Bhakti-Sufi Traditions: Changes in Religious Beliefs and Devotional Texts, Class 12

What Bhakti-Sufi Traditions: Changes in Religious Beliefs and Devotional Texts (c. eighth to eighteenth century) is about

Weightage: Themes in Indian History Part II carries 25 of the 80 theory marks; this chapter shares them with Through the Eyes of Travellers: Perceptions of Society (c. tenth to seventeenth century), An Imperial Capital: Vijayanagara (c. fourteenth to sixteenth century), Peasants and Zamindars and the State: Agrarian Society and the Mughal Empire (c. sixteenth-seventeenth centuries). A separate 5-mark map question covers the map items of all three books.Source: CBSE History (027) syllabus 2026-27, course structure

Key concepts

Integration of cults and 'great' and 'little' traditions

NCERT section 1. A Mosaic of Religious Beliefs and Practices; 1.1

A striking feature of this period is the increasing visibility of many gods and goddesses in sculpture and texts: the major deities Vishnu, Shiva and the goddess were worshipped in many forms.

Two processes (historians suggest):
1. Spreading Brahmanical ideas: Puranic texts were composed, compiled and preserved in simple Sanskrit verse, explicitly meant for women and Shudras, who were generally excluded from Vedic learning.
2. Brahmanas accepting and reworking the beliefs and practices of these and other social groups.
Many practices took shape through a continuous dialogue between 'great' Sanskritic Puranic traditions and 'little' traditions across the land.

'Great' and 'little' traditions: terms coined by the sociologist Robert Redfield in the twentieth century for peasant societies. Peasants followed rituals from dominant groups such as priests and rulers (great tradition) and also local practices (little tradition); both changed through interaction. Scholars accept the processes but are uncomfortable with the hierarchy implied by 'great' and 'little', hence the quotation marks.

Example: Jagannatha at Puri (Orissa): by the twelfth century, the principal deity was identified as Jagannatha ('lord of the world'), a form of Vishnu. The image was (and is) made of wood by local tribal specialists: a local deity recognised as Vishnu, and Vishnu visualised very differently from elsewhere.

Goddess cults: worship of the goddess, often a stone smeared with ochre, was widespread. Local goddesses were incorporated into the Puranic framework as wives of principal male deities, equated with Lakshmi (wife of Vishnu) or Parvati (wife of Shiva).

Worked example

Explain with examples what historians mean by the integration of cults. (3 marks)

Try it first, then show the solutionSolution

1. Brahmanical ideas spread through Puranic texts in simple Sanskrit, meant for women and Shudras too.
2. At the same time Brahmanas accepted and reworked local beliefs: at Puri a local deity whose wooden image is made by tribal specialists was identified as Jagannatha, a form of Vishnu.
3. Local goddesses, often worshipped as a stone smeared with ochre, were given Puranic identities as Lakshmi or Parvati.

Answer: A two-way dialogue between Sanskritic Puranic traditions and local traditions, seen in Jagannatha at Puri and goddesses identified with Lakshmi or Parvati.

Difference and conflict; bhakti, saguna and nirguna

NCERT section 1.2 Difference and conflict; 2. Poems of Prayer

Tantric practices: often associated with the goddess; widespread; open to women and men; practitioners often ignored caste and class differences within the ritual. They influenced Shaivism and Buddhism, especially in the east, north and south.

All these divergent beliefs would come to be classified as Hindu over the next millennium. The divergence is sharpest between Vedic and Puranic traditions: Vedic deities Agni, Indra and Soma became marginal, while Puranic mythologies of Vishnu, Shiva and the goddess had little in common with Vedic mantras. Yet the Vedas continued to be revered as authoritative.

Conflicts: those who valued Vedic tradition condemned practices beyond regulated sacrifice and mantras; Tantric practitioners often ignored Vedic authority; devotees projected Vishnu or Shiva as supreme; relations with Buddhism and Jainism were often tense.

Bhakti had a history of almost a thousand years before this period, from routine temple worship to ecstatic adoration in a trance-like state, with singing and chanting, especially among Vaishnava and Shaiva sects. Poet-saints emerged as leaders of communities of devotees. Brahmanas remained intermediaries in several forms, but bhakti also accommodated women and the 'lower castes', considered ineligible for liberation in the orthodox framework. Bhakti was remarkably diverse.

Two broad categories:

• Saguna (with attributes): worship of specific deities such as Shiva, Vishnu and his avatars, and forms of the goddess (Devi), often in human form.
• Nirguna (without attributes): worship of an abstract form of god.

