Bhakti In Hindi Essay

Many of the rites, rituals, and modes of worship followed in South Asia today, were developed during the medieval Indian movement of Bhakti, which started in the southern part of the subcontinent in the 8th century, and spread northwards, giving birth to various religious cults in different parts of India. The culture of expressing devotion by means of music, for example, is observed in various religious communities; the kirtanasof the Hindus, qawwalissang at Sufi dargahs, and gurbaniat gurudwaras, are all part of this culture. It was during the Bhakti movement that this culture of singing devotional songs became popular. Bhakti encouraged the devotee to have a friendly, loving, relation with his god. This was in contrast to the earlier orthodox view of God being a father-like image – strict and imposing, whose order was to be obeyed and who was to be

Nanak propounded a philosophy that eventually developed into an independent religion – Sikhism. It is believed by some that Sikhism was nothing but another offshoot of the Bhakti tradition in Punjab, and that Guru Nanak’s philosophy was based on a synthesis of Hindu and Islamic ideas. Though not entirely false, this assertion is problematic and has been highly contested and disagreed with.It is true that Sikhism adopted certain practices popularised during the Bhakti movement. Devotional singing, for example, is common between both Bhakti tradition and Sikhism. Nanak, like other Bhakti saints, also emphasised on social equality and reform. A substantial portion of the Guru Granth Sahib, in fact, contains teachings and ideas of Bhakti and Sufi saints like Kabir, Namdeo, and Baba Farid. So, there certainly was a strong influence of the prevalent culture, traditions, and philosophy on Sikhism. But there are fundamental differences between the ideas of the Bhakti traditions and those of the Sikh