| Part ofa series on |
| Hinduism in India |
|---|
Temples |
TheBhakti movement was a significant religious movement in medievalHinduism[1] that sought to bring religious reforms to all strata of society by adopting the method ofdevotion to achieve salvation.[2] Originating inTamilakam during 6th century CE,[3][4] it gained prominence through the poems and teachings of the VaishnavaAlvars and ShaivaNayanars inearly medieval South India, before spreading northwards.[1] It swept over east and north India from the 15th century onwards, reaching its zenith between the 15th and 17th century CE.[5]
The Bhakti movement regionally developed around differentHindu gods and goddesses, and some sub-sects wereVaishnavism (Vishnu),Shaivism (Shiva),Shaktism (Shakti goddesses), andSmartism.[6][7][8] The Bhakti movement preached using the local languages so that the message reached the masses. The movement was inspired by many poet-saints, who championed a wide range of philosophical positions ranging fromtheistic dualism ofDvaita to absolutemonism ofAdvaita Vedanta.[9][10]
The movement has traditionally been considered an influential social reformation in Hinduism, as it provided an individual-focused alternative path to spirituality, regardless of one's birth or gender.[5] Contemporary scholars question whether the Bhakti movement was ever a reform or rebellion of any kind.[11] They suggest that the Bhakti movement was a revival, reworking, and recontextualisation of ancientVedic traditions.[12]
The Sanskrit wordbhakti is derived from the rootbhaj, which means "divide, share, partake, participate, to belong to".[13][14] The word also means "attachment, devotion to, fondness for, homage, faith or love, worship, piety to something as a spiritual, religious principle or means of salvation".[15][16]
Bhakti, in contrast, is spiritual, a love for and devotion towards religious concepts or principles, that engages both emotion and intellect.[17] The connotation of love in this context is not one of uncritical emotion but committed engagement.[17] The Bhakti movement in Hinduism refers to ideas and engagement that emerged in the medieval era on love and devotion to religious concepts built around one or more gods and goddesses. The Bhakti movement preached against the caste system and used local languages and so the message reached the masses. One who practicesbhakti is called abhakta.[18]
Ancient Indian texts, dated to the 1st millennium BCE, such as theŚvetāśvatara Upaniṣad, theKaṭha Upaniṣad, and theBhagavad Gita mention Bhakti.[19]
.jpg)
The last of three epilogue verses of theŚvetāśvatara Upaniṣad, 6.23, uses the wordBhakti as follows,
This verse is notable for the use of the wordBhakti, and has been widely cited as among the earliest mentions of "the love of God".[21][24] Scholars have debated whether this phrase is authentic or later insertion into the Upanishad, and whether the terms "Bhakti" and "God" meant the same in this ancient text as they do in the medieval and modern era Bhakti traditions found in India.[25][26]Max Muller states that the wordBhakti appears in only one verse of the epilogue at its end, may have been a later insertion and may not be theistic as the word was later used in muchSandilya Sutras.[27]
Grierson, as well as Carus, note that the first epilogue verse 6.21 is also notable for its use of the wordDeva Prasada (देवप्रसाद, grace or gift of God), but add thatDeva in the epilogue of theŚvetāśvatara Upaniṣad refers to "pantheistic Brahman" and the closing credit to sageŚvetāśvatara in verse 6.21 can mean "gift or grace of his Soul".[21]
Doris Srinivasan states that the Upanishad is a treatise on theism, but it creatively embeds a variety of divine images, an inclusive language that allows "three Vedic definitions for a personal deity".[28] The Upanishad includes verses wherein God can be identified with the Supreme (Brahman-Atman, Self, Soul) in Vedanta monistic theosophy, verses that support the dualistic view of Samkhya doctrines, as well as the synthetic novelty of triple Brahman where a triune exists as the divine soul (Isvara, theistic God), individual soul (self) and nature (Prakrti, matter).[28][29]
