History project- religious development in India Essay

With the coming of the Mughals in India and the Turkish rule, there were homoy develop ments and changes in the Indian culture and religion. The Sultans of Delhi and Mughal tolerated various religions, especi every(prenominal)y Hinduism, though they were pursual of Islam. This lead to the beggining of indo-islamic culture. Since dawn of history, India has been the cradle of apparitional developments. In the early medival occlusion, two parrelel operations in Hinduism and Islam representing the Bhakti and Sufi movements emerged in India.The Indo-Islamic strands shake off been woven into the texture of India by intertwining Bhakti and Sufi traditions. Bhakti movement The Bhakti movement is a Hindu spiritual movement in which the main spiritual send is harming loyalty towards Shiva or Vishnu. Bhakti movement is also virtually related to Sufism of Islam which rose in the same time period and twain advocated sleep with of theology as the easiest way to attain God. The Bhakt i movement originated in ancient Tamil Nadu. The Nayanmars and the Alvars played a major role in the Bhakti movement.The Bhakti movement co-existed peacefully with the other movements in Hinduism. It was initially considered unorthodox, as it rebelled against clique distinctions and disregarded Brahmanic rituals, which according to Bhakti saints were not necessary for salvation. In the degree of time, however, owe to its immense popularity among the masses it became orthodox and continues to be bingle of the nearly essential modes of religious expression in modern India. The world Bhakti means devotion to God. The Bhakti movement had its origin in the Bhagavadgita and the Upanishads.The Bhaktas of God did not believe in any sort of caste distinctions. They advocated love and devotion to God and fling all sorts of rituals and ceremonies. They pr for each whizzed wizness of God and that all religions were but roads stellar(a) to the same goal. Chief Principles of Bhakti Movem ent The chief principles of the Bhakti movement were as follows 1. It is Bhakti or devotion to God alone that sight help man attain salvation. 2. It is important to follow a unbowed guru for realizing God. 3. All men are equal and no one is superior or inferior. 4. club distinctions, rituals, fasts, etc., are useless and lead to nowhere. 5. All men should be loose. Effects of the Bhakti Movement The Bhakti movement had far-reaching effects on the people. Firstly, it helped a pot in removing the existing bitterness between the Hindus and the Muslims. Both became more tolerant towards each other. Secondly, the Bhaktas exposed the holl owness of empty rituals and ceremonies and taught the people to give up evils like belief in superstitions etc. This movement delta a freewheel to the superiority of the Brahmins, for it propagated the equality of all men. This also helped in checking conversions.Thirdly, the Bhakti reformers preached in the commonplace language of the people, wh ich gave rise to the vernacular languages much(prenominal) as Bengali in the east, Gujarati and Marathi in the west and Punjabi in the north. Important Bhakti Reformers Ramanuja Ramanuja was one of the earliest reformers. His trainings were establish on the Upanishads and Bhagwad Gita. he had taught in the language of the common man. Soon a large number of people became his followers. Ramananda was his disciple. Ramananda Ramananda was the first reformer to preach in Hindi, the main language spoken by the people of the North.He was educate at Benaras. He preached that there is nothing high or low. He was an ardent worshipper of Rama. He considered God as a loving father. He lived in the 14th century A. D. Kabir Kabir was an ardent disciple of Ramananda. He wanted unity between the Hindus and the Muslims. He preached that both the Hindus and the Muslims are the children of a single God. He had no faith in idol worship, religious rituals and ceremonies. The devotees of Kabir wer e known as Kabir Panthis. Chaitanya Chaitanya, a great devotee of Lord Krishna, was a saint from Bengal.From his very childhood, he had showed great interest in command and studied Sanskrit. He married the daughter of a Saintly person. later at the age of 24, he renounced the worldly animateness and became a sanyasin. His followers regarded him as an incarnation of Lord Vishnu. He helped the old and the needy. He was contrasted to the inequalities of the caste system. He emphasised the need for tolerance, humanity and love. He go around the message of Bhakti in Bengal. He popularised Sankritanor public singing of Gods name. He was addressed Mahaprabhu by his followers.Meera Bai Meerabai was a Rajput princess. She married the genus Rana of Mewar. She was a pious devotee of Lord Krishna. Her songs or hymns are withal today sung all over India. Her palace was kept blossom to people of all castes to join her Bhajans of Lord Krishna. She had lived for the most part of her spiri t in Mathura, the abide place of Krishna and Vrindaban. thither is a temple sacred to Meerabai in Chittor, the capital of Mewar. Sufi movement Sufism was a reform movement within Islam which applies greater stress on free thinking, liberal ideas and toleration.The Sufis believed in the equality of all human beings and brotherhood mankind. The Sufi movement started in Persia. Some of the Sufi saints also came to India. They began to preach their liberal ideas and to remove the disjunction between the Hindus and the Muslims and join them unitedly. The intelligence