Page 76 - SST Class 07
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Beliefs and Religions 10
q Bhakti movement q Sufi movement
Introduction Principles of Bhakti Movement
During the medieval period, various new religious One Supreme God
ideas arose. It was the impact of many cultures. The They believed that God is one. Allah, Ishwar,
arrival of the Turks brought Sufi movement into
God, Rama are all names of one God.
India. The Hindus and the Muslims both were
influenced by this movement. The Hindu society Good Deeds
was engrossed with all caste of superstitious at that To worship God, man should do good deeds, that
time. Lower caste were ill-treated and Brahmins is, speak truth, live honestly, practice justice and
enjoyed complete supremacy. On the other hand, oneness, help everyone, not harm anybody, never
Islam preached oneness of God, brotherhood and steal etc. To serve humanity is equal to serve God.
equality amongst all the people. Gradually, people
Personal Devotion
started to understand each other and came closer.
The emergence of Bhakti movement and Sufi Bhakti stresses on personal devotion to God. It is
movement arose as the result of the intermixing of better than performing religious ceremonies and
Hindu's and Muslim's religious trends. going on pilgrimages.
Equality of All Human Beings
BHAKTI MOVEMENT
All human beings are equal. There should be no
You have read in the previous class that there caste distinction and superstitious practices in the
were two chief religious movements in South society.
India—Nayanars and Alvars . The Nayanars were Later, Bhakti saints were divided into two
devoted to Lord Shiva and Alvars were devoted to
faiths—saguna and nirguna. Those who believed
Lord Vishnu. These saints criticised the caste
that God has a certain kind of form were called as
system and professed love for God and service to saguna and those who said that God has no form,
fellow beings. These saints belonged to different
were called nirguna. The followers of nirguna faith
castes, sometimes from amongst the untouchables.
did not believe in idol worship.
They believed that pure devotion to God could
lead to salvation. These saints visited different
Info Bits
places composing poems in the common Info Bits
language of the people and sang them. They were
opposed to religious rituals and ceremonies and Narsi Mehta was a poet saint of
preached religious tolerance. Gujarat, notable as a bhakta, an
exponent of Vaishnava poetry.
Info Bits His famous poem is :
Info Bits
Vaishnav Jana To, Tene Kahiye Je
Bhakti means personal devotion to God. It stresses
on selfless love for God. Peed Paraayi Jaane Re,
Contemporary Social Science-7
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