The Bhakti movement was a religious movement that started a theistic devotional trend that emerged in the 8^th century in the southern part of India. It was started by the Alvars and the Nayanars, who were the followers of Vishnu and Shiva respectively, so it developed around Vaishnavism and Shaivism. This movement can be considered as an influential reformation against orthodox Hinduism as it worked with the recontextualisation of ancient Vedic traditions. Thus, it gave the people an alternative path to devotion which was not caste specific and did not require any sort of rituals and it preferred doing praying through songs and poems. It is because of this that it was an invocation of the public and it was this movement that brought mass identities into the frame. Also, this movement should not be considered to be a monolithic or a homogeneous movement.

The Bhakti movement had an important part to play in the social context at the time. According to Rekha Pande, “ The Bhakti movement of the medival period was an idealistic manifestation of the socio-economic realities of the time.” ( The social context of the Bhakti movement- A study in Kabir, Rekha Pande 1985.  p. 230) The social front at the time was characterized by brahminical oppression. With orthodox Hinduism being prevalent at the time, it was the caste system that affected the poor people. According to the Brahmins, those who did not fit into their rigid caste system, should be excluded from the society. Thus, those who did not fit into the traditional Varna system, were termed as chandals and outcastes. As previously mentioned, the Bhakti movement was against orthodox Hinduism and the rituals that were done by the Brahmans and thus “ in doing away with rituals it was fighting the brahminical domination and the injustices of the caste system”.( The social context of the Bhakti movement- A study in Kabir, Rekha Pande 1985.  p. 232).   This way it was trying to establish a direct relation between the devotee and God. The majority of the bhakti saints were from the lowest strata of the society, who were despised and downgraded by the upper castes. As these saints had done away with rituals, the common people found another way of praying as “the bhakti movement was a sublimation of terrible worldly suffering, pain and misery that found natural outlet in spontaneous, sweet-sad and poignant devotional songs.”( Gohain 1987, p.1970) Many followers of this movement also decided to abandon Sanskrit altogether, as it was considered to be the language of the Vedas and thus had a sense of purity about it, and instead preffered to sing in the local language that was spoken by the common people. More and more people from the lower castes and professions such as village artisans were also accommodated within the Bhakti movement. Due to this, the artisans found their place in the existing social structure and began to cater a wider clientele. Money transactions also replaced the existing barter system. The increase in productivity and the flow of commodities also led to the expansion and the creation of new cities and towns.

The Bhakti movement also had a major impact in the political sphere at that time. The movement was widespread during the rule of the Mughal empire and thus was in many ways influenced by Islam. The heterodox bhaktas “owed a lot to Muslim sufis, who mixed with the down-trodden, illiterate masses without pretence and presumption, and practised the fellow-feeling for the creatures of god that they preached” ( Gohain 1987, p.1971).  Even the Mughal rulers were influenced by the Bhakti movement. As previously mentioned, there were significant changes that had taken place in the economic section due to the Bhakti movement which had led to an increase in circulation of commodities. According to some reports made by Abdul Fazl, “Akbar the Great took special care to fix the prices of essential commodities throughout his realm on the basis of periodic studies of the market, and taxes on the people including the artisans had also been similarly fixed” ( Gohain 1987, p. 1971). Thus we can say that Akbar’s concern showed a relatively progressive role of the state in his time. The emergence of Sufism, which had also influenced the bhakti movement, also influenced Akbar to abandon Muslim orthodoxy through its new spiritual and intellectual currents. Akbar’s great grandson, Aurangzeb, on the other hand, had the opposite view.  Due to the huge demands of the state on their earnings, the working class people were barely left with anything to live upon. Also, “ The alienation of the court and the feudal ruling orders from the people from his time onwards is thus suggested by such trend” ( Gohain 1987, p.1971-72)  He also persecuted some of the new sects and the sufi saints. Aurangzeb’s views also influenced others as Hindu princes at the time also persecuted such new liberal trends in favour of the more rigid caste system. The Bhakti movement has also been compared to the Protestant movement of the west as even in that movement, the common people were against orthodox Christianity.

One of the most famous Bhakti saints was Kabir. Even though he grew up in a family of Muslim weavers, he renounced both orthodox brahminism and orthodox Islam. According to him, aestheticism, fasting and giving alms to the poor were useless unless they were accompanied by worship. He was also unbiased towards both Hindus and Muslims and imparted his beliefs to both of them. Also, “ By criticizing the practices and rituals of both the hindus and the muslims, he showed that their differences were only at a very superficial level.” ( The social context of the Bhakti movement- A study in Kabir, Rekha Pande 1985.  pp. 233-234)  he also refused to acknowledge the caste system and also refused to recognize the six major schools of philosophy. Thus he was going against the domination of the Brahmins and thus we can say that for him, it was a revolt lower caste against another upper caste. Through this he rallied the masses that were the most oppressed under the brahminical dominion.   

In conclusion, the Bhakti movement included both Hindus and Muslims especially from the lower strata of the society and with the help of Sufism, influenced people to express their devotion to God through songs and poem and not through rituals.

REFERENCES

1. Gohain, Hiren. 1987. The Labyrinth of Bhakti: On Some Questions of Medieval Indian History. ‘Economic and Political Weekly’. 22: pp. 1970-1972

2. Pande, Rekha. 1985. The Social Context of the Bhakti Movement : a study of Kabir. University of Hyderabad: pp. 230-235.