Bhakti Movement in India
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Transcript of Bhakti Movement in India
BHAKTI MOVEMENT IN INDIA: A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
(Dr.G.Narayanan,Associate professor, Department of Vedanta, SSUS R.C Thiruvananthapuram)
A social movement aims at radical change in society and the struggle to achieve it. It can
be an organized struggle or may be an undercurrent that is running unnoticed in the society.
The Bhakti movement, well-known in the history of medieval India, also suggests such an
idea. In history it has been considered as a current that has challenged the orthodoxy in the
society, particularly the Hindu orthodoxy.
What is Bhakti? When has it originated, was it a new invention of medieval India? These
questions have to be met with. The modern academicians who asked these questions had
intentions to make Bhakti an academic problem. Generally these attempts started with
European scholars who found some close similarity among Christianity and ‘Kriṣṇaism’ or
vaiṣṇavism in a broad sense. These academic endeavors produced many theories and one
among them is Bhakti movement.
This is not to negate the idea of Bhakti movement. As a social phenomenon that has
brought qualitative changes in the medieval Indian society it have importance. This paper
attempts a discussion on Bhakti movement in the general religious-philosophic background
beginning from the Vedic period. Here, at first we have to define Bhakti and to discuss how
it was received in its early phase. Next we must consider the change in its meaning and its
effects in the second phase and the reasons that lead to the development.
Bhakti This term is roughly translated into English as devotion. In Sanskrit the word is used in
various senses- upāsana, dhyāna1, desire for one etc. Patañjali in his yoga sutra has opined
that one can attain yoga through Iswarapraṇidhāna (ईश्वरप्रणि�धा�ना�द्वा�)2. According to Śāṇdilya
it is strong desire for God3 (पर� अना�रक्ति�). To Narada it is supreme love.4 To madhusūdana
saraswati Bhakti is the transformation of mind into the form of Brahman or isvara.5 To
1 . Śankarāchārya in his vivekachūdamaṇi described Bhakti as ‘स्वस्वरूप�ना�सन्धा�ना� भक्ति�रिरत्यणिभधा�यते�’.
2 . Yogasutra I-23. Vyasa in his commentary describes pranidhana as Bhakti viśeṣa3 . Śāṇḍilya bhaktisūtram I-i-2, Svapneśvara Described it as परमे�श्वपविवषयका�न्ते$कार�व%णि&विवशे�ष$। 4 . Nāradabhaktisūtra-2 ‘स� त्वस्मिस्मेना* परमेप्र�मेरूप�’।5 . द्रुतेस्य भगवद्धमे�.द्ध�र�व�वि/काते�� गते�
vaishnava sects it is surrender to god. To chaitanya it is the longing for Krishna- the
emotional virahabhakti.6
Later, this Bhakti is divided into intellectual Bhakti and emotional Bhakti. The
philosophical schools upheld the intellectual Bhakti while religious sects followed later. The
argument of a section of scholars that Indian religious sects, particularly vaishnavits,
inherited the doctrine from Christianity is baseless. The first hymn of Rig Veda, the
‘Agnisukta’, though not clearly spealt out, speaks aloud two types of Bhakti – adoring the
highest and surrendering oneself at his disposal.7
Moving ahead, in Upanishads there is a sea-change in the ideology where upasana
substituted the yaga. The asvamedha brahmana of brhadaranyaka Upanishad is the best
example8. Isavasyopanishd proposes an entirely different concept which is theistic in
content rejects the doctrine of Karma9. Perhaps it was the first step towards a theology. In
svetasvatara Upanishad we have a matured idea of isvara and Bhakti10. The Bhakti described
in svetasvatara is entirely different from the one that we met in chāndogyopaniṣad and
bṛhadāraṇyakopaniṣad.
