Medieval History CL 14^th

Baba Guru Nanak (1469-1539) and Sikhism

 

·         Established a centre at Kartarpur named Dera Baba Nanak on the river Ravi.

·         The sacred space thus created by Guru Nanak was known as dharmsal. It is now known as Gurdwar.

·         Before his death Guru appointed Lehna also known as Guru Angad as his successor.

·         Guru Angad compiled the compositions of Guru Nanak, to which he added his own in a new script known as Gurmukhi.

·         The three successors of Guru Angad also wrote under the name of “Nanak” and all of their compositions were compiled by Guru Arjan [5th Guru who was executed by Jehangir]in 1604.

·         The compilation was added with the writings of other figures like Shaikh Farid, Sant Kabir, Bhagat Namdev and Guru Tegh Bahadur.

·         In 1706 this compilation was authenticated by Guru Gobind Singh. It is now known as Guru Granth Sahib.

·         Due to Guru Nanak’s insistence that all the followers should adopt productive and useful occupations had received wider support during 16th century and followers increased, henceforth.

·         By the beginning of the 17th century, the town of Ramdaspur (Amritsar) had developed around the central Gurdwara called Harmandar Sahib (Golden Temple). It was virtually self-governing and also referred as ‘a state within the state’ community. This fumed Mughal emperor Jahangir which led to the execution of Guru Arjan in 1606.

·         The Sikh movement began to get politicized in the 17th century, a development which culminated in the institution of the Khalsa by Guru Gobind Singh in 1699 and this entity is called as Khalsa Panth.

·         Guru Nanak’s idea of equality had social and political implications because his idea of liberation was not that of a state of inert bliss but rather the pursuit of active life with a strong sense of social commitment.

Summary

The coming of the Turks to the Indian sub-continent led to a revamp of culture, religion, architecture and almost all fields of life. This was due to the two strongly established religious views that confluence here. The strong Islamic views of the Turks combined with the established Hinduistic culture already prevalent in India. Both Sufism and Bhakti cult were out-of-the-box thoughts on religion. They were mainly against the common religious views, and most importantly, they both were strongly against the caste system.

 

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Bhakti Movement in South

Women Devotees

Andal

• A woman Alvar the compositions of Andal were widely sung (and continue to be sung to date).
• Andal saw herself as the beloved of Vishnu; her verses express her love for the deity.

Karaikkal Ammaiyar

• Another woman, Karaikkal Ammaiyar, a devotee of Shiva, adopted the path of extreme asceticism in order to attain her goal. 

Sankara

• A Hindu revivalist movement giving a new placement to Hinduism was started by Sankara.
• Kaladi in Kerala is his birthplace.
• His doctrine of Monoism or Advaita was too abstract to appeal to the common people.
• The Advaita Concept of Nirgunabrahman (God without attributes) received contradictory reaction with the emergence of the idea of Sagunabrahman (God with attributes).

 Ramanuja

• He was born at Sriperumbudur near modern Chennai.
• He preached Visishtadvaita in the12^th century.
• According to him, God is Sagunabrahman.
• He encouraged Prabattimarga or path of self-surrender to God.
• He invited the downtrodden to Vaishnavism.

 Madhava

• Madhava is from Kannada region whose preaching prevailed in the 13^th
• He spread Deviator dualism of Jivatma and Paramatma.
• His philosophy was that the world is not an illusion but a reality. God, soul, matter is unique in nature. 

Nimbarka and Vallabhacharya 

• Nimbarka and Vallabhacharya were also other preachers of Vaishnavite Bhakti in the Telangana region

Surdas 

• He was the disciple of Vallabhacharya
• He popularized Krishna cult in the Northern part of India

 

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Mirabai 

• She was a great devotee of Krishna.
• She became popular in Rajasthan for her bhajans.

Tulsidas

• He was a worshipper of Rama.
• He composed the famous Ramcharitmanas, the Hindi version of Ramayana.

Ramananda

• He was born at Allahabad.
• Initially he was a follower of Ramanuja.
• Later he founded his own sect and preached his principles in Hindi at Banaras and Agra.
• Ramananda was the first to employ the vernacular medium to spread his ideas.
• He opposed the caste system and chose his disciples from all sections of society irrespective of caste.

