Bhakti-Sufi Traditions Changes in Religious Beliefs and Devotional Texts

Who were the major deities?

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

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

What are little traditions?

Peasants that followed their own traditions which was called little tradition

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

Who is Jagannatha?

A form of Vishnu

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 Vishnu

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?

Worship of goddess

Differences in caste and class were ignored

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

Frequently ignored authority of the Vedas

Who are the principal deities of the Vedic pantheon?

Agni, Indra and Soma

Vedas continued to be 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)

Nirguna (Without attributes)

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.

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

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

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 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

What were followers of Basavanna called?

Virashaivas or Lingayats

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

What do Lingayats believe?

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

Believe in burying their dead

Question theory of rebirth

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

Post-puberty marriage

Remarriage of widows

Burying of dead

How do we know about Virashaiva?

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

What is one of the best-known Puranas?

Bhagavata Purana

When were evidence of new traditions found in North India?

Fourteenth century

Which North Indian leader did not function within the Brahmanical framwork?

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 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

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 did the Shari’a evolve from?

Qur’ran, hadi (recorded sayings, actions, and approvals) , quiyas and ijma

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.

What languages were the Khojahs poems written in?

Punjabi, Multani, Sindhi, Kachchi, Hindi, Gujarati

What does ginan mean?

Derived from Sanskrit jnana meaning knowledge

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

Orientation towards Mecca evident in placement of Mihrab and minbar

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

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 migran communites?

Mlechchha

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

Did not Speak language derived from sanskrit

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

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

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

Believed that in death saints were united with gods

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

What did initiates do to enter silsilas?

Oath of allegiance, wore a patched garment and shaved their hair

What is the cult of the shaikh(teacher sufi)?

Wali claimed proximity to God people sought His Grace (barakat) to perform miracles(karamat_

What were sufis who complied with sharia’a law called?

ba-shari‘a sufis

What were sufis who didn’t complied with sharia’a law called?

be-shari‘a

Who in the sufis scorned the Khanqah and took to mendiance and observed celibacy?

Qalandars, Madaris, Malangs, Haidaris

Most influential sufis in India?

Chishtis because they adapted successfully to the local environment and adopted several features of Indian devotional traditions.

Austerity and maintaining a distance from worldly power was a major feature

Where did Shaikh Nizamuddin Auliya set up hospice?

Banks of Yamuna in Ghiyaspur

Comprised of several small rooms and a big hall (Jama’at khana) where inmates and visitors lived

Also known as sultan-ul-mashaikh (literally Sultan amongst shaikhs)

Shaikh lived in small room on the roof

One time they flocked to avoid Mongol invasion

There was an open kitchen run on futuh (unasked-for charity)

Amir Hasan Sijzi and Amir Khusrau and the court historian Ziyauddin Barani visited him

Appointed several successor so his message spread

Who wrote the Kashf-ul-Mahjub (Unveiling of the Veiled) in Persian?

Abu’l Hasan al Huwiri to explain the meaning of tasawuf

Grandson of Ghazni constructed a tomb over his grave

Data Ganj Bakhsh is Revered Giver who bestows treasures” and his mausoleum is called Data Darbar or “Court of the Giver

Who has the most revered shirn?

Khwaja Muinuddin known as Ghraib Nawaz

How was Chishti saints are there?

5

Shaikh Muinuddin Sijzi

Khwaja Qutbuddin Bakhtiyar Kaki

Shaikh Fariduddin Ganj-i Shakar

Shaikh Nizamuddin Auliya

Shaikh Nasiruddin Chiragh-i Dehli

When were the earliest textual reference to Khwaja Muinuddin’s dargah?

14th century

Muhammad bin Tughlaq first visitor

Who funded the shrine of Khwaja Muinuddin?

Sultan Ghiyasuddin Khaji of Malwa

Where was the shrine of Khwaja Muinuddin located?

Trade route linking Delhi and Gujarat

What inspired Akbar to visit the tomb of Khwaja Muinuddin?

Spirited singing of pilgrims bound for Ajmer

Went there fourteen times

Sometimes two or three times a year, to seek blessings for new conquests, fulfilment of vows and the birth of sons

Until 1580

Offered a gift every time.

Gave huge cauldron (degh) to cook

Also had aa mosque built

Who performed music, dance and mystical chants?

Specially trained musicians or qawwals

How do Sufis remember God?

Reciting the Zikr of evoking His Presence through Sama(Audition) or performance of mystical music

What was Integral to the Chishtis?

Sama (audition) or performance of mystical music and exemplified interaction with indigenous devotional traditions

What language did Chishtis adopt in Delhi?

Hindavi

Who wrote the prem-akyan (love story) masnavisPadmavat?

Malik Muhammad Jayasi

Padmini and Ratansen, the king of Chittor

Recited during sama

Whose composes verses were integrated in the Guru Granth Sahib?

Baba Farid

What is qawwali?

Amir Khusrau

Qual (Arabic) a hymn sung at the opening or closing of qawwali

Followed by sufi poetry in Persian, Hindavi or Urdu sometimes all of them

Who are Qawwal?

Those who sing songs of qawwali

What is Dakhani?

Variant of Urdu

What was the style of poetry in Bijapur, Karnataka?

Short poems in Dakhani