Tsuchida writes that the Upanishad syncretically combines monistic ideas of theUpanishads and the self-development ideas ofYoga with personification of the deityRudra.[30] Hiriyanna interprets the text to be introducing "personal theism" in the form of Shiva Bhakti, with a shift tomonotheism but in the henotheistic context where the individual is encouraged to discover his own definition and sense of God.[31]
TheBhagavad Gita, a post-Vedic scripture composed in 5th to 2nd century BCE,[32] introducesbhakti marga (the path of faith/devotion) as one of three ways to spiritual freedom and release, the other two beingkarma marga (the path of works) andjnana marga (the path of knowledge).[33][34]
In verses 6.31 through 6.47 of theBhagavad Gita,Krishna describes bhakti yoga and loving devotion as one of the several paths to the highest spiritual attainments.[35][36]
TheDevi Mahatmya embodies bhakti through three stories about the goddess Devi. In these narratives, devotion is vividly portrayed as the gods turn to Devi in times of crisis, emphasizing bhakti's central role in seeking divine aid and protection. The text prescribes rituals like recitation and worship to honor Devi, emphasizing that herMahatmya should be recited "with bhakti" on specific days of each lunar fortnight and especially during the annual "great offering" (maha-puja) held in autumn, known today asDurga puja (Devi Mahatmya 12.4, 12.12).[37]
.jpg)
The Bhakti movement originated inTamilakam during the seventh to eighth century CE, and remained influential inSouth India for some time. In the second millennium, a second wave of bhakti spread northwards throughKarnataka (c. 12th century) and gained wide acceptance in fifteenth-centuryAssam,[38]Bengal andnorthern India.[1][39]
According to Brockington, the initialTamil Bhakti movement was characterized by "a personal relationship between the deity and the devotee", and "fervent emotional experience in response to divine grace".[39] The Bhakti movement inTamil Nadu was composed of two main parallel groups:Shaivas (who also worshipped local deities likeShiva or his sonMurugan/Kartikeya) andVaishnavas (who also worshipped local deities likeTirumāl). TheVaishnavaAlvars and ShaivaNayanars and, who lived between 5th and 9th century CE.[40] They promoted love of a personal God first and foremost which is also expressed by love of one's fellow human beings. They also wrote and sang hymns of praise to their God, and came from numerous social classes, evenshudras.[41] These poet saints became the backbone of theSri Vaishnava andShaiva Siddhanta traditions.[42]
The Alvars, which literally means "those immersed in God", were Vaishnava poet-saints who sang praises of Vishnu as they traveled from one place to another.[43] They established temple sites such asSrirangam, and spread ideas aboutVaishnavism. Various poems were compiled as Alvar Arulicheyalgal orDivya Prabandham, developed into an influential scripture for the Vaishnavas. TheBhagavata Purana's references to the South Indian Alvar saints, along with its emphasis onbhakti, have led many scholars to give it South Indian origins though some scholars question whether that evidence excludes the possibility that Bhakti movement had parallel developments in other parts of India.[44][45]
Like the Alvars, the Shaiva Nayanars were Bhakti poet saints. TheTirumurai, a compilation of hymns on Shiva by sixty-three Nayanar poet-saints, developed into an influential scripture in Shaivism. The poets' itinerant lifestyle helped create temple and pilgrimage sites and spread spiritual ideas built around Shiva.[43] Early Tamil-Shiva Bhakti poets influenced Hindu texts that came to be revered all over India.[46]
The influence of the Tamil bhakti saints and those of later northern Bhakti leaders ultimately helped spreadbhakti poetry and ideas throughout all the Indian subcontinent by the 18th century CE.[40][47] However, outside of the Tamil speaking regions, the Bhakti movement arrived much later, mostly in the second millennium.
