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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