Worked example

Distinguish between saguna and nirguna bhakti with one example of each. (2 marks)

Try it first, then show the solutionSolution

1. Saguna bhakti worshipped specific deities with attributes, often in human form, such as Vishnu and his avatars, Shiva or the goddess (for example, Mirabai's devotion to Krishna).
2. Nirguna bhakti worshipped an abstract, formless god (for example, Kabir and Baba Guru Nanak).

Answer: Saguna: god with form and attributes (Mirabai's Krishna). Nirguna: formless god (Kabir, Guru Nanak).

The Alvars and Nayanars of Tamil Nadu

NCERT section 2.1-2.3; Sources 1-3

Among the earliest bhakti movements, from about the sixth century, were those of the Alvars ('immersed' in devotion to Vishnu) and Nayanars (leaders who were devotees of Shiva). They travelled singing hymns in Tamil.

Shrines and temples: they identified shrines as abodes of their deities; large temples were later built there and became pilgrimage centres. Singing their compositions and worshipping the saints' images became part of temple ritual.

Attitudes to caste: some historians suggest they began a protest against the caste system and Brahmana dominance, or at least tried to reform it. Bhaktas came from diverse backgrounds: Brahmanas, artisans, cultivators and even castes considered 'untouchable'.

• Tondaradippodi, a Brahmana Alvar, said Vishnu loved 'servants' devoted to his feet, though born outcastes, more than chaturvedins (Brahmanas versed in the four Vedas) who did not serve him.
• Appar, a Nayanar, called those who quote law books 'rogues' and asked what use their gotra and kula were; just bow to Shiva of Marperu.
• The Nalayira Divyaprabandham ('Four Thousand Sacred Compositions'), the anthology of the 12 Alvars compiled by the tenth century, was called the Tamil Veda, as important as the four Sanskrit Vedas.
• The Tevaram: poems of Appar, Sambandar and Sundarar, compiled and classified in the tenth century by the music of the songs.

Women devotees:

• Andal, a woman Alvar, saw herself as the beloved of Vishnu; her songs are still sung.
• Karaikkal Ammaiyar, a devotee of Shiva, chose extreme asceticism; in one poem she describes herself as a demoness (pey) with bulging veins and protruding eyes wandering in the forest of Alankatu, home of the dancing Shiva, a contrast to traditional ideas of feminine beauty.

These women renounced social obligations without joining an order or becoming nuns; their existence and compositions challenged patriarchal norms.

Worked example

Discuss the ways in which the Alvars and Nayanars expressed critiques of the caste system. (3 marks)

Try it first, then show the solutionSolution

1. Bhaktas came from diverse backgrounds, from Brahmanas to artisans, cultivators and 'untouchable' castes.
2. Tondaradippodi said Vishnu preferred devoted 'outcastes' to chaturvedins; Appar called law-quoting Brahmanas rogues and dismissed gotra and kula.
3. Their anthology, the Nalayira Divyaprabandham, was called the Tamil Veda, claiming equal status with the Sanskrit Vedas.

Answer: Through diverse membership, verses valuing devotion over birth, and the claim that their Tamil compositions equalled the Vedas.

Bhakti and the state in the Tamil region

NCERT section 2.4 Relations with the state

From the second half of the first millennium there were states such as the Pallavas and Pandyas (c. sixth to ninth centuries). Buddhism and Jainism had long been present, supported by merchants and artisans, with occasional royal patronage.

Opposition to Buddhism and Jainism is a major theme of Tamil bhakti hymns, especially those of the Nayanars. Historians explain it as competition for royal patronage.

The Cholas (ninth to thirteenth centuries) supported Brahmanical and bhakti traditions:

• Land grants and temples for Vishnu and Shiva; magnificent Shiva temples at Chidambaram, Thanjavur and Gangaikondacholapuram.
• Spectacular bronze sculptures of Shiva (such as Nataraja), inspired by the Nayanars' visions.
• Both Alvars and Nayanars were revered by Vellala peasants, so rulers sought their support too.
• Chola kings claimed divine support and proclaimed their power by building splendid temples recreating the saints' visions.
• They introduced the singing of Tamil Shaiva hymns in temples and organised them into the Tevaram.
• An inscription of around 945 suggests Parantaka I consecrated metal images of Appar, Sambandar and Sundarar in a Shiva temple, carried in procession during the saints' festivals.

Worked example

Why did Chola rulers try to establish connections with the Nayanars? (3 marks)

Try it first, then show the solutionSolution

1. The Nayanars and Alvars were revered by Vellala peasants, so royal association won popular support.
2. Building splendid temples that recreated the saints' visions let the kings claim divine support and proclaim their power and status.
3. They introduced Tamil Shaiva hymns in temples, organised the Tevaram, and Parantaka I installed images of Appar, Sambandar and Sundarar carried in festival processions.