For example, inKannada-speaking regions (roughly modernKarnataka), the Bhakti movement arrived in the 12th century, with the emergence ofBasava and his ShaiviteLingayatism, which were known for their total rejection ofcaste distinctions and the authority of theVedas, their promotion of the religious equality of women, and their focus on worshipping a smalllingam, which they always carried around their necks, as opposed to images in temples run by elite priesthoods.[48] Another important Kannada figure in the Bhakti movement wasMadhvacharya (c. 12-13th centuries), a great and prolific scholar ofVedanta, who promoted the theology of dualism (Dvaita Vedanta).[49]
Similarly, the Bhakti movement inOdisha (known as Jñanamisrita bhakti or Dadhya Bhakti) also began in the 12th century. It included various scholars includingJayadeva (the 12th-century author of theGita Govinda), and it had become a mass movement by the 14th century.[50] Figures likeBalarama Dasa,Achyutananda,Jasobanta Dasa,Ananta Dasa andJagannatha Dasa preached Bhakti through publicsankirtans across Odisha.Jagannath was and remains the center of the Odisha Bhakti movement.
The Bhakti movements also spread to the north later, particularly during the flowering of northernBhakti yoga of the 15th and the 16th centuries. Perhaps the earliest of the northern bhakti figures wasNimbārkāchārya (c. 12th century), a Brahmin fromAndhra Pradesh who moved toVrindavan. He defended a similar theology toRamanuja, which he calledBhedābheda (difference and non-difference).[51] Other important northern bhaktas includeNāmdev (c. 1270-1350),Rāmānanda, andEknath (c. 1533-99).[52]
Another important development was the rise of theSant Mat movement, which drew fromIslam,Nath tradition and Vaishnavism from which the famous 15th-centuryKabir arose. Kabir was a saint known for Hindi poetry that expressed a rejection of external religion in favor of inner experience. After his death, his followers founded theKabir panth.[53] A similar movement sharing the same Sant Mat Bhakti background that drew on both Hinduism and Islam, was founded by theGuru Nānak (1469-1539), the first Guru ofSikhism.[54]
InBengal, the most famous composer of Vaishnava devotional songs wasCandīdās (1339–1399).[55] He was celebrated in the popular BengaliVaishnava-Sahajiya movement. One the most influential of the northern Hindu Bhakti traditions was theKrishnaiteGaudiya Vaishnavism ofChaitanya Mahaprabhu (1486–1534) in Bengal. Chaitanya eventually came to be seen by the Bengali Vaishnavas as anavatara ofKrishna himself.[55] Another important leader of northern Vaishnava Bhakti wasVallabhacharya Mahaprabhu (1479–1531 CE) who founded thePushtimarg tradition inBraj (Vraja).[56]
Some scholars state that the Bhakti movement's rapid spread in India in the 2nd millennium was in part a response to the arrival ofIslam[57] and subsequent Islamic rule in India and Hindu-Muslim conflicts.[8][58][59] That view is contested by some scholars,[59] withRekha Pande stating that singing ecstatic Bhakti hymns in local language had been a tradition inSouth India beforeMuhammad was born.[60] According to Pande, the psychological impact of Muslim conquests may have initially contributed to community-style Bhakti by Hindus.[60] However, other scholars state that Muslim invasions, the conquests of Hindu Bhakti temples in South India and the seizure and the melting of musical instruments such ascymbals from local people were part responsible for the later relocation or demise of singing Bhakti traditions in the 18th century.[61]
According toWendy Doniger, the nature of the Bhakti movement may have been affected by the daily practices to "surrender to God" of Islam when it arrived in India.[8] In turn, that influenced devotional practices in Islam such asSufism,[62] and other religions in India from the 15th century onwards, such asSikhism,Christianity,[63] andJainism.[64]
