Bhakti As a religious concept, Bhakti means devotional surrender to a personally conceived supreme God for attaining a solution. Origin of this doctrine is traced to both Brahmanical and Buddhist traditions of ancient India, scriptures of Gita.
It was for the first time in South India between 7th – 10th cents. That Bhakti grew from a more religious doctrine into a popular movement based on spiritual equality and broad-based social participation.
This Led by famous saints- poets, the movement reached its climax in the 10 cents. After which it declined. Acharya’s wondering scholars revived it as a philosophical and ideological movement, beginning with Ramanuja in the 11th cent. A.D
Many diverse and widespread socio-religious movements, drawing upon the concept of Bhakti, were witnessed following the establishment of the Delhi Sultanate.
“These movements have been seen as Continuation or Revival of the older South Indian Bhakti Movement. But each of the later movements that grew in the Sultanate period had a historical context and peculiarities.”
Non-conformist monotheistic movement associated with Kabir and other low-caste Saints – apart from other bhakti movements.
Bhakti Movement in South India.
- Saiva Nayanars and Vaishnava Alvars, Saint Poets of South India, preached the Doctrines of Bhakti in an intense emotional manner and promoted religious egalitarianism.