Short Notes - Bhakti and Sufi Movement
Category : UPSC
Bhakti Movement
- Bhakti means personal devotion to God. It stresses the Union of the individual with God.
- Bhakti movement originated in South India between the 7th and the 12th centuries AD.
- The Nayanmars, who worshipped Siva, and the Alwars, who worshipped Vishnu, preached the idea of Bhakti.
- Saints like Sankara, Ramanuja and Madhwa gave their concepts of God and the individual soul.
- Teachings of Ramanuja were based on the Upanishads and Bhagwad
- Ramananda was disciple of Ramunaja. He was the first reformer to preach in Hindi.
- Kabir was an ardent disciple of Ramananda. He wanted unity between the Hindus and the Muslims.
- He preached that both the Hindus and the Muslims are the children of a single God.
- The devotees of Kabir were known as Kabir Panthis.
- Namdeva was a waterman by birth. He composed beautiful hymns in Marathi.
- Nanak was the founder of the Sikh religion.
- Nanak's teachings were in the form of verses. They were collected in a book called the Adi Granth.
- Later Adi Grantham was written in a script called Gurmukhi.
- Chaitaniya, a great devotee of Lord Krishna, was a saint from Bengal.
- Meerabai was a Rajput princess. She married the Rana of Mewar. She was a pious devotee of Lord Krishna.
- Chatrapati Shivaji, the great Maratha ruler, was a follower of Ramdas.
- Tukaram was a saint who lived in Maharashtra. He composed a large number of verses called Abhangas.
- Tulsidas composed the famous Ramcharitamanas in Hindi, expounding the various aspects of Hindu dharma.s
- Surdas was a devotee of Lord Krishna and Radha. His works include Sursagar, Sahitya Ratna and Sur Sarawali.
- Dadu Dayal was a disciple of Kabir. His followers were known as Dadu Panthis.
- Eknath was a devotee of Vithoba. He wrote commentary on verses of the Bhagavad Gita.
The Sufi Movement
- Sufism is basically a religion based on the truth of life. The mystics of Islam are called Sufis.
- It emerged in India in 11th & 12"' century A.D.
- It established brotherhood between Hindus & Muslims.
- It is a socio-religious movement.
- The founders of the most important Sufi lineage Chisti, Suhrawardi, Qadiri, Naqshbandi originally came from central and-west Asia.
- The prominent sufi saints were Khwaja Nizamuddin Aulia, Ganj-e-Shakar Fariduddin, Qutubuddin Bakhtiyar Kaki and Hamuddin Nagori.
- Hazrat Nizam-ud-Din was the disciple of Fariduddin Ganj-i-Shakkar.
- Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki was the disciple and the spiritual successor of Moinuddin Chishti.
Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti (1142-1236 AD)
- The Chisti order of Sufism was founded in village Khwaja Chishti near Herat in Persia, i.e. Iran.
- In India, Chisti silsila was founded by Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti (born 1142 AD).
- He came to India around AD 1192.
- He made Ajmer the main centre for his teachings.
- He died in Ajmer in 1236.
