NCERT Solutions For Class 12 History Chapter 4 Bhakti–Sufi Traditions

Three major sufi shrines:

• Chishti silsila of Shaikh Muinuddin Sijzi in Ajmer (Rajasthan)
• Chishti silsila of Khwaja Qutbuddin Bakhtiyar Kaki in Delhi
• Chishti silsila of Akhi Siraj Aainae Hind in Gaur (West Bengal)

Three places associated with temples:

• Lord Jagannath (Vishnu) Temple in Puri, Odisha
• Thillai Natarajah (Lord Shiva) Temple in Chidambaram , Tamil Nadu
• Goddess Lakshmi Temple in Srirangam, Tamil Nadu 

• Bhakti and sufi thinkers adopted a variety of languages to express their opinions because they wanted their ideas to reach ordinary people.
• For example, the Alvars and Nayanars travelled from place to place singing in Tamil, a language spoken by ordinary people, in praise of their gods.
• In the Virashaiva tradition, vachanas (literally, sayings) were composed in Kannada by women and men who joined the movement.
• Chishti sufis also adopted local languages.
• Hindavi, the language of the people, was used for conversation in the Chishti silsila in Delhi.
• Other sufis such as Baba Farid composed verses in the local language, which were incorporated in the Guru Granth Sahib.
• Yet others composed masnavis (long poems) to express ideas of divine love using human love as an allegory.
• A different kind of sufi poetry by Chishtis was composed in Dakhani (a variant of Urdu) in and around the town of Bijapur, Karnataka.
• These poems were probably sung by women while performing household chores like grinding grain and spinning.
• Other compositions were in the form of lurinama (lullabies) and shadinama (wedding songs).

• By the eleventh century, Sufism emerged as a strong movement with a body of literature on Quranic studies and sufi practices.
• Sufis organised communities around the hospice or khanqah controlled by a teaching master known as shaikh (also pir or murshid).
• Shaikh enrolled disciples (murids) and appointed a successor (khalifa).
• He also created rules for spiritual conduct and interaction among followers.
• After death of shaikh, his tomb-shrine (dargah) was worshipped by his followers.
• Through Sufi silsilas, spiritual power and blessings were transmitted to devotees.
• Special rituals of initiation were done; initiates took an oath of allegiance, wore a patched garment, and shaved their hair.
• When shaikh died, his tomb-shrine (dargah) was worshipped by his followers.
• Followers made pilgrimage (ziyarat) to dargah on death anniversary (urs) of shaikh.
• His followers believed that in death, saints were united with God, and their blessings would bring material and spiritual benefits.

Critiques of the caste system by the Alvars, and Nayanars:

• Alvars and Nayanars initiated a movement of protest against the caste system and the dominance of Brahmanas.
• They attempted to reform the caste-ridden system.
• They accepted their bhaktas (devotees) from diverse social backgrounds- Brahmanas, artisans, cultivators and even the so-called “untouchable” people.

Critiques of the caste system by Lingayats:

• Lingayats also challenged the idea of caste and the “pollution” attributed to certain groups by Brahmanas.
• They rejected funerary rites such as cremation, prescribed in the Dharmashastras.
• They also questioned the theory of rebirth.
• These ideas attracted followers from various communities; even those who were marginalised within the Brahmanical social order became Lingayats.
• They also encouraged post-puberty marriage and remarriage of widows, which were opposed by Brahmanas and their Dharmashastras.

• Architecture of mosques in the subcontinent reflects a combination of universal ideals and local traditions.
• Some architectural features of mosques are universal; for example, their orientation towards Mecca is evident in the placement of the mihrab (prayer niche) and the minbar (pulpit).
• However, there are several features that reflect local architectural traditions – such as roofs and building materials.
• For example, Atiya mosque, Mymensingh district, Bangladesh, was built with brick in 1609; brick was available locally in abundance.
• Another example that reflects the influence of local tradition is the Shah Hamadan mosque in Srinagar, on the banks of the Jhelum, built in 1395.
• It is one of the best examples of Kashmiri wooden architecture with spire, carved eaves and decorated with paper mache.

• According to historians, in the integration of cults, there were two processes at work.
• In the first process, Brahmanical ideas were disseminated.
  • Puranic texts were composed in simple Sanskrit verse, meant for women and Shudras, who were denied Vedic learning.
• In the second process, Brahmanas accepted and reworked beliefs and practices of theirs and other social categories.
  • Many beliefs and practices were shaped through a continuous dialogue between “great” Sanskritic Puranic traditions and “little” traditions.
  • For example, a local tribal deity at Puri (Odisha) was identified, by the twelfth century, as Jagannatha (the lord of the world), a form of Vishnu; tribal god was incorporated into Sanskritic tradition. 
  • In fact, even today, local tribal artisans make the wooden image of the deity to the Puri temple.
  • Cults of local goddess were also incorporated within the Puranic traditions; goddesses were projected as wives of the principal male deities.
  • They were also equated with Lakshmi (wife of Vishnu) and Parvati (wife of Shiva).