Klaus Witz, in contrast, traces the history and nature of the Bhakti movement to theUpanishadic and the Vedanta foundations of Hinduism. He writes that in virtually every Bhakti movement poet, "the Upanishadic teachings form an all-pervasive substratum, if not a basis. We have here a state of affairs that has no parallel in the West. Supreme Wisdom, which can be taken as basically non-theistic and as an independent wisdom tradition (not dependent on the Vedas), appears fused with the highest level ofbhakti and with the highest level of God-realization."[65]
.jpg)
The Bhakti movement witnessed a surge in Hindu literature in regional languages, particularly in the form of devotional poems and music.[67][68][69] This literature includes the writings of theAlvars andNayanars, poems ofAndal,[70]Basava,[71]Bhagat Pipa,[72]Allama Prabhu,Akka Mahadevi,Kabir,Guru Nanak (founder ofSikhism),[71]Tulsidas,Nabha Dass,[73]Gusainji, Ghananand,[70]Ramananda (founder ofRamanandi Sampradaya), Ravidass,Sripadaraja,Vyasatirtha,Purandara Dasa,Kanakadasa,Vijaya Dasa,Six Goswamis of Vrindavan,[74]Raskhan,[75]Ravidas,[71]Jayadeva Goswami,[70]Namdev,[71]Eknath,Tukaram,Mirabai,[66]Ramprasad Sen,[76]Sankardev,[77]Vallabha Acharya,[71]Narsinh Mehta,[78]Gangasati[79] and the teachings of saints likeChaitanya Mahaprabhu.[80]
The writings ofSankaradeva inAssam, however, included an emphasis on the regional language and also led to the development of an artificial literary language calledBrajavali.[81]Brajavali is, to an extent, a combination of medievalMaithili andAssamese.[82][83] The language was easily understood by the local populace, in line with the Bhakti movement's call for inclusion, but also retained its literary style. A similar language, calledBrajabuli was popularised byVidyapati,[84][85] which was adopted by several writers inOdisha[86][87] in the medieval times, and inBengal during itsrenaissance.[88][87]
The earliest writers from the 7th to 10th centuries, who are known to have influenced the movements driven by poet-saints, includeSambandar,Tirunavukkarasar,Sundarar,Nammalvar,Adi Shankara,Manikkavacakar andNathamuni.[89] Several 11th- and 12th-century writers developed different philosophies within the Vedanta school of Hinduism that were influential to the Bhakti tradition inmedieval India, and they includeRamanuja,Madhva,Vallabha andNimbarka.[70][89] These writers championed a spectrum of philosophical positions ranging from theistic dualism, qualifiednondualism and absolutemonism.[9][10]
The Bhakti movement also witnessed several works getting translated into various Indian languages.Saundarya Lahari was written in Sanskrit byAdi Shankara and was translated intoTamil in the 12th century byVirai Kaviraja Pandithar, who titled the bookAbhirami Paadal.[90] Similarly, the first translation of the Ramayana into anIndo-Aryan language was byMadhava Kandali, who translated it intoAssamese as theSaptakanda Ramayana.[91]
Shandilya andNarada are credited with two Bhakti texts,Shandilya Bhakti Sutra andNarada Bhakti Sutra, but both have been dated to the 12th century by modern scholars.[92][93]
The Bhakti movement of Hinduism saw two ways of imaging the nature of the divine (Brahman):Nirguna andSaguna.[94]Nirguna Brahman was the concept of the ultimate reality as formless and without attributes or quality.[95]Saguna Brahman, in contrast, was envisioned and developed as with form, attributes and quality.[95]
Both views had parallels in the ancient pantheistic formless and theistic traditions, respectively, and are traceable to a dialogue in theBhagavad Gita.[94][96] These two may be considered to be the same Brahman, as viewed from two perspectives: a formless mode focused on wisdom (jñana) and a form mode, focused on love.[96]Nirguna Bhakti poetry is more focused onjñana, andSaguna bhakti poetry focuses on love (prema).[94] In Bhakti, the emphasis is reciprocal love and devotion in which the devotee loves God, and God loves the devotee.[96]
The concepts ofNirguna andSaguna Brahman, which is at the root of Bhakti theology, underwent more profound developments with the ideas of theVedanta schools, particularly those ofAdi Shankara's 8th-centuryAdvaita Vedanta (absolutenondualism /monism),Ramanuja's 12th-centuryVishishtadvaita Vedanta (a qualified nondualism that posits unity and diversity), andMadhvacharya's (c. 12th-13th century)Dvaita Vedanta (which posits a true dualism between God and theĀtman).[95]
