{"id":17069,"date":"2023-10-10T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-10-10T04:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thetalentedindian.com\/?p=17069"},"modified":"2023-10-10T08:54:59","modified_gmt":"2023-10-10T03:24:59","slug":"unraveling-bhakti-literature-an-immersive-exploration-into-its-saints-and-cultural-imprint","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thetalentedindian.com\/unraveling-bhakti-literature-an-immersive-exploration-into-its-saints-and-cultural-imprint\/","title":{"rendered":"Unraveling Bhakti Literature: An Immersive Exploration into its Saints and Cultural Imprint"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

“Awake, arise, or be forever fallen.” <\/em><\/p>John Milton, Paradise Lost<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Modern days of the 21st century continually draw us towards the liberating ideologies that span the globe. However, in this fervor, we fail to acknowledge that we need not traverse vast distances to recognize that India\u2019s Bhakti Movement and the various European anti-feudal movements may have shared their underlying ideas. That is the richness of our history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Movements are born from reforms or rebellions. These may stem from changing socio-cultural landscapes or mental atmospheres about the prevailing social systems. The Bhakti Movement was one such movement. It arose from the advent of nationalism, as the scholars claim, against the heavily feudal social orders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the first wave of Bhakti as a concept dates back to the 7th century, it was only in the 12th century that it started evolving as a widespread cultural movement. As Balkrishna Bhatt referred to the Bhakti Literature as \u201cthe evolution of people\u2019s sensibilities\u201d, the medieval Indian masses witnessed a heightened awareness. This was in the forms of emotions, concerns and socio-economic position. This awareness gave rise to democratic cultural practices, much like the Renaissance in the European subcontinent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rejection of Feudalism: Folk Culture, Democratized Literature and Unification of Knowledge in Bhakti Literature <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

During the Sultanate period, Indian society was crammed with several aberrations, such as the caste system, rituals, polytheism, chaturvarna, etc. Therefore, Brahmanical dominance prevailed more than ever. It was during this time that many famous Bhakti saints like Kabir, Surdas and Mirabai wandered from place to place, singing hymns and drawing upon common people. These vernacular Bhakti saints, who were ideologically anti-Brahmanical, placed much importance on faith in divinity. This faith was free of prejudice against castes, regions, genders and religions. This spirit lay in the awareness spread by the Muslim invaders with the introduction of a more egalitarian religion, Islam. Alongside, they rejected aristocratic poetry and court languages \u2013 Sanskrit, Pali, Prakrit and Apabhramsha and produced literature in regional languages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This form of rebellion against anti-human feudal orders was seen in the Bhakti movement for the first time. Moreover, it was not only the forms of court poetry that the Bhakti saints rejected. Primarily, it was their content that sprang from the experiences of common people and developed in folk culture and literature. This also bridged the artificial gap between literariness associated with traditional poetic language and spoken language for the first time in Indian history. As a counter-cultural movement, Bhakti had a lasting impact on literature, fine arts, and music altogether. At the same, it also unified the masses on a pan-Indian level, opposing the social issues of caste and gender.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the Bhakti movement actively questioned and rebelled against the orthodox Brahmanical society, it beckoned people from lower castes and women to partake in the movement. This provided them with aspirations of gaining salvation regardless of their religion via devotion to the divine instead of reliance on exclusive Brahmanical knowledge. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Saint Poets of The Medieval Bhakti Movement<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Ramanuja, an influential figure in the Bhakti movement, emphasized the idea of devotion as a pathway to spiritual liberation. Similar to other Bhakti saints, he criticized and rejected the idea of the inaccessibility of spiritual liberation for the lower castes. Instead, he actively engaged folks from all social backgrounds. Furthermore, his commentaries on important Hindu scriptures, such as the Bhagavad Gita, provided knowledge to the lower sections of society, which violated the essential ideologies of Hinduism. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The aspects of rebellion and resistance have an immense place in the poetry of Surdas and Tulsidas. They immensely used the traditional Sanskrit elements as tools to create their Bhakti poems. These poems were often centered around courageous heroes rebelling against exploitative and unjust forces. This highlighted the then-current socio-cultural and economic landscapes. Moreover, their heroes often killed the tyrannical figures in order to establish benevolent socio-political orders. It was these underlying ideologies that aggravated the aristocrats and invited resistance of Bhakti from their courts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sant Kabir, born in the 15th century, was yet another saint poet of medieval Bhakti movements. He emphasized the importance of inner divinity and humanism over outward piety, which is false in its actual essence. It denounced the hypocrisy of the aristocrats and authority figures and accentuated the anti-humanist emotions behind social violence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mirabai, often considered a symbol of Bhakti poetry<\/a>, popularized devotional literature in vernacular languages. She made spiritual themes accessible to the masses, which aristocrats again looked down upon. More importantly, her devotion defied the rigid gender and social norms attached to her as a Rajput woman. Her poetry<\/a> also contained many elements of Sufism, which again targeted the religious beliefs of the time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is almost surprising how both the ancient and the medieval Bhakti movements were established in vastly different societies, contemporary politics, religious beliefs, masses across the Indian subcontinent, etc., and yet shared the underlying essence. What is equally astonishing is that it remains a striving utopia even today, in the 21st century. The socio-political affairs, massively advanced and reformed, lack the egalitarianism that Sant Kabir adopted as inner divinity in the 15th century and women’s liberation still remains a quest as they hide their innermost desired achievements in secrecy behind the guise of gopis.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bhakti Literature was one of the most significant movements in Indian Literature. Discover more about its cultural impact in this article.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":17072,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9155],"tags":[10672,10673,9058,9057],"yoast_head":"\nBhakti Literature: Exploring Bhakti Saints and Their Cultural Imprint<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Bhakti Literature was one of the most significant movements in Indian Literature. 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