NCERT 7 HISTORY CHAPTER 8

-

8.DEVOTIONAL PATHS TO THE DIVINE


  • people perform rituals of worship, or singing bhajans, kirtans or qawwalis 
  • such intense devotion is the legacy of various kinds of bhakti and Sufi movements
     THE IDEA OF A SUPREME GOD
  • Different groups of people worshipped their own gods and goddesses
  • The idea that all living things pass through countless cycles of birth and rebirth came to be widely accepted
  • some attracted to the idea of a supreme god who could deliver humans from such bondage if approached with devotion
  • Shiva, Vishnu and Durga - supreme deities
  A NEW KIND OF BHAKTI IN SOUTH INDIA - NAYANARS AND ALVARS
  • They drew upon the ideals of love and heroism as in Sangam literature and blended them with the values of bhakti
  • The Cholas and Pandya kings built elaborate temples to strengthen the link between the bhakti tradition and temple worship
  • There were 63 Nayanars and 12 Alvars 
  • Best known Nayanars - Appar, Sambandar, Sundarar and Manikkavasagar (compilations - Tevaram and Tiruvacakam)
  • Best known Alvars - Periyalvar, his daughter Andal, Tondaradippodi Alvar and Nammalvar (compilation - Divya Prabandham)
  • Hagiographies (or Religious biographies) of the Alvars and Nayanars remained as sources for writing histories of the bhakti tradition
    PHILOSOPHY AND BHAKTI
  • Shankara (Kerala) - influential philosopher, an advocate of Advaita or the doctrine of the oneness of the individual soul 
  • Ramanuja (Tamil Nadu) - influenced by the Alvars, prepounded the doctrine of Vishishtadvaita / qualified oneness
    BASAVANNA'S VIRASHAIVISM
  • initiated by Basavanna and his companions like Allama Prabhu and Akkamahadevi
  • began in Karnataka in mid 12 century
  • argued strongly for the equality of all human beings against the caste system and treatment of women
    THE SAINTS OF MAHARASHTRA
  • 13 to 17 century - saint poets were Dnyaneshwar, Namdev, Eknath, Tukaram, Sakhubai and the family of Chokhamela
  • focused on the Vitthala (a form of Vishnu)temple in Pandharpur, they rejected all forms of ritualism
  • Gujaratti saint Narsi Mehta said - Vaishnavas who understand the pain of others
    NATHPANTHIS, SIDDHAS AND YOGIS
  • advocated renunciation of the world, path to salvation lay in meditation
  • advocated intense training of the mind and body through practices like yogasanas, breathing exercises and meditation
    ISLAM AND SUFISM
  • Sants had much in common with the Sufis, Islam has strict monotheism (submission to one god)
  • Sufis - muslim mystics, rejected outward religiosity, emphasised love and devotion to God
  • 8 and 9th century - scholars developed different aspects of Holy law (Shariat) and theology of Islam
  • Great Sufis of Central Asia - Ghazzali, Rumi and Sadi
  • developed elaborate methods of training using zikr (sacred formula), contemplation, sama (singing), raqs(dancing), discussion of parables, breadth control etc..
  • Sisilas - spiritual genealogy of Sufi teachers, method (tariqa)
  • Chishti silsila (order / school within mystic Sufi tradition) - Khwaja Muinuddin Chishti of Ajmer, Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki of Delhi, Baba Farid of Punjab, Khwaja Nizamuddin Auliya of Delhi and Bandanawaz Gisudaraz of Gulbarga
  • Assemblies held in khanqahs or hospices (a rest house)
  • Jalaluddin Rumi - a great 13th century Sufi poet from Iran who wrote in Persian
    NEW RELIGIOUS DEVELOPMENTS IN NORTH INDIA
  • 13th century - new wave of the bhakti movement 
  • Kabir and Baba Guru Nanak - rejected all orthodox religions
  • Tulsidas and Surdas - accepted and wanted to make accessible to the existing beliefs and practices
  • Tulsidas - wrote Ramacharitmanas, written in Awadhi (language in eastern Uttar Pradesh)
  • Surdas - devotee of Krishna, compositions were Sursagara, Surasaravali and Sahitya Lahari
  • Shankaradeva of Assam - devotee of Vishnu, he set up namghars (house of recitation and prayer)
  • other saints were Dadu Dayal, Ravidas and Mirabai
  • Mirabai - a disciple of Ravidas, Krishna devotee, popular with the masses in Rajasthan and Gujarat
  • Bhakti saints contributed towards the development of music (Jayadeva of Bengal composed Gita Govinda in Sanskrit)
   A CLOSER LOOK :
   KABIR
  • Kabir - lived in 15-16th century, brought in a family of Muslim julahas / weavers in Benares
  • His ideas - verses (sakhis and pads)
  • these were later collected and preserved in the Guru Granth Sahib, Panch Vani and Bijak
  • Kabir's teachings - rejection of major religious traditions, complete and indeed vehement
  • his poetry were in spoken Hindi, sometimes used cryptic language 
  • he believed in a formless Supreme God, path to Salvation - bhakti / devotion
  • drew his followers from among both Hindus and Muslims 
   A CLOSER LOOK: 
BABA GURU NANAK(1469 - 1539)
  • Born at Talwandi(Pakistan), established centre at Kartarpur 
  • worship - singing hymns, ate together in common kitchen(langar), created sacred space (Dharmsal/ Gurdwara)
  • successor - Lehna(Guru Angad), added his compositions to Baba Guru Nanak called Gurmukhi
  • his successors added compositions
  • then finally Guru Granth Sahib (the holy scripture of the Sikhs)
  • 16th century - followers increased belonged to various castes but traders, agriculturists, artisans and craftsmen predominated
  • 17th century - Ramdaspur town (Amritsar) had developed around central Gurdwara called Harmandar Sahib (Golden temple)
  • Jahangir - looked upon them as potential threat, ordered execution of Guru Arjan in 1606
  • Sikh movement politicised and culminated in the institution of the Khalsa by Guru Gobind Singh in 1699
  • Sikh communities - the Khalsa Panth, became a political entity
  • Ideas of Guru Nanak - worship of one god, rejected caste system
  • he used the terms nam, dan, and isnan (meant right worship, welfare of others, purity of conduct)
  • His teachings - nam-japna, kirt-karna and vand-chhakna (insisted the importance of right belief and worship, honest living and helping others)


