India@75, Looking at 100: A country capable of diversity sans discrimination

Mains GS Paper I: Salient features of the Indian society, Diversity of India etc

Bhakti Movement:

Between the seventh and the twelfth centuries, Tamil Nadu saw the growth of the Bhakti movement.
Nayanars and Alvars: The sentimental poetry of the Nayanars (Shiva worshipers) and Alvars reflected it (devotees of Vishnu).
These saints saw religion as a warm tie built on love between worshiper and worship rather than a formal, chilly method of worship.
In the ninth century, Shankaracharya became well-known throughout all of India.
Kabir, Nanak, and Shri Chaitanya are further significant Bhakti Saints.

Reasons that led to the rise of Bhakti movement:

Hindu society has several negative aspects, including a caste system and unnecessary rituals and religious activities.
Religion’s complexity: The Vedas and Upanishads’ sophisticated philosophy was extremely difficult to understand.
Conflict with Competing Religion: The effects of Muslim governance and Islam.
Sufi saints from the Muslim world also had an influence on the movement.

Importance of Bhakti Poets for modern India:

They are not card-carrying gatekeepers, but rather prideful upstarts who have unexpectedly gained status or prominence.
Their spirituality is founded on accomplishment rather than ascription.
They come from various caste, class, gender, linguistic, and sectarian origins, which serves as a reminder of the diversity of our spiritual ancestry.
They serve as a reminder of the strength of the investigated life and the recovered heart.
They remind us that acknowledgment and inclusion have the power to transform all darkness.
Their finest poems do not present easy hierarchies between flesh and spirit.
- Basavanna: body is “the moving temple” and Chandidas: , “man is the greatest truth of all”.
- Janabai: “I eat god, I drink god, I sleep on god”, while Soyarabai: divine is not bloodless: “If menstrual blood makes me impure/ tell me who was not born of that blood”.
They are not meek worshipers; they are radical improvisers who question every hierarchy.
Nothing is taboo, nothing sacrilegious: because the underlying premise is simple.
- The self and the other cannot be kept apart.

Way Forward

A nation looking for a middle ground between cultural dogmatism and apathy may find inspiration in cultural skins that combine sympathetic irreverence with independence.
Mahabharata: Yudhishthira discovers that every moral tenet has been destroyed.
Beyond the extremes of dark and light, morality and sin, Vyasa offers us a glimpse of a multifaceted truth.
As a result, they serve as role models for every society that wants to move on from its tragedies without getting bogged down in resentment or blame.
Bhakti poets: As a group, they provide us a less divided perspective and serve as a gentle reminder that we are both citizens of the body and the mind, the immanent and the transcendent.
Even when they disagree with their gods, the bhaktas never cease loving them, so their wrath is motivated by love rather than mockery.
There is no “versus” for the bhakti poet because there is no “them:” There is no outsider, no foe, because there is in fact no “other.”
Simply put, God is viewed as an unruly member of one’s own family.
India ought to present the world with its shining example of cultural democracy and spiritual freedom, which successfully reconciles divergent viewpoints.

QUESTION FOR MAINS

Evaluate the nature of the Bhakti Literature and its contribution to Indian culture.(UPSC 2021) (200 WORDS, 10 MARKS)

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