According to David Lorenzen, the idea of bhakti for aNirguna Brahman has been a baffling one to scholars since it offers "heart-felt devotion to a God without attributes, without even any definable personality".[97] However, given the "mountains ofNirguni bhakti literature", Bhakti forNirguna Brahman has been a part of the reality of the Hindu tradition along with the Bhakti forSaguna Brahman.[97] Thus, these were two alternate ways of imagining God even in the Bhakti movement.[94]
The Nirguna and Saguna forms of Bhakti may be found in two 12th-century treatises on bhakti: theSandilya Bhakti Sutra andNarada Bhakti Sutra.Sandilya leans towards Nirguna Bhakti, andNarada leans towards Saguna Bhakti.[98]
According to J. L. Brockington, the Sri Vaishnavas had split into two subsects in the 14th century:
the dispute was over the question of human effort versus divine grace in achieving salvation, a controversy often and not unreasonably compared to the Arminian and Calvinist standpoints within Protestantism. The Northern school held that the worshipper had to make some effort to win the grace of the Lord and emphasised the performance of karma, a position commonly summed up as being ‘on the analogy of the monkey and its young’, for as the monkey carries her young which cling to her body so Visnu saves the worship per who himself makes an effort. The Southern school held that the Lord’s grace itself conferred salvation, a position ‘on the analogy of the cat and its kittens’, for just as the cat picks up her kittens in her mouth and carries them off willy-nilly, so Visnu saves whom he wills, without effort on their part.[99]
The Bhakti movement led to devotional transformation of medieval Hindu society, and Vedic rituals or alternativelyascetic monk-like lifestyle formoksha gave way to individualistic loving relationship with a personally-defined god.[5] Salvation, which had been considered attainable only by men of theBrahmin,Kshatriya andVaishya castes, became available to everyone.[5] Most scholars state that Bhakti movement provided women and members of theShudra anduntouchable communities an inclusive path to spiritual salvation.[100] Some scholars disagree that the Bhakti movement was premised on such social inequalities.[101][102]
Poet-saints grew in popularity, and literature on devotional songs in regional languages became profuse.[5] These poet-saints championed a wide range of philosophical positions within their society, ranging from the theistic dualism ofDvaita to the absolutemonism ofAdvaita Vedanta.[9] Kabir, a poet-saint, for example, wrote in Upanishadic style, the state of knowing truth:[103]
There's no creation or creator there,
no gross or fine, no wind or fire,
no sun, moon, earth, or water,
no radiant form, no time there,
no word, no flesh, no faith,
no cause and effect, nor any thought of the Veda,
no Hari or Brahma, no Shiva or Shakti,
no pilgrimage and no rituals,
no mother, father, or guru there...
The early-15th-century Bhakti poet-Sant Pipa stated:[104]
Within the body is the god, the temple,
within the body all the Jangamas[105]
within the body the incense, the lamps, and the food-offerings,
within the body thepuja-leaves.
After searching so many lands,
I found the nine treasures within my body,
Now there will be no further going and coming,
I swear byRama.
The Bhakti movement also led to the prominence of the concept of female devotion, poet-saints such asAndal coming to occupy the popular imagination of the common people along with her male counterparts. Andal went a step further by composing hymns in praise of God in vernacular Tamil, rather than Sanskrit, in verses known as theNachiyar Tirumoli, or theWoman's Sacred Verses:[107]
Clouds that spill lovely pearls
what message has the dark-hued lordof Venkatamsent through you?The fire of desire has invaded my bodyI suffer.I lie awake here in the thick of night,
a helpless target for the cool southern breeze.
