Bhakti-Sufi Traditions Changes in Religious Beliefs and Devotional Texts

Who were the major deities?

Vishnu, Shiva and the goddess who were visualized in a variety of forms.

What is known as jewel in the crown?

Shah Hamadan Mosque

How many forms of Vishnu are there?

10

Who was Manikkavachar?

Devotee of Shiva who composed songs in Tamil

How did Chistis assimilate with Indian Traditions?

Yogic Practices and mystical music like sama

bowing before the Shaikh, offering water to visitors

Who is known as Data Ganj Baksh or “Giver who bestows treasures”?

Abu’l Hasan al Hujwiri

mausoleum is called Data Darbar or “Court of the Giver”

Who were jangama?

Wandering Monks of Linga tradition

What were relations with Buddhist and Jainists?

Were fraught with tension

What did Vaishnavites and Shaivites do?

expressions of devotion ranged from the routine worship of deities within temples to ecstatic adoration where devotees attained a trance-like state.

Who coined the terms great and little traditions?

Sociologist Robert Redfield

Describing cultural practices of peasant societies

Used in quotation marks to indicate that they are uncomfortable with hierarchy

What are big traditions?

Peasants observed rituals emanated from dominant social categories like priests and rulers which he called big tradition by Robert Redfield

Scholars don’t like hierarchy of “great” and “little”

What are little traditions?

Peasants that followed their own traditions which was called little tradition

What a widespread way of worshipping goddess?

Stone smeared with ochre

What did those who valued Vedic texts do?

Condemned practices that went beyond regulated contact with the divine through the performance of sacrifices or precisely chanted mantras.

What were the two ways in which Brahmanical idea become mainstream?

The disseminating of Brahmanical Ideas Composition, compilation and preservation of Puranic texts in simple Sanskrit verse, explicitly meant to be accessible to women and Shudras who were generally removed from Vedic learning.

Brahmanas accepting and reworking the beliefs and practices of these and other social categories

What did Women do in Bhakti?

Did not join an alternative order or become nuns

Their existence and their composition posed challenge to patriarchal norms

Who is Jagannatha?

A form of Vishnu

Puri, Orissa

Who is the sister of Jagannatha?

Subhadra

Who is the brother of Jagannatha?

Balarama

Who is Marichi?

Buddhist goddess example of integration of different beliefs.

Who is Lakhsmi?

Wife of Vishnu

Who was Parvati?

Wife of Shiva

How did Brahmanas integrate local traditions?

They made the local gods a form of the main god

Made local goddesses identify as the wife of the principal deities

What were Tantric?

Associated with goddess

Several parts in the subcontinent

Differences in caste and class were ignored

Open to women and men

Influenced Shaivism and Buddhism in eastern, northern and southern parts of the subcontinent

Frequently ignored authority of the Vedas

Tended to project chosen deity

Who are the principal deities of the Vedic pantheon?

Agni, Indra and Soma

Vedas continued to be authoritative

How were Puranic texts different from Vedas?

Agni, Indra and Soma were marginal figures.

Vedas were still authoritative

What does Bhakti mean?

Devotion

How did people show their Bhakti?

Worship within temples

Ecstatic adoration where devotees attained a trance-like state

Singing and chanting of devotional compositions

True of Vaishnava and Shaiva sects

What were Brahmanas needed for?

Intermediaries between gods and devotees

Two broad categories of bhakti traditions

Saguna (With attributes) Worshiped specific deities like Shiva and Vishnu and their avatars. Conceptualized in anthropomorphic forms

Nirguna (Without attributes). Worship of an abstract form of god

What was Saguna worship?

Focused of worship of specific deities such as Shiva, Vishnu and all his avatars and forms of goddess or Devi. All were conceptualized in anthropomorphic forms

What was Nirguna bhakti?

Worship of an abstract form of god

Who were Alavars?

Those who are immersed in devotion of Vishnu

Revered by Vellala peasants

Who are Nayanars?

Devotees of Shiva

Revered by Vellala peasants

What did Alvars and Nayanars do?

Travelled place to place singing hymns in Tamil in praise of gods

Identified shrines as abodes of their gods which were then made into temple. Temples were later made here. Centers of Pilgrimage

Centers of pilgrimage.

