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Para Dukhe Upakara Kare To Ye
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            Mana Abhimana Na Ane Re...
            The two important saints during the early                Some people believed that Chaitanya was the
            medieval    period   were    Shankaracharya     and      incarnation of Lord Krishna and called him
            Ramanuja who were born in South India.                   Mahaprabhu.
             Shankaracharya                                          Tulsidas

            Shankaracharya was born                                 Tulsidas wrote the famous Ramcharitmanas. This
            in South India in the                                   book is devoted to the life and times of Lord
            eighth     century.     He                              Rama. It is written in the common language of
            believed in the oneness of                              Awadhi. It continues to be very
            God and individual soul.                                popular even today. It has made
            He said that one can attain                             the name of Lord Rama a
            God by knowing Him. He                                  household name. While it is
            advocated that the world is                             replete with devotion to God, it
            a mere illusion (Maya) and        Shankaracharya        also strikes at the root of many
            should be given up. He toured the whole of India        evils in the society.                   Tulsidas
            and established four peeths (monasteries) in the         Surdas
            four corners of India—Badrinath, Puri, Dwarika
            and Rameshwaram. Even today, these four peeths          Surdas was a devotee of Lord Krishna. His love for
                                                                    Him was unqualified. He was
            continue to guide the Hindus.
                                                                    blind and sang in devotion. His
             Ramanuja                                               poems were compiled by his
            Ramanuja too was born in South India in the             followers   in   the   form    of
            eleventh century. He too travelled all over India       Sursagar,    Surasaravali    and
            and popularised the Bhakti                              Sahitya Lahiri. These poems
            movement. According to                                  continue to be very popular             Surdas
            him, devotion to God and                                even today.
            compassion for the fellow                                Mirabai
            beings were the sure paths
                                                                    Mirabai was a Rajput princess. She was married to
            of      attaining     God.
            Ramanuja      spread    the                             a prince of Mewar in Rajasthan. She refused to
            Bhakti movement in North                                follow the traditional role of a wife. Her in-laws
                                                                    tried to poison her but she escaped from the
            India.                              Ramanuja
                                                                    palace to become a wandering
             Basavanna                                              saint, composing and singing
            Basavanna was another saint who was born in             Bhakti songs. She gave up all
            Karnataka in the twelfth century. He taught             her luxuries for her devotion to
            equality of all human beings and opposed all            Lord   Krishna.   She   sang   in
            types of rituals. He was against any discrimination     devotion     and     popularised
            on the grounds of caste or gender.                      kirtans .                               Mirabai
            During the later medieval period, many saints               Quiz Time
            emerged in the whole of India, such as Namdev      ,
            Eknath  and Tukaram    in Maharashtra; Chaitanya         Fill in the blanks :
            Mahaprabhu     in Bengal; Mirabai    in Rajasthan,       1. ____________   was born in South India in the
            Tulsidas , Surdas  and Kabirdas  in Uttar Pradesh,          eighth century.
            Guru Nanak   in Punjab etc.
                                                                                             Beliefs and Religions
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