— Andal, Nachiyar Tirumoli, Verse 8.2
The impact of the Bhakti movement in India was similar to that of theProtestant Reformation of Christianity in Europe.[9] It evoked shared religiosity, direct emotional and intellection of the divine and the pursuit of spiritual ideas without the overhead of institutional superstructures.[108] Practices emerged bringing new forms of spiritual leadership and social cohesion among the medieval Hindus such as community singing, the chanting together of deity names; festivals; pilgrimages; and rituals relating toSaivism,Vaishnavism andShaktism.[40][109] Many of these regional practices have survived into the modern era.[5]
The Bhakti movement introduced new forms of voluntary social giving such asSeva (service, for example to a temple orguru school or community construction),dāna (charity), and community kitchens with free shared food.[110] Of community kitchen concepts, the vegetarianGuru ka Langar, which was introduced byNanak, became a well-established institution over time, started with northwest India, and expanded to everywhere Sikh communities are found.[111] Other saints such asDadu Dayal championed the similar social movement, a community that believed in the concepts ofahimsa (non-violence) towards all living beings, social equality, a vegetarian kitchen and mutual social service.[112] Bhakti temples andmatha (Hindu monasteries) of India adopted social functions such as relief to victims after a natural disaster, helping the poor and marginal farmers, providing community labor, feeding houses for the poor, free hostels for poor children and promoting folk culture.[113]
Bhakti has been a prevalent practice in various Jaina sects in which learnedTirthankara (Jina) and humangurus are considered superior beings and venerated with offerings, songs andArti prayers.[114] The Bhakti movement in later Hinduism and Jainism may share roots invandal andpuja concepts of the Jaina tradition.[114]
Medieval-era Bhakti traditions among non-theistic Indian traditions such as Buddhism and Jainism have been reported by scholars in which the devotion and prayer ceremonies were dedicated to an enlightened guru, primarily Buddha and Jina Mahavira, respectively, as well as others.[115]Karel Werner notes thatBhatti (Bhakti in Pali) has been a significant practice inTheravada Buddhism, and states that "there can be no doubt that deep devotion orbhakti / Bhatti does exist in Buddhism and that it had its beginnings in the earliest days".[116]
Some scholars callSikhism a Bhakti sect of Indian traditions.[117][118] In Sikhism, "nirguni Bhakti" is emphasised: devotion to a divine withoutGunas (qualities or form),[118][119][120] but it accepts both nirguni and saguni forms of the divine.[121]
TheGuru Granth Sahib, the scripture of the Sikhs, contains the hymns of theSikh gurus, 13 Sikh gurus or Hindubhagats and two Muslim bhagats.[122] Some of the bhagats whose hymns were included in the Guru Granth Sahib, were Bhakti poets who taught their ideas before the birth ofGuru Nanak, the first Sikh guru. The thirteen Hindu bhagats or Sikh gurus whose hymns were entered into the text were poet saints of the Bhakti movement, and includedNamdev,Pipa,Ravidas,Beni,Bhikhan,Dhanna,Jayadeva,Parmanand,Sadhana,Sain,Surdas andTrilochan, and the two Muslim bhagats wereKabir and Sufi saintBaba Farid.[123][124][125]
Most of the 5,894 hymns in the Sikh scriptures came from the Sikh gurus, the rest from the Bhagats. The three highest contributions in the Sikh scripture of non-Sikh bhagats were from Bhagat Kabir (292 hymns), Bhagat Farid (134 hymns) and Bhagat Namdev (60 hymns).[126]
Sikhism was influenced by Bhakti movement,[127][128][129] and incorporated hymns from the Bhakti poet-saints, it was not simply an extension of the Bhakti movement.[130] For instance, it disagreed with some of the views of the Bhakti sants Kabir and Ravidas.[note 1][130]
Guru Nanak, the first Sikh Guru and the founder of Sikhism, was a Bhakti saint.[131] He taught, states Jon Mayled, that the most important form of worship is Bhakti.[132]Nam-simran – the realisation of God – is an important Bhakti practice in Sikhism.[133][134][135]Guru Arjan, in hisSukhmani Sahib, recommended the true religion is one of loving devotion to God.[136][137] The Sikh scripture Guru Granth Sahib includes suggestions for a Sikh to perform constant Bhakti.[132][138][note 2] The Bhakti themes in Sikhism also incorporateShakti (power) ideas.[140]
