsIn the 15th and 16th centuries singer saints intensely devoted to the divine established the Bhakti movement involving local people. They stressed devotion over theology.
From the 11th century onwards till the British Rule India suffered a spate of Muslim invasions. During this period there was an intense effort to stamp out Hinduism. But a group of singer saints revitalized the religion through a two-fold path. The first was preservation of the Hindu traditions by taking them directly to the people. The other was a syncretizing of the Hindu and Islamic faiths. The Bhakti MovementThe Bhakti movement had several distinctive characteristics. It stressed the experience of ecstasy in divine love as against theology. Its proponents were not learned academicians but singer saints. These singer saints communicated in the language of the local people and not in Sanskrit and therefore gained wider acceptance. There was no caste or gender bias either among the singer saints or their followers. The Singer SaintsMirabai (1450-1512) was the earliest of the singer saints. She was a Rajput princess who was entirely devoted to Krishna since her childhood. She continued with this devotion after her marriage. Her in-laws did not like this behavior and tried to kill her by poisoning her juice and sending a poisonous snake to her room. Because of her steadfast faith the poison had no effect on her and the snake turned to a garland of flowers. Mirabai associated with the common folk and involved them in her ecstatic dances for which she became famous. She has become a symbol of complete unity with Krishna. Surdas (1478-1581) lost his sight in his childhood. He is known for his devotional songs on the early life of Krishna in Vrindavan, particularly of the love of the gopis for Krishna, which Hindus believe is an expression of divine love. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (1485-1534) hailed from the east of India. He and his followers would move from place to place singing of the glory of Krishna. Eventually they reached Vrindavan and resettled the sacred land of Braj. Today Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is worshipped as an avatar of Krishna. Tulsidas Goswami (1527-1623) was different from the other singer saints in that he was a devotee of Rama. He authored the Rama Charita Manas written in Hindi. He had to face the extreme displeasure of the orthodox priests for daring to write in a language other than Sanskrit. To demonstrate the insignificance of his work, the priests put his manuscript below many Sanskrit texts in a temple, which was locked for the night. To everyone’s surprise when the temple was opened next morning the Rama Charita Manas was on top of the pile. The Syncretic MovementThe greatest proponent of this branch was Kabir (1440-1518). Kabir was brought up by a Muslim weaver. Through his songs and couplets he spoke against orthodoxy, ritualism and intolerance in both Hinduism and Islam. He advocated the worship of the divine through love for fellow men. After his death his Hindu followers wanted to cremate his body and his Muslim followers wanted to bury it. Legend goes that while they were squabbling his body turned into flowers, which were then shared by the two groups. Kabir’s views unfortunately did not blossom into a full-fledged religion. But there was another saint, Guru Nanak (1469-1538) who is now revered as the founder of Sikhism. He began to preach what he believed was the best of Hinduism and Islam and his writings have been preserved in the Guru Granth Sahib. His followers converted his teachings into a new religion, different from both Hinduism and Islam, but containing the best of both. Please check my course on Hindu Mythology Please check my articles on Mythology from India
The copyright of the article The Bhakti Movement in Hinduism is owned by Harsh Nevatia. Permission to republish The Bhakti Movement in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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