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

NCERT 7 HISTORY CHAPTER 2

-
Image
  2. NEW KINGS AND KINGDOMS     THE EMERGENCE OF NEW DYNASTIES New dynasties emerged after 7th century Samantas - big landlords or warrior chiefs, subordinates to the kings, later declared themselves as maha-samanta, maha-mandaleshvara Rashtrakutas - sub ordinate to Chalukyas In mid eighth century, Dantidurga , a Rashtrakuta chief performed a ritual called hiranya-garbha (lead to the rebirth of the sacrificer as kshatriya) From Brahmanas to  Kings - the Kadamba Mayusrasharman and the Gurjara-Pratihara Harichandra     ADMINISTRATION IN THE KINGDOMS Titles - Maharaja- adhiraja (great king, overlord of kings), tribhuvana-chakravartin (lord of the three worlds) taxes collected to finance the king's establishment, construction of temples and forts, used to fight wars close relatives of the king held important positions, positions were often hereditary Inscription of the Cholas - Tamil Nadu, more than 400 terms for different kinds of taxes such as vetti ( in...
Read more

NCERT 9 GEOGRAPHY CHAPTER 6

-
6. POPULATION Population - the pivotal element in social studies  Resources, calamities and disasters are all meaningful only in relation to human beings Census of India - official enumeration of population done periodically (for every 10 years) first census held in 1872 , the first complete census held in 1881       POPULATION SIZE AND DISTRIBUTION India's population - 1210.6 million (as on march 2011) accounts for 17.5 % distributed over area of 3.28 million sq. km( 2.4 % of the world) Uttar Pradesh - the most populous state ( 199 million ) - 16% of country's population  Sikkim has a population of 0.6 million and Lakshadweep has only 64,429 people Rajasthan - the biggest state in terms of area, accounts only 5.5 % Half of India's population in 5 states - Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar, West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh Population density - Number of persons per unit area India - 382 persons per sq.km(densities vary from 1,102 per sq.km in Bihar...
Read more

NCERT 7 HISTORY CHAPTER 1

-
  1. TRACING CHANGES THROUGH A THOUSAND YEARS Cartography - the study and practice of making maps science of cartography differed in these two periods, produced with different historical backgrounds and contexts Map 1 -  made in 1154 CE by Arab geographer Al-Idrisi , showing Indian subcontinent from land to sea South India where we would find North India and Sri Lanka at top (upside down map)  marked in Arabic, important places like kanauj in U.P were also marked  Map 2 - 600 years after Map 1, made in 1720s by French cartographer  used by European sailors, had detailed account on coastal areas       NEW AND OLD TERMINOLOGIES  Historical records changed over time - not only grammar and vocabulary; the meanings of words also changed  Term 'Hindustan' used in 13th century by Minhaj-i-siraj , chronicler in Persian (meant the areas of punjab, Haryana and the lands between the Ganga and the Yamuna) Babar used same term 'Hindustan...
Read more