The next stage, the period of epics and purāṇas, we have well formed theology and
definitions of Bhakti. During the period of epics power equations were changed and the
Brahmin orthodoxy has forced to admit change11. The Vedic deities lost their supremacy to
trimurtis, especially to siva and Vishnu. The period also produced vast literature affiliated to
both these deities. Bhakti almost replaced ritual at first and ‘knowledge’ later as the highest
means for moksha. The upaniṣadic idea of unity with Brahman, which was considered as
mokṣa, has been changed to surrender to god and achieving similarity with him, while
सव0शे� मेनास1व%णि&भ.क्ति�रिरत्यणिभधा�यते�।। Śrīmadbhaktirasāyanam-26 . “Caitanya reacts differently. The affective identification with the gopīs that penetrates
his total awareness, far from managing to bridge the gulf between Kṛṣṇa and man, confronts him with the gopīs own situation. Like himself they suffer ‘in the fire of loneliness” - ‘Viraha-Bhakti’- The early history of Kṛṣṇa devotion in south India, Friedhelm Hardy, OUP, Delhi.1983; p-7-8
7 . Rg.Veda I.i.1-28 . Bṛhadaraṇyaka upaniṣat I.i.1 bṛhadāraṇyaka vārtikasāra describe it as
उप�सनास्य स्व�तेन्त्र्य�त्कामे�.नाधिधाका% ते1विप च।मेनास� काल्पधियत्व�श्व� विवर�ड्रू8प�� क्तिचन्तेय�ते*।। I-5-18.
9 . Īśa-1,2, 3, 9.10 . Śvetāśvatara upaniṣad-III-20; VI-2311 . Indian Philosophy, Dr.S.Radhakrishnan,vol.I, OUP, Delhi. 2008. P.403.
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keeping the difference. This later doctrine became accepted as the highest mokṣa in
purāṇas.
On the part of authoritative texts Bhagavad-Gita though advocated and admitted varṇa
system permitted śūdras to practice Bhakti for mokṣa. Both the epics describe this with
examples. Bhagavad-Gita persuades Brahmins saying that even women and śūdras can
attain the noble stage of mokṣa12.
The purāṇic religion was centered on theism and Bhakti. There ware many sects also.
Though they admitted Bhakti they have differences on the nature and practice of the
doctrine.13 At a stage we can see that philosophers taking part in the debate. Especially
Vedanta and its various subsystems were influenced by the purāṇic doctrines of Bhakti. In
fact, the Vedic-upaniṣadic doctrine of upāsana and the purāṇic idea of Bhakti received
rational philosophical support and explanation in Vedanta.
The Advaita Vedānta of Śankarācārya elaborated the upaniṣadic doctrine of Brahman. He
controverted with other philosophical and religious systems. His arguments against supreme
personal God-head were enough to destabilize any strong theist system14. In Advaitavedānta
God and Bhakti are rather unimportant15.
Sankara’s criticisms lead to the development of vaishnavite and saivaite philosophical
schools. From the Tamil Vaiṣṇava tradition of āḷvārs the Śrīvaiṣṇava school of Vedanta has
been developed. Madhva introduced Dvaita system of Vedānta by developing the idea of
personal Brahman further to absolute dualism. Both these spiritual teachers tried hard to
refute the arguments of Śankarācārya and his absolute monism. Nimbarka and Vallabha
developed their own devotional philosophy depending on Ramanuja and Madhva.
All these philosophers treated Bhakti as the means of moksha. They defined and
interpreted the concept in their own way. The most important aspect of these systems is
their influence on social and religious reformers and common people. The reformers used
the ideology of these spiritual personalities16 to counter the orthodoxy and they talked in
12 . Bhagavad-Gita IX 32-33 13 . Indian Philosophy, Jadunath Sinha, New central Book Agency, Culcutta, 1987.P.153-15414 . Brahmasutra II.ii.37-4515 . Indian Philosophy Vol.II, Dr.S.Radhakrishnan, OUP,Delhi, p.606-60816 . There are exceptions. A group of Sants who followed ‘nirgunabhakti’ never cared for
any system
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the language of common people. With this development the second phase of Bhakti
movement- an event that brought sweeping changes in the Indian society- has started.
