Bhaktism

Like the Bhakti saints, the Sufi saints contributed greatly to the growth of a rich regional literature. Most of the Sufi saints were poets who chose to write in local languages. Baba Farid recommended the use of Punjabi for religious writings. Shaikh Hamiduddin, before him, wrote in Hindawi. His verses are the best examples of early Hindawi translation of Persian mystical poetry. Syed Gesu Daraz was the first writer of Deccani Hindi. He found Hindi more expressive than Persian to explain mysticism. A number of Sufi works were also written in Bengali. The most notable writer of this period was Amir Khusrau (l 252-1325) the follower of Nizamuddin Auliya. Khusrau took pride in being an Indian and looked at the history and culture of Hindustan as a part of his own tradition. He wrote verses in Hindi (Hindawi) and employed the Persian metre in Hindi. He created a new style called  sabaq-i-hindi.  By the fifteenth century Hindi had begun to assume a definite shape and Bhakti saints such as Kabir used it extensively.

Abul Fazl while writing in the  Ain-i-Akbari  speaks of fourteen  silsilahs  of the Sufis. However, in this lesson we shall outline only some of the important ones.  These  silsilahs were divided into two types:  Ba-shara  and  Be-shara. Ba-shara  were those orders that followed the Islamic Law (Sharia) and its directives such as  namaz  and  roza.  Chief amongst these were the Chishti, Suhrawardi, Firdawsi, Qadiri and Naqshbandi  silsilahs.  The  beshara silsilahs  were not bound by the  Sharia.  The Qalandars belonged to this group
The Vaishnavite  Movement You have read that saints such as Kabir, Namdev and Guru Nanak had preached devotion toward a  nirankar  form of God. During this period, another movement based upon devotion towards a  sakar  form of God had also developed. This movement, called the  Vaishnavite movement, centered around the worship of Rama and Krishna, who were seen as incarnations  (avatars)  of Lord  Vishnu. Its main exponents were Surdas, Mirabai, Tulsidas and Chaitanya. Their path to salvation was expressed through the medium of poetry, song, dance and  kirtans. Surdas (1483-1563) was a disc

The development of Bhakti movement took place in Tamil Nadu between the seventh and twelfth centuries. It was reflected in the emotional poems of the Nayanars (devotees of Shiva) and Alvars (devotees of  Vishnu).  These saints looked upon religion not as a cold formal worship but as a loving bond based upon love between the worshipped and worshipper.  They wrote in local languages,  Tamil and  Telugu and were therefore able to reach out to many people. In course of time, the ideas of the South moved up to the North but it was a very slow process. Sanskrit, which was still the vehicle of thought, was given a new form. Thus we find that the Bhagavata Purana of ninth century was not written in the old Puranic form. Centered around Krishna’s childhood and youth, this work uses Krishna’s exploits to explain deep philosophy in simple terms. This work became a turning point in the history of the  Vaishnavite movement which was an important component of the Bhakti movement. A more effective method for spreading of the Bhakti ideology was the use of local languages. The Bhakti saints composed their verses in local languages. They also translated Sanskrit works to make them understandable to a wider audience. Thus we find Jnanadeva writing in Marathi, Kabir, Surdas and  Tulsidas in Hindi, Shankaradeva popularising Assamese, Chaitanya and Chandidas spreading their message in Bengali, Mirabai in Hindi and Rajasthani. In addition, devotional poetry was composed in Kashmiri,  Telugu, Kannad, Oriya, Malayalam, Maithili and Gujarati.