Source 1: The chaturvedin (Brahmana versed in the four Vedas) and the “outcaste”

• In this excerpt from a composition of an Alvar named Tondaradippodi, he sings that Vishnu likes only those devotees, whether outcaste or chaturvedin, who express true love for the deity.
• He also accuses Brahmanas of not being truthful to their services to Vishnu. This source shows how the Alvar challenged Brahmanical ritual ceremonies in the worship of Vishnu.

Source 2: Shastras or devotion?

• The verse composed by Appar, a Nayanar saint, questions Brahmanical prescription of ceremonies; he also questions the irrational divisions of gotra and kula.
• He suggests that, without following Shastras, just bow to Shiva in order to show true devotion.

Source 3: Rituals and the real world

• In this vachana (sayings) composed by Basavanna, he questions Brahmanas for their irrational rituals.
• He criticises them that they worship serpents in stones by pouring milk on it, but they try to kill when they see a real serpent.
• He also questions them for not serving food to servant of God, who could eat and survive, but waste it by offering to the image of god which cannot eat it.    

Source 4: Reverence for the Jogi

• This is an excerpt from a letter written in 1661-62 CE by Aurangzeb to a Jogi (Hindu yogi) named Guru Anand Nath.
• In this letter, the ruler informs the Jogi that a piece of cloth for the cloak and a sum of twenty five rupees have been sent as an offering.
• Mughal ruler also makes an assurance that he could be approached for any further need in future.
• Though Aurangzeb was a Muslim ruler, he sent an offering to a Hindu yogi as his contribution towards religious tolerance and communal harmony.

Source 5: The one Lord

• In this poem by Kabir, he argues that there is only one god who is called by many names like Allah, Ram, Karim, Keshav, Hari, and Hazrat, and he is worshipped in many different ways.

Rulers and tradition of the Nayanars

• Nayanars were revered by the Vellala peasants, wealthy landlords, whose resources were important for the state treasure.
• Chola kings attempted to win over the support of the Vellala peasants by establishing their relations with the Nayanars.
• They also attempted to claim divine support and proclaim their own power by building splendid temples.
• Stone and metal sculptures recreated the visions of the Nayanars.
• These kings also introduced the singing of Tamil Shaiva hymns in the temples under royal patronage.
• They took initiative to collect hymns into a popular bhakti text (Tevaram).
• Chola ruler Parantaka I had consecrated metal images of Appar, Sambandar and Sundarar in a Shiva temple.

Rulers and tradition of sufis:

• Sultans attempted to secure the support of the masses by recognizing sufi saints and making material donations to them.
• Rulers of Sultante set up charitable trusts (auqaf) as endowments for sufi hospices (khanqahs) and granted tax-free land (inam).
• Sufis’ piety and scholarship, and people’s belief in their spiritual power made them popular among the masses.
• Kings wanted the legitimation of Sufis for their rule to control the masses and territory.

Major teachings of Baba Guru Nanak:

• Message of Baba Guru Nanak is spelt out in his hymns and teachings.
• He preached a form of nirguna bhakti.
• He strongly condemned the external practices of the religions.
• He rejected sacrifices, ritual baths, idol worship, austerities and the scriptures of both Hindus and Muslims.
• For Baba Guru Nanak, the Absolute or “rab” had no gender or form.
• According to him, a simple way to connect to the Divine is by remembering and repeating the Divine name, expressing his ideas through hymns called “shabad” in Punjabi.
• Baba Guru Nanak would sing these compositions in various ragas while his attendant Mardana played the rabab.
• He organised his followers into a community.
• He also set up rules for congregational worship (sangat) involving collective recitation.
• He appointed one of his disciples, Angad, to succeed him as the preceptor (guru), and this practice was followed for nearly 200 years.

While there were no similarities, there were a lot of differences between the be-shari‘a and ba-shari‘a sufi traditions. They were:

• Sufis who defied the shari‘a were known as be-shari‘a.
• They initiated movements based on a radical interpretation of sufi ideals.
• They scorned the khanqah and took to mendicancy and observed celibacy.
• They ignored rituals and observed extreme forms of asceticism.
• They were known by different names – Qalandars, Madaris, Malangs, Haidaris, etc.
• Whereas the ba-shari‘a sufis complied with the shari‘a based on which Khanqahs functioned.
• In Khanqahs, they were controlled by a teaching master known as shaikh (in Arabic), pir or murshid (in Persian).
• Shaikh enrolled disciples (murids) and appointed a successor (khalifa).
• He also created rules for spiritual conduct and interaction among his followers.
• After the death of shaikh, his tomb-shrine (dargah) was worshipped by his followers.
• In Sufi silsilas, special rituals of initiation were done; initiates took an oath of allegiance, wore a patched garment, and shaved their hair.