Some Sikh sects outside Punjab, such as those found inMaharashtra andBihar, practiceArti with lamps in agurdwara.[141][142] Arti and devotional prayer ceremonies are also found in Ravidassia sect[143][144]
Contemporary scholars question whether the 19th- and early 20th-century theories about the Bhakti movement in India, its origin, nature and history are accurate. Pechilis in her book on the Bhakti movement, for example, states:[145]
Scholars writing on bhakti in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries were agreed that bhakti in India was preeminently a monotheistic reform movement. For these scholars, the inextricable connection between monotheism and reform has both theological and social significance in terms of the development of Indian culture. The orientalist images of bhakti were formulated in a context of discovery: a time of organized cultural contact, in which many agencies, including administrative, scholarly, andmissionary – sometimes embodied in a single person – sought knowledge of India. Through the Indo-European language connection, earlyorientalists believed that they were, in a sense, seeing their own ancestry in the antique texts and "antiquated" customs of Indian peoples. In this respect, certain scholars could identify with the monotheism of bhakti. Seen as a reform movement, bhakti presented a parallel to the orientalist agenda of intervention in the service of the empire.
— Karen Pechilis, The Embodiment of Bhakti[145]
Madeleine Biardeau states, like Jeanine Miller, that the Bhakti movement was neither reform nor a sudden innovation but the continuation and expression of ideas to be found inVedas, Bhakti Marga teachings of theBhagavad Gita, theKatha Upanishad and theShvetashvatara Upanishad.[19][146]
John Stratton Hawley describes recent scholarship that questions the old theory of the Bhakti movement's origin and story of art coming from the south and moving north". He states that the movement had multiple origins by mentioningBrindavan inNorth India as another centre.[147] Hawley describes the controversy and disagreements between Indian scholars and quotes Hegde's concern of Bhakti movement being a reform a theory that has been supported by "cherry-picking particular songs from a large corpus of Bhakti literature". He states that if the entirety of the literature by any single author likeBasava is considered along with its historical context, there is neither reform nor a need for reform.[102]
Sheldon Pollock writes that the Bhakti movement was neither a rebellion against Brahmins and the upper castes nor a rebellion against Sanskrit since many of the prominent thinkers and earliest champions of the Bhakti movement were Brahmins or from other upper castes. Also, early and later Bhakti poetry and other literature werre in Sanskrit.[148] Further, Pollock considers that evidence of Bhakti trends in ancientSoutheast Asian Hinduism in the 1st millennium CE, such as those inCambodia andIndonesia, where theVedic period was unknown, and upper-caste Tamil Hindu nobles and merchants introduced Bhakti ideas of Hinduism, suggest that the roots and the nature of the Bhakti movement were primarily spiritual and political quests, rather than the rebellion of some form.[149][150]
John Guy states that the evidence of Hindu temples and Chinese inscriptions from the 8th century CE about Tamil merchants presents Bhakti motifs in Chinese trading towns, particularlyQuanzhou'sKaiyuan Temple.[151] They show that Saivite, Vaishnavite and Hindu Brahmin monasteries revered Bhakti themes in China.[151]
Scholars increasingly drop, according to Karen Pechilis, the old premises and the language of "radical otherness, monotheism and reform of orthodoxy" for the Bhakti movement.[12] Many scholars now characterise the emergence of Bhakti in medieval India as a revival, reworking and recontextualization of the central themes of Vedic traditions.[12]
The Svetasvatara-Upanisad occupies a highly unique position among Vedic Upanisads as a testimony of the meditative and monistic Rudra-cult combined with Samkhya-Yoga doctrines.
"During the sixteenth century, a form of an artificial literary language became established ... It was theBrajabulī dialect ...Brajabulī is practically the Maithilī speech as current in Mithilā, modified in its forms to look like Bengali".