Earliest bhakti movement

What became popular in the Alvars and Nayanars?

Singing compositions of poet saints

Worship of saints’ images

Who was Tondaradippodi?

Alvar Brahmana

Who was Appar?

Nayanar saint

What’s described as the Tamil Veda?

Nalayira Divyaprabandham (“Four Thousand Sacred Composition”s)

Compositions of 12 Alvars

10th century

Claimed that it was as significant as four Vedas

What is the Tevaram?

Poems of Appar, Sambandar and Sundarar

Compiled on the basis of the music of the songs

What did Alvars and Nayanars do against the Brahamanas?

Bhaktas were from everywhere even the untouchables. Initiated movement against caste system and their bhaktas were even untouchables

Said that there compositions were as important as the Vedas

Who was Andal?

Woman Alvar

Saw herself as beloved of Vishnu

Who was Karaikkal Ammaiyar?

Devotee of Shiva

Adopted Extreme asceticism to attain her goal

Compositions were preserved within Nayanar traditions.

Renounced social obligation

Women

What were the important chiefdoms in the Tamil region?

Pallavas and Pandavas

Why were Bhakti hymns against Buddhism and Jainism?

Competition between religion to get royal patronage

What traditions did the Chola rulers support?

Brahmanical and bhakti traditions.

Land grants for temples of Vishnu and Shiva

What were some of the most magnificent Shiva temples? Chola rulers

Chidambaram, Thanjavur and Gangaikondacholapurum

Who was Basavanna?

Brahmana minster in the court of Kalachuri ruler

His followers were known as Lingayats

What were followers of Basavanna called?

Virashaivas or Lingayats

Why did Chola rulers try to win the support of Nayanars and Alvars?

They were revered by Vellala Peasants

How did Chola kings claim divine support?

Built splendid temples

Metal sculpture to recreate visions of popular saints

Introduced singing of Tamil Shaiva hymns

Made Tevaram

What did King Parantaka do? Chola

Conscerated metal images of Appar, Sambadnar and Sundarr

What do Lingayats do?

Worship Shiva in his manifestation as a linga

Wear small linga in a silver case on a loop strung over left shoulder

Where did Virashaiva/Lingayat emerge from?

Karnataka

What do Lingayats believe?

On death they will be united with Shiva and will not return to this world

Believe in burying their dead not cremation

Question theory of rebirth

What practices did Lingayat encourage that was disapproved in the Dharmashastras?

Post-puberty marriage

Remarriage of widows

Burying of dead

Followers were marginalized

Challenged idea of pollution and rebirth

What were vachanas?

Sayings composed in kannada by men and women

Virashaiva tradition

How do we know about Virashaiva (Lingayats)?

Derived from vachanas(literally, sayings) composed in Kannada by women and men who joined the movement

What were the two major developments?

Bhakti in Maharashtra in thirteenth century

and As Vaishnavas and other bhaktas were incorporated within Sanskritic tradition Bhagavata Purana

What is one of the best-known Puranas?

Bhagavata Purana

As Vaishnavas and other bhaktas were incorporated within Sanskritic tradition

When did we find compositions resembling the Alvars and Nayanars?

fourteenth century

When were evidence of new traditions found in North India?

Fourteenth century

Which North Indian religious leaders did not function within the Brahmanical farmwork?

Naths, Jogis, and Siddhas

What new element led to change in traditions in North India?

Coming of Turks which culminated in the establishment of the Delhi Sultanate

Thirteenth Century

The coming of sufis

What undermined the power of Rajput states and Brahamanas?

Coming of Turks

What came to be known as the Islamic world?

North-western parts of the Asian continent

Who are Ulama?

Plural of alim, or one who knows. Scholars of Islamic studies

Perform various religious, juridical and teaching functions

Supposed to guide Muslim rulers to ensure the ruled according to Shari’a

Who conquered Sind in 711?

Muhammad Qasim

When was the Mughal Empire established?

Sixteenth century

Who were Zimmi (Zimma, protection)?

People who followed revealed scriptures like Jews and Chrisitan

Had to pay Jizya to gain the right to be protected by Muslims

What is jizya?