service Sufi has been taken from the Arabic word Suf which means wool. The movement may have been given the name Sufism because of the course wool garments they wore as a mark of their rejection of worldly things. Sufis have traditionally taken vows of poverty and celibacy.Sufism developed religious practices focusing on set self-control that enable both psychological and mystical insights as sound as a loss of self, with the ultimate goal of mystical amalgamation with God. The Sufi movement consists of fraternal orders in which leaders train and answer disciples in the mastery of Sufisms philosophical principles and ritual practices. Such rituals and practices implicate writing and reciting poetry and hymns some of the most famous and beautiful literature of the Islamic world has been written by Sufis.Sufis engage in a variety of ritual practices intended to help them realize union with God, such as distinct forms of ritual prayer including the recitation of Gods names, as well as bodily rituals such as those practices by the so-called Whirling Dervishes, a Turkish Sufi order that practices conjecture and contemplation of God through spinning. Teaching of Sufism 1. There is one God, the Eternal, the moreover Being none else exists save He. 2. There is besides one Master, the directive Spirit of all souls, who constantly leads his followers towards the light. 3.There is one sacred Book, the sacred manuscript of nature the only scripture, which can enlighten the reader. 4. There is one Religion, the unswerving progress in the right direction towards the ideal, which fulfills the lifes purpose of every soul. 5. There is one Law, the Law of reciprocity, which can be observed by a selfless conscience together with a sense of awakened justice. 6. There is one Brotherhood, the human brotherhood, which unites the children of body politic indiscriminately in the fatherhood of God. 7. There is one Moral Principle, the love which springs forth from self-denial, and blooms in deeds of beneficence.8. There is one Object of Praise, the sweetheart which uplifts the heart of its worshipper through all aspects from the seen to the Unseen. 9. There is one Truth, the true knowledge of our being within and without, which is the essence of all wisdom. 10. There is one Path, the annihilation of the false ego in the real, which raises the mortal to immortality and in which resides all perfection. The Sufi Movement there is no priesthood in the ordinary sense, the priesthood is only to conduct the service and to answer the need of a priest which perpetually exists in our everyday life.Those decreed in the Sufi Movement are called Sirajs and Cherags. There is no distinction between women and men. The worthy soul is ordained this gives an example to the world that in all places in the church, in the school, in parliament, in court it is woman and man together who make ontogeny complete. But at the same time every Sufi is a priest, a preacher, a teacher, and a pupil of every soul that he meets in the world. The Sufi prayers such as Saum and Salat are not man-made prayers. They have descended from above, just as in every period of spiritual reconstruction prayers were given.And there is every power and blessing in them, especially for those who believe. Sikhism Guru Nanak is the founder of the religion of Sikhism and is the first of the ten Sikh Gurus. His birth is celebrated world-wide on Kartik Puranmashi, the full-moon day which falls on different dates each year in the month of Katak, October-November. Guru Nanak travelled to places far and wide teaching people the message of one God who dwells in every one of Gods creations and constitutes the eternal Truth. He setup a remarkable spiritual, social, and political platform based on equality, fraternity love, goodness,and virtue. Nanak was born on 15 April 1469, now celebrated as Guru Nanak Gurpurab. Today, his birthplace is marked by Gurdwara Janam Asthan. His parents were Kalyan Chand Das Bedi and Mata Tripta. His father was a patwari (accountant) for crop revenue in the colonization of Talwandi, employed by a Muslim landlord of that area, Rai Bular Bhatti. He had one sister, Bibi Nanaki, who was five dollar bill age older than him and became a spiritual figure in her own right. Nanak also found work with Daulat Khan, when he was around 16 years old.On 24 September 1487 Nanak marri ed Mata Sulakkhani, daughter of Mul Chand and Chando Ra? i, in the town of Batala. The couple had two sons, Sri Chand and Lakhmi Chand. Inspite of his married life, he spent most of his time in the company of holy men. At the age of 29, he left his home to spread the message of faith far and wide. Sikh teaching emphasizes the principle of equality of all humans and rejects discrimination on the basis of caste, creed, and gender. Sikh principles encourage living life as a householder Sikh Religion and Worship 1)A Sikh believes in, and worships only one God.2)A Sikh regards the succession of ten gurus, and the written word of the Guru Granth, a street through which divine light manifests as salvation. 3)Sikhs worship in the gurdwara, congregating with spiritual companions, and communing with God, by singing divine hymns selected from the Guru Granth. 4)Sikhs perform ardas, a established prayer, and read from Guru Granth before embarking on important endeavors. 5)The uniqueness of S ikhism is upheld without any derogative attitude towards others, or belittling of others faith. . A brief of the next 9 Gurus http//www. sarabsanjhigurbani. com/ten-guru. asp