The Bhakti movement- first phaseThe concept of social movement has been already defined. A perusal of the doctrine of
Bhakti in the Indian context shows that it was used against ritualism or ritualistic religion of
Vedas. Also the strong opposition from the orthodoxy suggests its non Vedic origin. The
uprising of north eastern clans, Śākyas, Lichavis and Sātvatas, against the ritualistic Vedic
religion is well known. The name of Sakya and lichavi were connected with Buddha and
Mahāvīra and their contributions are well studied. The third group, Sātvatas was connected
with Bhāgavatism17. This Bhāgavatism later developed into vaiṣṇavism18. Among the three
groups vehemently criticized the orthodoxy but Sātvatas were not that much critical. They
were more conservative than the other two. Hence they could co-exist with conservatives.
They fought against ritualism, criticized the animal sacrifice but accepted the authority of
Vedas and allied literature. This co-existence forced both to adjust to compromises.
Bhāgavatas admitted Vedic corpus and rituals to an extant at a later time. In return the
orthodox people accepted the Bhāgavata doctrine Bhakti.
In the beginning Satvatas followed Bhagavatism- a cult developed on the vedic deity
Bhagavan. Later they identified Vishnu with bhagavan. Further the Narayana, Rama and the
Krishna were integrated with Vishnu and formed the Vaishnavism. This process of
identification was achieved through long process of exegesis on Vedas and puranas. The
foundation of this new religion was given in the agamas like Pancharatra Agama, Vaighanasa
Agama etc. The agamas discussed a philosophy- the metaphysics and cosmology- along with
the details of worship, rituals, construction of temples etc. later puranas developed this
ideas and the doctrine of Bhakti.
As mentioned earlier the attempt of sātvatas was a movement against ritualistic religion
of priests. It presented Bhakti against yajña. It also controverted against the upaniṣadic
doctrine of jñāna19. This hints that this movement was directed against the social order and
17 . Evolution of religio-philosophic culture in india, R.C.Majumdar; cultural heritage of india, vol.IV.Ed.Haridas Bhattacharya,Ramakrishna institute of culture. Culcutta. 2001. P.38
18 . Ibid . 11419 . Bhagavad-Gita grants only secondary importance to knowledge as a means of Mokṣa.
XI-53,54; XII-12.
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the rights related to them. Particularly the rights attached to different varnas. Only
trivarnikas had right over yajña and knowledge. But ‘Bhakti’ is open to all irrespective of
caste and gender.
This new doctrine of worship and religious practice developed unchallenged till the day
of Sankaracharya. Sankara, the ‘aupanishada’ has challenged the very concept of an
almighty personal god. He also questioned the legitimacy and authority of agamas – the
scripture of Satvatas and Saiva-Pasupatas. His strong arguments forced the religious
followers to establish the authority and validity of agamas on par with the Vedas and to
establish the philosophy of Bhakti on a logically sound platform. This makes the
agamapramanya of yamunacharya noteworthy20. Ramanuja’s vedarthasamgraha also
attempts to establish that upaniṣads and Veda teach the philosophy of ‘Nārāyaṇa- the
saguṇabrahman- and Bhakti’.
Among the three reformist movements of ancient India Bhāgavatism-vaishnavism
followed a pro-Vedic approach21. They adjusted to affordable extent to the conservative
outlook of the orthodoxy and tried to transform and clean it from inside. The innumerable
narratives appearing in Mahābhārata, Rāmāyaṇa, Adhyātmarāmayaṇa, and purāṇas display
supremacy of Bhakti against yajña. The impermanence of the results of yāga formed subject
matter of many stories. These stories presented Bhakti as the highest means to attain
moksha. They taught that the grace of God lead one to moksha and the grace of God can be
attained through Bhakti22. God pleased on his devotee removes the sin clogged on the
devotee as a cow remove the dirt on its calf. It is impossible to attain moksha without the
grace of God.