Tax paid by Zimmi for the right to be protected by rulers.

Extended to Hindus

What policy did Muslim leaders adopt?

Flexible policy towards their subjects, gave land endowments and granted tax exemptions and expressed respect and devotion towards non-Muslim leaders

Which Mughal rulers gave grants?

Akbar and Aurangzeb

What is Shari’a?

Law governing the Muslim community

Based on Qur’an and the hadis (traditions of the Prophet)

What were the two ways of ruling other than Shari’a?

Qiyas (Reasoning by analogy)

Ijma (Consensus of the community)

What is farman?

Imperial order

What did the Shari’a evolve from?

Qur’ran, hadi (recorded sayings, actions, and approvals of the Prohphet) , quiyas (Reasoning by analogy) and ijma (Consensus of the community)

Who are padris?

Church priests, fathers

What are the five pillars of Islam?

There is only one God, Allah and Prophet Muhammad is his messenger of Allah (Shahada)

Offering prayers five times a day (Namaz/Salat)

Giving Alms (Zakat)

Fasting during the month of Ramzan (sawn)

Performing pilgrimage to Mecca (Hajj)

What are the sects of Islam?

Shia

Sunni

Who were Khojahs?

Branch of Ismalis (Shia sect)

Developed new modes of communication through indigenous literary genres.

Major contribution was writing poems in local languages

What languages were the Khojahs poems written in?

Punjabi, Multani, Sindhi, Kachchi, Hindi, Gujarati

What does ginan mean?

Derived from Sanskrit jnana meaning knowledge

Local Languages

Poems made by Khojahs

What did Arab Muslim traders who settled on the Malabar coast do?

Adopted Local Language.

Adopted matriliny and matrilocal residence

What is Matrilocal residence?

Practice in where women after marriage remain in their natal home with their children

Arab Muslim traders settled along the Malabar coast and adopted Malayalam

What features of mosques are universal?

Orientation towards Mecca evident in placement of

Mihrab (Prayer niche, indicates where mecca is) and minbar (pulpit, imam stands here)

What is mihrab?

Prayer niche indicated where mecca is

What is minbar?

Place from which the sermon is given

What are the variations in mosques?

Difference in roofs and building materials

How were people designated if not based on Hindu-Muslim?

The region from which they came

Musalman word was never used

What were Turkish rulers called?

Turushka

What were people of Tajikistan called?

Tajika

What were people of Persia called?

Parashika

What were Turks and Afghans also known as?

Shakas and Yavanas (Greeks)

What was a more general term for migrant communities?

Mlechchha

Meant that they didn’t know the norms of cast society

Did not Speak language derived from sanskrit

Did not designate distinct religious community

Sometimes derogatory

What is Sufism?

English word coined in nineteenth century

Taswwuf in Islami texts

Derived from suf meaning wool

Sufis wear woolen clothes

Also derived from safa meaning purity

Suffa, the platform outside the Prophet’s mosque where is close followers assembled

Why did the Sufi tradition emerge?

They turned to asceticism and mysticism in protest to growing materialism of the Caliphate

Critical of dogmatic definitions and interpreting the quran

Emphasis on seeking salvation through intense devotion and love for God

Regarded Muhammad as perfect human being

Interpreted the Qur’an on their own personal experience

Was a well-developed movement by 11th century

What is sunna?

Traditions of the prophet

How did Sufis organize?

Khanquah(Persian) controlled by a teaching master called shaikh(Arabic), pir of murshid. He enrolled disciples (murids) and appointed a successor (khalifa).

Teacher established rules for spiritual conduct and interaction between inmates and laypersons and master

Have sisilas which is based on a founding member

When the shaikh dies his tomb-shrine (dargah) became center of devotion for his followers. Encouraged pilgrimage or ziyarat to his grave. Particularly on death anniversary or urs (marriage signifying union with god)

Believed that in death saints were united with gods

Sought Blessings to attain material and spiritual benefits

What were sisilias (chain)?

Sufi lineage which is passed down from master.

Named after founding figure or place of orgin

Chisht in central Afghanistan

Qadiri order after Shaikh Abd’ul Qadir

Spiritual geneology to Prophet Muhammad