THE BHAKTI MOVEMENT IN MAHARASHTRA

It ran parallel to that in the North and its centre was Pandharpur with its famous temple of Vitthal or Vithba. The leaders of the movement were Jnanadeva (Jnanesvara), Namadeva, Ekanatha and Tukarama of the Varakari group. There was also Ramadasa, who was a Dharakari or one who sought to harmonize life dedicated to God with the activities of the world.

JNANADEVA (C. A.D. 1275-1296)

His father Vitthal Pant was a disciple of Ramananda, was the progenitor of the movement in Maharashtra. He was a great intellectual and spiritual genius.

When still a boy of 15 years, he wrote Jnanesvari, a famous commentary on the Bhagavad Gita, and later Amrtanubhava. His abharigasor lyrical poems give expression to his deepest mystical experiences.

NAMADEVA (A.D. 1270-1350)

He belonged to the Chipi (cloth-painter) caste. While young, he was a robber and murderer, but the sight of the bewailing wives of his victims made him take to religion. He was a disciple of Visoba Khecar, and a Nirguna-upasaka. He was noted for his saintiness and is referred to by Kabir. Some of this abharigas are included in the Guru Granth Sahib.

EKANATHA (B. A.D. 1548)

He was the grandson of the well-known Maharashtrian saint Bhanudasa, who received his initiation at the age of 12. He was opposed to caste distinctions and evinced the greatest sympathy for men of low castes. He composed many abhangas and was reputed for his bhajans and kirtans. He wrote a voluminous commentary on the verses of the Bhagavad-Gita.

TUKARAMA (B. A.D. 1608),

 He is farmer’s son, had a shrew for his wife, and domestic unhappiness is said to have led him to religious life. He was a great devotee of Vitthal.

        Ramadasa was born in A.D. 1608. After years of wandering in search of spiritual light and attaining siddhi (realization), he settled down at Chafal in Satara district on the banks of the Krsna. Unlike his predecessors, he sought to combine spiritual and practical life, and evinced much interest in politics. He established asramas all over Maharashtra.

THE BHAKTI MOVEMENT ORIGINATED IN TAMILNADU

After the 7th century A.D. with the Alvars (Vaisnava saints) and the Adiyars (Saiva saints). Ramanuja (b. A.D. 1018) gave a sound philosophic basis to the Bhakti cult of the Vaishnavas. Many saint-philosophers followed who combined erudite scholarship with abiding faith in the Prapattimarga (path of self-surrender to God), and of them may be mentioned Pillai Lokacarya (A.D. 1213),

Manavala Mahamuni (b. A.D.  1370) and Vedanta Desika (b. A.D.  1268). The Saivite tradition also proceeded in an unbroken line.

UMAPATI SIVACARYA (A.D. 1290-1320)

He was a prolific writer and eight out of the fourteen authoritative philosophical treatises on Saivism are attributed to him. Next came, in the 15th century A.D. Arunagirinatha whose hymns in Tiruppugal are very popular.

Tayumanavar, who flourished in the 17th century, was a Vellala by birth and his lyrics are marked “by intense religious feeling, beauty of language, and sweetness of rhythm.”

MADHAVACARYA, (A.D. 1199-1278)

In Karnataka, he was the fountainhead of the Bhakti movement was), the founder of the Daita school of philosophy. A number of philosophers, saints and mystics followed as in the other regions, but medieval Karnataka is particularly noted for its Haridasas (servants of Hari).

Pandharpur in Maharashtra and Udipi in South Kanara were the two great centres of the movement and Krsna was the favorite deity.

The most outstanding of the Haridasas in the 15th-16th centuries were Sripadaraja, the founder of the movement. Purandaradasa the father of the Karnataka system of music, and Kanakadasa, a shepherd by birth but a person of great spiritual attainment.

The songs of all these three were free from sectarianism and had a universal appeal. Vyasaraya the foremost of the philosophers and dialecticians of his age, was also a great mystic and composer of songs noted for their philosophic import.

        An equally important religious movement of Karnataka was that launched by Basava, the Prime Minister of Kalacuri king Bijala (A.D. 1156-1168), who ruled at Kalayna. He based his doctrines in the 28 Saiva Agamas and developed the Sat-sthala system of philosophy. Virasaivas or Lingayats, as his followers are known,

IDEOLOGY:

They believe that Siva is the Supreme God, and all should worship only Him. Every Lingayat, both man and woman, has to wear a Linga on his person as a symbol of devotion to Siva. Basava was strongly opposed to the caste system.

Panditaradhya, a contemporary of Basava and the founder of the Aradhya-Saiva sect, popular in the Telugu country. Unlike Basava, he accepted is noted for its Vacanakara, just as the Vaisnava movement for its of great moral and religious import). The greatest of the Vacanakaras was Sarvajna who came at the close of the Vijayanagar history.