श्रे�य1 वि/ ध्य�नामेभ्य�स�ज्ज्ञा�ना�द्ध्या�ना� विवक्तिशेष्यते�।ध्य�ना�त्कामे.फलत्यगस्त्य�ग�च्छा�न्तिन्तेरनान्तेरमे*।।
20 . Yāmunācārya in this book collects the arguments putted forth against the people called Bhagavatas, satvatas etc. ‘एव� जा�त्य� कामे.�� च त्रय�मे�ग�.दपभ्रष्टभ�गवतेपरिरजानापरिरग्र/ एव प�ञ्चर�त्रप्र�मे�ण्यप्रवितेक्षे�प��य पय�.प्ते1 /�ते�$। He answers this and allied questions. Here he purticulary refers to Śankara’s criticism and rejection of pancharatra agama as invalid. Yamuna strived hard to prove that Satvatas are ‘utkṛṣṭha brāhmins. Vide Agama Pramanyam, Yamunacharya, Ed.Ramamisra Sastri, Tara press, Varanasi -1937.
21 . Dr.V.Varadachari, Pāñcarātrāgama, Tirumala Tirupati devasthanams, Tirupati, 2001. P.28
22 . The Nahushopakhyana of Mahabharata, Ajamilamoksha of bhagavata, prahladopakhyana, the markandeyopakhyana etc. illustrate this idea.
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The first phase of Bhakti movement lasted till the advent of Śankarācārya and the
development of Bhakti schools of Vedanta23. This period that from Śankara to Madhva,
made qualitative changes in the doctrine of Bhakti. The emotional content of Bhakti
depicted in purāṇas was transformed to intellectual Bhakti. This trend started in Śankara
and almost completed with Rāmānuja. Rāmānuja’s interpretation of Bhakti and prapatti are
best examples of this. Here Bhakti is intellectual Bhakti- the Bhakti yoga of Bhagavad-Gita
while prapatti is a clarification upon karma-samnyasa24.
As both streams- the orthodox Brahmanism and the Bhāgavata movement, arrived on
some compromise on Bhakti, vaiṣṇavits tried to undo the differences. Rāmānuja treated
pūrvamīmāmsa and uttaramimamsa as a single system. The quotation by Madhva from
unknown sources also an attempt toward direction. More over he introduced the use of the
replica of ‘animal’ made of flour in yāga instead of the slaughter of real animal in the yāga.
The animal sacrifice was the object of criticism by almost all philosophical systems and
reformist movements. By replacing the animal sacrifice with the sacrifice of flour replica and
interpreting it as the real intention of the Veda Mādhva could satisfy both sides. These
philosophical Bhakti schools upheld a more conservative stand than Śankarācārya while
commenting on Apaśūdrādhikaraṇa.
Medieval Bhakti Movement- the second PhaseThis stage is a direct continuation of the ‘philosophical Bhaktism’. As stated earlier the
philosophers concentrated on rationalization of God, Bhakti and to reply to the criticism of
rivals especially advaitavedanta. In this process the emotional content of Bhakti has been
lost considerably. The viśiṣṭādvaita philosophy lacks the emotional flavor felt in the poems
of Āḷvārs; the spirit and sweetness of the prayers of Āndāl. Further the Sanskrit language
and the scholarly philosophical literature also kept the common man away from the
philosophical ‘Bhaktism’. Still it influenced the movement. The saints who followed the
teachings of these Bhakti philosophers tried to retain the lost spirit –the emotional factor of
Bhakti and teachings of these philosophers. They preached in the regional languages. This
23 . Śankara wrote many popular stotras apart from his philosophical works. This led some scholars to argue that the medieval Bhakti movement starts with Śankara. The Bhajagovindam ascribed to Śankara presents an idea similar to that of vaiṣṇavits. But his philosophical view is different. In his brahmasutrabhashya he speaks about ‘mūrtipuja’ as a type of upāsana. Yet, to him Jñāna is the highest means of mokṣa.