Ramananda’s disciples were:

Ø  Kabir

Ø  Raidasa, he was a cobbler

Ø  Sena, he was a barber

Ø  Sadhana

Ø  Dhanna, he was from a Jat farmer

Ø  Naraharai, he was a goldsmith

Ø  Pipa, he was a Rajput prince

Kabir

• Kabir was the most famous disciple of Ramananda.
• He was brought up by a Muslim couple who were weavers by profession.
• He had a curious mind in learning new things and he learnt much about Hinduism in Benares.
• Kabir’s aim was to reunite Hindus and Muslims and form harmony between them.
• He is regarded as the greatest of the mystic saints.
• His followers are called Kabirpanthis. 

In the 14th and 15th centuries, Ramananda, Kabir and Nanak remained the great apostles of the Bhakti cult.

They aided the common people to shed age-old superstitions and attain salvation through Bhakti or pure devotion.

Criticized all forms of worship of idols. 

Guru Nanak

• Guru Nanak was born in Talwandi near Lahore.
• He was a disciple of Kabir.
• He was founder of the Sikh Religion.
• He condemned caste difference and rituals like bathing in holy rivers.
• He established a centre at Kartarpur named Dera Baba Nanak on the river Ravi. His idea of religion was highly practical and strictly moral.
• His one of the famous sayings was “Abide pure amidst the impurities of the world”.

Guru Angad

• Guru Angad also known as Lehna was appointed by Guru before his death.
• Guru Angad compiled the compositions of Guru Nanak in a new script known as Gurmukhi and added his own compositions as well.

Guru Arjan

• He was the 5th Guru.
• He compiled the writings of the three successors of Guru Angad who wrote under the name of “Nana”.
• He was executed by Jehangir in 1604.

Guru Gobind Singh

• He was the 10th Guru.
• In 1706, he authenticated the compilation which was added with the writings of other figures like Shaikh Farid, Sant Kabir, Bhagat Namdev and Guru Tegh Bahadur, which is now known as Guru Granth Sahib.

The town of Ramdaspur (Amritsar) had developed around the central Gurdwara called Harmandar Sahib (Golden Temple) by the beginning of the 17th century. It was almost self-governing and also referred as ‘a state within the state’ community.

Chaitanya

• Chaitanya was another renowned saint and reformer of Bengal who popularised the Krishna cult.
• He believed that a devotee can feel the presence of God through song and dance and love and devotion. 

Gnanadeva 

• He was the founder of the Bhakti Movement in Maharashtra in the 13^th
• It was called as Maharashtra dharma.
• He wrote Gnaneswari a commentary of Bhagavad Gita. 

 

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Namadeva

• In the 16^th Century, Namadeva preached the gospel of love.
• He opposed idol worship and the dominance of priests.
• He criticized the Caste System. 

Ekanatha

• He was a prominent Marathi Sant, a scholar and religious poet of the Varkari Sampradaya.
• He opposed caste differences and was kind towards the lower castes.
• He is known as a bridge between his predecessors Dnyaneshwarand Namdev and the later Tukaram and Ramdas. 

Tukaram

• Tukaram was another Bhakti saint of Maharashtra and was a contemporary of Sivaji.
• Tukaram also referred to as Sant Tukaram, Bhakta Tukaram, Tukaram Maharaj, Tukobaand Tukobaraya.
• He was a 17th-century poet-saint of the Bhakti movement in
• Tukaram is best known for his Abhanga- devotional poetry and kirtans – community-oriented worship with spiritual songs.
• His poetry was devoted to Vitthala or Vithoba, an avatar of Hindu god Vishnu.
• Responsible for creating a background for Maratha nationalism 

Nathpanthis, Siddhas, and Yogis

• They condemned the ritual and other aspects of orthodox religion and the social order, using simple, logical arguments.
• They encouraged the renunciation of the world.
• To them, the path to salvation lay in meditation and to achieve this they advocated intense training of the mind and body through practices like yogasanas, breathing exercises and meditation.
• These groups became particularly popular among “low” castes. 

Importance of the Bhakti Movement

• Bhakti movement provided a spur for the development of regional languages such as Hindi, Marathi, Bengali, Kannada, etc.
• The lower classes rose to a position of great importance.

The Bhakti movement gave equal importance to men and women which gave way to the importance of women in society.

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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