Answer: To gain popular support and legitimacy, claiming divine favour through temples, hymns and images of the saints.

The Virashaiva tradition in Karnataka

NCERT section 3. The Virashaiva Tradition in Karnataka; Source 4

In the twelfth century a new movement arose in Karnataka, led by Basavanna (1106-68), a Brahmana who served as minister to a Kalachuri ruler. His followers were called Virashaivas (heroes of Shiva) or Lingayats (wearers of the linga).

Beliefs and practices:

• They worship Shiva as a linga; men usually wear a small linga in a silver case on a loop over the left shoulder.
• They revere the jangama (wandering monks).
• They believe the devotee unites with Shiva at death and does not return, so they do not cremate (as the Dharmashastras prescribe) but ceremonially bury their dead.
• They challenged caste and the 'pollution' attributed to certain groups by Brahmanas, and questioned rebirth, which won followers among the marginalised.
• They encouraged practices the Dharmashastras disapproved: post-puberty marriage and remarriage of widows.
• Our knowledge comes from vachanas (sayings) in Kannada by women and men in the movement.

Basavanna's vachana (Source 4): people pour milk on a serpent carved in stone but shout 'Kill!' at a real serpent; they offer food to an image that cannot eat but drive away a hungry servant of god. He criticises empty ritual through vivid contrasts.

New developments of the period: many Tamil bhakti ideas (especially Vaishnava) entered the Sanskritic tradition, culminating in the Bhagavata Purana; bhakti traditions developed in Maharashtra in the thirteenth century.

Worked example

Describe Basavanna's attitude towards rituals as seen in his vachana, and how he tries to convince the listener. (3 marks)

Try it first, then show the solutionSolution

1. He criticises rituals that honour images while ignoring living beings: milk is poured on a stone serpent but a real one is killed.
2. He contrasts offering food to an image that cannot eat with turning away a hungry servant of god.
3. He convinces through simple, vivid contrasts from everyday life, in the plain Kannada of a vachana, so listeners see the contradiction themselves.

Answer: He rejects empty ritual and urges compassion for the living, using striking everyday contrasts to make the point.

Religious ferment in north India

NCERT section 4. Religious Ferment in North India

In north India, Vishnu and Shiva were worshipped in temples often built with royal support, but historians find nothing like the compositions of the Alvars and Nayanars until the fourteenth century.

Explanations:

• Several Rajput states emerged; in most, Brahmanas held important secular and ritual positions, and there was little attempt to challenge them directly.
• Other religious leaders outside the orthodox framework were gaining ground: Naths, Jogis and Siddhas. Many came from artisanal groups such as weavers, increasingly important with organised craft production, new urban centres and long-distance trade with Central and West Asia.
• They questioned the authority of the Vedas and spoke in languages of ordinary people (which developed into today's languages), but could not win the support of ruling elites.

A new element: the coming of the Turks and the Delhi Sultanate (thirteenth century) undermined many Rajput states and the Brahmanas linked with them. This brought marked changes in culture and religion, including the coming of the sufis.

Worked example

Why did compositions like those of the Alvars and Nayanars not appear in north India until the fourteenth century? (3 marks)

Try it first, then show the solutionSolution

1. Rajput states emerged in which Brahmanas held important secular and ritual positions, and there was little direct challenge to them.
2. Naths, Jogis and Siddhas, often from artisanal groups like weavers, questioned the Vedas but could not win the support of ruling elites.
3. Only after the Delhi Sultanate undermined Rajput states and their Brahmanas did major changes in religion and culture follow.

Answer: Brahmana dominance in Rajput states and the lack of elite support for dissenting leaders delayed it until the Sultanate changed the situation.

Islamic traditions: rulers, subjects and popular practice

NCERT section 5. New Strands in the Fabric; 5.1-5.3; Sources 5 and 6

Contacts across seas and mountains were ancient: Arab merchants visited western ports in the first millennium CE and Central Asian peoples settled in the north-west. From the seventh century, with Islam, these regions became part of the Islamic world.

Faiths of rulers: in 711, the Arab general Muhammad Qasim conquered Sind, which became part of the Caliph's domain. The Turks and Afghans set up the Delhi Sultanate (c. thirteenth century), followed by Sultanates in the Deccan and elsewhere, the Mughal Empire (sixteenth century) and regional states (eighteenth century).

