BHAKTI MOVEMENT

INTRODUCTION

The Bhakti Movement emerged during the 8th century CE, in southern India. It eventually
spread north, to almost the whole of modern-day India. Its climactic influence, in India, was
felt during the 9th - 16th century CE.

NATURE OF THE MOVEMENT

The Bhakti Movement, in essence, emerged as a reaction to the increasing complexity of

Hinduism at the hands of the Brahmins, who insisted on more and more procedures, in a
nutshell, to get closer to God. The Bhakti Movement turned the clock back by many
centuries, and reconnected with two fundamental truths of Hinduism, which seemed to have
been forgotten:

1. Multiplicity of Ways to Reach Godd: There are many ways, all of them like
different rivers, taking different paths, which ultimately reach the sea, the end of
1
every Hindu understanding, and getting closer, to God. None of them is right, or
wrong.

Amongst the many paths, this movement chose the path of bhakti, or devotion.

2. God as an Abstract Entity, Personified: Hinduism regards God as an abstraction

which permeates the entire universe. God has no form, no identity, no character: it is
only the “eternal truth”. However, God is personified, and appears, as the many de
facto gods, and goddesses, we are used to. Each one of us chooses our own.

Thus, the Bhakti Movement did not re-invent Hinduism. It only re-connected with some core
Hindu principles, and built a movement on it.

KEY PRINCIPLES

1. Bhakti as the way to get closer to God: Amongst the multiple ways to reach God,
the Bhakti Movement emphasised a particular manner of connecting with God:
through intense devotion, or bhakti, expressed by a devotee through the repeated
chanting of the name of one’s chosen personal God, expressed chiefly through the

1 To use an aphorism from the Bhagwad Gita.

 medium of singing and dancing. The choice of bhakti, as a path to reach God, was not
exactly novel. It finds mention as such in Shvetashvatara Upanishad, the Bhagvad
Gita, 2 and some dharmasutras.

The Movement thus reinvented religion not as a cold, mechanical form of worshipp,
but as an intimately personal connect between the worshipper and the worshipped.

2. Devotee’s Choice of Personal God: The devotee is free to choose his, or her, own
God to express devotion to, manifested in such way as he/she sees it. To see one’s
God, one need not enter the precincts of a temple. One could see them manifested
anywhere else (viz. as a tree), or in anyone else (viz. a hermit). All of the personal
gods are but manifestations, and personifications, of the one God permeating the
universe. Many local deities thus came to be admitted into the Hindu pantheon (viz.
Chidambaram, Jagganath, etc.).

The Bhakti Movement emphasised the irrelevance of caste, creed, colour, gender, etc.
in this regard.

BHAKTI SAINTS

Many individuals are responsible for the rise, and spread, of the Bhakti Movement. Some
such notable Bhakti saints are:

 Sri Ramanuja Acharya.

 Shankaracharya.

 Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (Bengali).

 Jnanadeva (Marathi).

 Mirabai (Hindi + Rajasthani).

 Guru Nanak.

EFFECTS ON CULTURE

The Bhakt Movement left behind a lasting effect on Indian ulture.

A number of cults, each devoted to express bhakti towards a particular God (viz. the Krishna
cult, the Rama cult, etc.) developed. Each of them composed their own songs, and poems, in

2 Widely recognised as an essential summary of the core principles of the entire body of Hindu philosophy.
the respective regional languages, all of which continue to be an integral part of Indian
culture.

The Bhakti Movement made Hinduism more acceptable to the masses through its simplicity,
and was thus responsible as a major factor for the revival of Hinduism. Another major
contribution of the movement is that it exposed the monopolization of overly complicated
procedures to reach God by the Brahmins.