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Bhakti-Sufi Traditions
Read any five of the sources included in this chapter and discuss the social and religious ideas that are expressed in them.
Social and religious ideas expressed in different historical sources:
(i) Different types of religious structures are stupas, monasteries, temples etc. If these typified certain religious beliefs and practices, others have been reconstructed from textual traditions, including the Puranas, many of which received their present shape around the same time, and yet other remain only faintly visible in textual and visual records.
(ii) New textual sources available from this period include compositions attributed to poet-saints, most of whom expressed themselves orally in regional languages used by ordinary people. These compositions, which were often set to music, were compiled by disciples or devotees, generally after the death of the poet-saint.
(iii) What is more, these traditions were fluid-generations of devotees tended to elaborate on the original message, and occasionally modified or even abandoned some of the ideas that appeared problematic or irrelevant in different political, social or cultural contexts. Using these sources thus poses a challenge to historians.
(iv) Historians also draw on hagiographies or biographies of saints written by their followers (or members of their religious sect). These may not be literally accurate,but allow a glimpse into the ways in which devotees perceived the lives of these path breaking women and men.
(v) In the course of the evolution of these forms of worship, in many instances, poet-saints emerged as leaders around whom there developed a community of devotees. Further, while Brahmanas remained important intermediaries between gods and devotees in several forms of bhakti, these traditions also accommodated and acknowledged women and the “lower castes”, categories considered ineligible for liberation within the orthodox Brahmanical framework.
(vi) The twelfth century witnessed the emergence of a new movement in Karnataka, led by a Brahmana named Basavanna (1106-68) who was initially a Jaina and a minister in the court of a Chalukya king. His followers were known as Virashaivas (heroes of Shiva) or Lingayats (wearers of the linga). Lingayats continue to be an important community in the region to date.
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Examine how and why rulers tried to establish connections with the traditions of the Nayanars and the Sufis.
Analyse, with illustrations, why Bhaktland Sufi thinkers adopted a variety of languages in which to express their opinions.
Read any five of the sources included in this chapter and discuss the social and religious ideas that are expressed in them.
On an outline map of India, plot three major sufi shrines, and three places associated with temples (one each of a form of Vishnu, Shiva and the goddess).
Choose any two of the religious teachers/thinkers/saints mentioned in this chapter, and find out more about their lives and teachings. Prepare a report
about the area and the times in which they lived their major ideas, how we know about them, and why you think they are important.
Find out more about practices of pilgrimage associated with the shrines mentioned in this chapter. Are these pilgrimages still undertaken? When are these shrines visited? Who visits these shrines? Why do they do so? What are the activities associated with these pilgrimages?
Mention the two earliest Bhakti Movements of Tamil Nadu, giving the main difference between them.
Mention two features of the protest movement started by Nayanars and Alvars.
Who led a new religious movement in Karnataka? What were his followers known as?
Give the meaning of Zimina. Who were Zimmis?
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