24 . Friedhelm Hardy. P.46
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caused a surge of literature in regional languages. These new literature were either
translation of famous religious texts or original creations or adaptions. The new idea of
Bhakti was disseminated through all popular means so that it could receive maximum
audience. Art, music, performing arts like drama, dance, ritual performances etc. carried the
message of Bhakti.
The sant movement in medieval India is considered as Bhakti movement by historians.
The sants were wandering poet saints. There were two groups: the vaiṣṇava poet saints
from Maharashtra, flourished from fourteenth to eighteenth century, and the saints from
Hindi speaking area who were active from fifteenth century onward. These north Indian
saints rejected the ‘saguṇa’ aspects and could not be treated along with the Hindu
classifications of Bhakti.25 They were known as practitioners of ‘nirgunabhakti’. The
Nirguṇabhakti followed by these saints and the nirguṇabhakti advocated by bhāgavata are
different. The nirguṇa devotion according to bhaavata is superior to saguṇabhakti. It is
unmotivated, immediate and spontaneous26. Karine Schomer too considers this
‘nirguṇabhakti’ as a relatively new phenomenon.27
The sant tradition of medieval North India commences with Rāmānanda. He was a
vaiṣṇava saint lived in Varanasi. According to vaiṣṇava tradition he comes in the direct line
of Rāmānuja. Due to differences he broke away from the parent group and founded
Rāmānandi sect which was more liberal. He considered Ram as brahma. Later his sect
divided into two groups: those who worshiped Ram as saguna and a group of sants who
rejected all orthodox religious practices. Tulsidas, the author of Rāmacaritamānas belongs
to the former group and Kabir who championed the doctrine of ‘new nirguṇabhakti’ was a
member of later group28. The rapid change in the social and economic front in medieval
India also contributed to the wide acceptance of Bhakti. One reason was the ideology of
equality advocated by the sant movement29.
25 . The Saints: Studies in a devotional Tradition of India. Ed. Karine Schomer and W.H.McLeod,Motilal Banarsidas, Delhi,1987.P.3
26 . Jdunath Sinha, P.195; 27 . Karine Schomer P.328 . Karine Schomer p.4-5 29 . Charlotte Vaudeville writes “……. Sants? Socially they belonged to the lower strata of
hindu and Muslim society: nearly all were shudras, some of them even atishudras,i.e. Untouchables. They were poor, mostly uneducated or even illiterate; quite a few were women. They had no access or right to brahmanical knowledge, were not acquainted
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The beneficiaries of Bhakti movement were not Bhakti schools alone. The philosophical
systems also enjoyed the benefits of this movement. The saints affiliating themselves to a
particular philosophical school wrote books on the system in regional languages. These were
considered equal to their Sanskrit counterparts30. Advaitavedānta too contributed to this
Bhakti movement. Madhusūdana Sarasvati wrote Gūḍhārthadīpika, a commentary on
Bhagavad-Gita promoting Bhakti, and Bhaktirasāyana an independent work on the advaitic
version of ‘nirguṇabhakti’. Nārāyaṇatīrtha wrote a commentary on the Śāṇdilya Bhakti sūtra.
Contemporary Bhakti cultsThe ‘God-man’ cult also started with the Bhakti movement31. It is still continuing. In fact
this movement kept the systems alive. The vaiṣṇava, Śaiva and Śākta cults have good
number of followers. Devotional literature and devotional media - music albums; video
albums and- even devotional channels- have a good market share today.
with Sanskrit and could only express themselves in the local languages of the people, the archaic Indo-Aryan Vernaculars of Hindustan and central India” ‘Sant Mat: Santism as the Universal path to Sanctity’ in The Saints: Studies in a devotional Tradition of India. Ed. Karine Schomer and W.H.McLeod, p.21
30 . The Siddhanta Leśasamgraha of Appayya Dīkṣita supposes such a purvapaksha. Very excellent texts were produced in regional languages during the period of philosophy. The vṛttiprabhakar and vcharsagar of santh Nischal das in north India and the Chintaratnam of ezhuttachan in Malayalam are just few of them
31 . Especially with the Vallabha sect.
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