Bhakti Movement: Features, Founder, Influences Leading & Popular Bhakti Saints

The Bhakti Movement refers to one of the significant religious and social movements in history that stressed personal devotion to God rather than rituals and social stratifications. It originated from the Alvars and Nayanars of South India (6th-9th century AD) before spreading to northern and western India.

The notable saints who influenced various forms of Bhakti tradition include Ramanuja, Ramananda, Kabir, Guru Nanak, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Mirabai, Tulsidas, and Surdas. Devotion, equality, spiritual fraternity, and use of vernacular languages were some of the teachings of the Bhakti movement. The movement had a great impact on vernacular literature, opposition to caste exclusivity, musical composition and poetry, and religious interaction in India during the medieval period.

• The Bhakti movement formed the basis of the revival and expansion of Hinduism from the 8th to the 12th century AD.
• During this era, Shiva and Vishnu became the primary gods, with a large number of tribal gods and goddesses subordinate to them.
• The Bhakti movement was started in South India and popularised by many saints, such as Sankaracharya, Ramanuja, and Madhvacharya.
• These saints denounced Brahmanical orthodoxy and rituals and professed a connection between God and man.
• The Bhakti movement included the lower castes that were left aloof by Brahmanical society. Many of the saints of the Bhakti movement were from the lower castes and broke the Vedic monopoly of the Brahmans.
• The Bhakti movement led to the expansion of Hinduism in the tribal areas and helped curb the popularity of Buddhism and Jainism in India.

• The Bhakti Movement, which began in South India during the early medieval period, represents a significant cultural and religious shift.
• It emphasised personal devotion to God over ritualistic practices, leading to profound spiritual and social changes in Indian society.
• This movement gradually spread across India, reshaping the religious landscape and laying the groundwork for future reform movements.

The features of the Bhakti Movement can be seen as follows:

• Worshipping of Shiva and Vishnu: The Bhakti saints worships personal gods like Shiva and Vishnu. Worship of such personal gods helped the devotees to develop an emotional relationship with their deity and convey their devotion in forms of art and poetry.
• Writing in Local Languages: Bhakti poets and saints wrote and communicated in local languages like Telugu, Tamil, and Hindi. This helped them reach the general masses through their message of devotion and love.
• Nomadic Lifestyle: Some Bhakti saints followed the nomadic lifestyle, going around villages, conveying their message of love, devotion, and equality. This made it possible for them to interact with different sections of society.
• Variety of Social Classes: Bhakti saints came from different sections of the society like the lower class, Brahmins, and even women. It was a break from the tradition of spiritualism and showed that all people had the right to be spiritual, irrespective of caste and gender.
• Inequality of No Concern to Them: Bhakti saints challenged the norms of society and disregarded the inequality present in society. They preached about the message of equality and unity and called for all people to join them in their spiritual practices.

• There is no single founder of the Bhakti Movement because it developed due to the involvement of many prominent saints and poets in India.
• These include Ramanuja who advocated devotion to Vishnu and the importance of grace and Kabir whose poetic work was the combination of Hindu and Islamic philosophy and he urged a personal relationship with God.
• Mira Bai is famous for her passionate devotion to Krishna and her poetic expressions.
• Namdev who belonged to Maharashtra also spread the word of devotion through his hymns.

Several factors influenced the Bhakti Movement:

• Decline of Buddhism and Jainism: With the decline of Buddhism and Jainism, there arose the need for spiritual rejuvenation in Hinduism. The emergence of Bhakti gave a new way of reaching salvation, which was through devotion and not monastic life.
• The Devotional Hymns of South Indian Alvars and Nayanars: It is through the devotional hymns of the Alvars, devotees of Vishnu, and the Nayanars, devoted to Shiva, of Tamil Nadu that the movement was founded. This devotional movement based on the worship of a personal God took roots in India.
• Islamic Presence: The coming of Islam to India brought in the concepts of equality and direct worship of God, which made Hindu reformers go against strict rituals and the caste system.
• Political Disunity: Lack of strong central rule in many parts of India provided fertile ground for the emergence of this movement.

• The liberal religion preached by the saint poets of Maharashtra is popularly known as Maharashtra Dharma, a stream of the medieval Bhakti movement. Still, socially, it was more profound, unitary, and liberal in the field of social reforms.
• The bhakti movement in Maharashtra drew its inspiration from the Bhagavatapurana and the Siva Nathpanthis.
• Jnaneswar was a pioneer bhakti saint of Maharashtra. His commentary on the Bhagavad Gita, called Jnaneswari, laid the bhakti ideology in Maharashtra.
• He argued against caste distinctions and believed that the only way to attain God was through Bhakti.
• Vithoba was the God of this sect, and its followers performed a pilgrimage to the temple twice a year. The Vithoba of Pandarpur became the mainstay of the movement in Maharashtra.
• Namdev (1270-1350) was another important bhakti saint from Maharashtra. While he is remembered in the north Indian monotheistic tradition as a nirguna saint, in Maharashtra, he is considered part of the varakari tradition (the Vaishnava devotional tradition).
• Some of Maharashtra’s other important bhakti saints were Choka, Sonara, Tukaram and Eknath. Tukaram’s teachings are in the form of the Avangas (dohas), which constitute the Gatha.
• In contrast, Eknath’s teachings in Marathi attempted to shift the emphasis of Marathi literature from spiritual to narrative compositions.