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The Bhakti Movement and the Related Historical Figures

Dr. M. V. Kamath

My dear Gauri,

An interesting aspect of the Bhakti Movement in India, Gauri, is that it revolves around only two figures, Rama and Krishna. Again, there is far less stress on Sita, wife of Rama, than on Radha who was not even Krishna’s wife!

But if Krishna became popular in Bengal, it was Rama who captured the hearts of the people in the Hindi-speaking areas. This could be -and probably is- because Rama himself came from Ayodhya and the people in the Hindi belt could identify themselves with him. There was only one exception in this case, however. And that was Mirabai, the Rajput princess.

But first on our list is Ramananda (1400-1470). In his youth he had probably lived in South India and was, at first, a follower of Ramanuja’s Srivaishnava sect (of Ramanuja, I shall write some time later). But on his return to the north, he settled down in Benaras and established his own sect, the Ramanandis. Ramananda looked upon Rama, just as Chaitanya looked upon Krishna, as the Supreme God. Additionally, he insisted that Rama’s close companion, Hanuman, should also be venerated.

Ramananda was strongly opposed to the existing caste system. You will be amazed to know how many of our saints and teachers have been opposed to the caste system. Ramananda threw open his sect to all and his twelve personal disciples are said to have included women, an outcaste and even a Muslim. He wrote very little; in fact only one hymn is attributed to him which is still extant. But it was the equality of all which he preached that makes him stand out among his contemporaries.

After Ramananda came Kabir (1440-1514) who started out as a disciple of Ramananda. Kabir belonged to the weaver’s caste which was considered low. He was brought up in a Muslim family of weavers. The family members were probably new converts to Islam because Kabir could still think in terms of Rama and Hari which are names of Vishnu. For Kabir there was only one way open to realize God: bhakti; it was, he maintained, through personal bhakti that one could get a vision of God. Kabir’s idea of God was all-embracing for he was influenced by Vaishnavism, Hatha Yoga, Vedanta and Sufism.

Nevertheless, Kabir’s poetry, though highly philosophic, has a rustic quality about it, even when it was sweetly lyrical. Kabir wrote in epigrams and short verses and he called God by names familiar to both Hindus and Muslims, such as Ram, Hari, Allah, Khudaa, Niguna, Tat and even Sunya (void) and Sabda (sound)! Such was his uniqueness that both Muslims and Hindus could claim him as their own and the Sikhs incorporated his songs in their Adi Granth.

At heart Kabir was a social reformer. He had no use for the external manifestations of religion such as scriptures, pilgrimages, rituals, and idols and, of course, he was against all forms of superstition. Take this song written by him, for instance:

There is nothing but water at the holy bathing places; and I know that they are useless, for I have bathed in them!

The images are all lifeless, they cannot speak;

I know, because I have cried aloud for them.

The Puranas and the Quran are mere words,

Lifting up the curtain, I have seen!

Kabir attacked the caste system, denounced the pride of the Brahmins and spared nobody. He wrote:

It is but folly to ask what the caste of a saint may be; the barber has sought God, [and also] the washer- woman and the carpenter…

The rishi Svapacha was a tanner by caste 

Hindus and Muslims alike have achieved that End,

Where remains no mark of distinction.

As with all saints there are legends about Kabir also. It is said that when, after his death, both Hindus and Muslims claimed his body, his ghost appeared on the scene and told them to raise the shroud that covered him. When they did so, they merely found a heap of fresh flowers! These flowers they divided among themselves, with the Hindus taking one half and cremating it at Benaras and the Muslims taking other half and burying it at Maghar!

Kabir founded a community which came to be known as Kabirpanthis. They discarded idol worship and stressed the value and importance of a guru. Among the leading disciples of Kabir was Nanak who founded the Sikh faith. I shall write about him on a later occasion.

We come next to Surdas (1483-1563) who was a disciple of Vallabha and a brilliant disciple at that. He was born in a Brahmin family. He later became blind. Legend, again, has it that his blindness was self-inflicted when he found out how he was so driven by lust that he mistook a serpent hanging on a tree for a rope to hold on to for getting into his beloved’s boudoir. He was, the story goes, so ashamed of himself, that he tore his eyes out!

Maybe it is just a story. But it is a story with a moral. Surdas was a musician attached to some temples in Agra and Mathura. He composed many songs which have been collected under the title Sur Sagar (Ocean of Melody) which, according to him, were inspired by the Bhagavata Purana. His songs have as their theme, again, the life of Krishna both the child Krishna as well as Krishna as the lover. Surdas’ songs are renowned for their exquisite melody. As a poet, he is second only to Tulasidas. One scholar has written that ‘his poetry is suffused with an essential tender bhakti, sometimes passionate, yet never too explicitly physical, often full of pathos and pervaded with a gentle affection for all that lives”. Now isn’t that lovely?

But of all the spiritual heirs of Ramananda, the most famous still is Tulsidas (1532-1623) whose great work Ramacharitmanas is of incomparable beauty. This is the story of Rama written in Hindi and this made available to the common man. To millions of people in the Hindi-speaking area this work remains a perennial source of inspiration and it is very rare that one can find a Hindi-speaking citizen who cannot recite a stanza or two from it.

We do not know much about the life of Tulsidas though he lived to a ripe old age. He probably studied Sanskrit. He certainly settled down in Benaras. Six minor and six major works are attributed to him. Of his better known works are Vinaya Pattrika and Kavitavali.

Tulsidas’ bhakti, unlike that of Chaitanya or Vidyapati, is the love of the servant for his loving master. An outstanding feature is the absence even the slightest hint of sensuality in his writing. Perhaps the life of Rama does not lend itself to sensual writing. What pervades in Ramcharitmanas is divinity and graciousness. Tulsidas’ influence on his times was threefold; he inspired an intense devotion to Rama, as God; he inculcated in people a high sense of morality and kindness in human relationships; and at a time when Hinduism was under intense pressure from Islam, he proved to be a great force ensuring stability and unity.

Perhaps I should not say it, but my own preference is for Mirabai (1503-1573) whose beautiful poetry is music to my ears. Haven’t you ever heard the song: Mere tho Giridhar Gopal dusra na koi? She loved Krishna beyond everything. She willingly gave up the pleasures and privileges of a Rajput princess to wander through the then Hindi heartland, singing her bhajans. Ponder over these lines:

Pul kato sahi in nainan ke Giridhari bina pal antiniharen

Jibh kateu na bhajey Nandanandan budhi katey Hari namabisarey

Mira kehey jar javo pud kunj bina palantar dharey

Sis navey Brajraj bina wuh sishi kat kunwan kin darey

(May these eyelashes be torn if they look even for a moment on anyone other than Giridhar; may this tongue be cut to pieces if it recited not the name if Giridhar constantly and farewell, O my intellect, if thou meditate not on Him. Burn this heart if it does not worship the Lotus Feet of the Lord always and if ever this head should bow to anyone besides Brajraj, cut it off and cast it into the well.)

When she left the court of her in-laws, she addressed Rana (her husband) thus:

Rana, your strange world is not to my liking,

It has no saints, and its people are base.

I’ve given up ornaments and the braiding of hair

I’ve given up collyrium and the tying of braids

Mira has found a perfect groom, Krishna the Lord.

So much for the saints. In my next letter I shall write to you about the three great Hindu philosophers, namely Sankara, Ramanuja and Madhwa. 

Your loving,

Ajja