Rulers and subjects: in theory Muslim rulers were guided by the ulama (scholars of Islamic studies) to rule according to the shari'a (law based on the Qur'an and hadis, later also qiyas, reasoning by analogy, and ijma, consensus). The category of zimmi (protected) developed for followers of revealed scriptures such as Jews and Christians living under Muslim rule; they paid jizya and gained protection. In India this status was extended to Hindus. Rulers often followed a flexible policy: land endowments and tax exemptions to Hindu, Jaina, Zoroastrian, Christian and Jewish institutions, by rulers including Akbar and Aurangzeb. Examples: Akbar's farman of 1598 allowing the Jesuits to build a church in Khambat; Aurangzeb's letter (1661-62) to the Jogi Guru Anand Nath with an offering of cloth and twenty-five rupees.

Popular practice: converts across social strata accepted the five pillars: shahada (one God, Allah, and Prophet Muhammad his messenger), namaz/salat (prayer five times a day), zakat (alms), sawm (fasting in Ramzan) and hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca). But practice varied by sect (Sunni, Shi'a) and local custom:

• The Khojahs (a branch of the Ismailis, a Shi'a sect) spread Quranic ideas through ginan (from Sanskrit jnana, knowledge), devotional poems in Punjabi, Multani, Sindhi, Kachchi, Hindi and Gujarati sung in ragas.
• Arab traders on the Malabar coast adopted Malayalam, matriliny and matrilocal residence.
• Mosques: universal features (orientation towards Mecca, the mihrab and minbar) combined with local roofs and materials: a thirteenth-century Kerala mosque with a shikhara-like roof, the brick Atiya mosque (1609, Bangladesh), and the wooden Shah Hamadan mosque in Srinagar (1395).

Names for communities: in Sanskrit texts and inscriptions of the eighth to fourteenth centuries, 'musalman' was virtually never used. People were named by region (Turushka for Turks, Tajika, Parashika for Persians) or by older labels (Shakas, Yavanas), or generally as mlechchha. These rarely denoted a religious community of Muslims opposed to Hindus.

Worked example

To what extent does mosque architecture in the subcontinent reflect universal ideals and local traditions? (3 marks)

Try it first, then show the solutionSolution

1. Universal features: orientation towards Mecca, shown by the mihrab (prayer niche) and minbar (pulpit).
2. Local variations in roofs and materials: a thirteenth-century Kerala mosque has a shikhara-like roof; the Atiya mosque in Bangladesh is of brick.
3. The Shah Hamadan mosque in Srinagar shows Kashmiri wooden architecture with a spire and carved eaves.

Answer: The orientation and core features are universal, while roofs, materials and decoration follow local traditions.

The growth of Sufism: khanqahs, silsilas and dargahs

NCERT section 6. The Growth of Sufism; 6.1-6.2

Origins: in the early centuries of Islam, some religious-minded people, the sufis, took to asceticism and mysticism as a protest against the Caliphate's growing materialism. They criticised theologians' dogmatic definitions and scholastic interpretation of the Qur'an and sunna (traditions of the Prophet). They sought salvation through intense devotion and love for God, following His commands and the example of the Prophet as a perfect human being, and interpreted the Qur'an through personal experience.

Sufism and tasawwuf: 'Sufism' is a nineteenth-century English word; Islamic texts use tasawwuf, perhaps from *suf* (wool, the coarse garments of sufis), *safa* (purity) or *suffa* (the platform outside the Prophet's mosque).

Organisation (by the eleventh century):

• Communities formed around the khanqah (hospice), controlled by a master called shaikh, pir or murshid, who enrolled disciples (murids), appointed a successor (khalifa) and set rules of conduct.
• Silsilas crystallised around the twelfth century: a 'chain' linking master and disciple in an unbroken spiritual genealogy back to the Prophet Muhammad, through which spiritual power and blessings passed. At initiation, a disciple swore allegiance, put on a patched garment and had his hair shaved.
• Most silsilas were named after a founder (Qadiri after Shaikh Abd'ul Qadir Jilani); some after a place (Chishti after Chisht in central Afghanistan).

Dargah and ziyarat: after the shaikh's death, his tomb-shrine (dargah, Persian 'court') became a centre of devotion; pilgrimage (ziyarat) took place especially on his death anniversary, urs ('marriage', the union of his soul with God). People believed saints in death were closer to God and sought their blessings: the cult of the shaikh as wali (plural auliya, friend of God, with barakat, grace, and karamat, miracles).

Outside the khanqah: some mystics (Qalandars, Madaris, Malangs, Haidaris) scorned the khanqah, became mendicants, observed celibacy, ignored rituals and practised extreme asceticism. Because they deliberately defied the shari'a they were called be-shari'a, unlike the ba-shari'a sufis who complied with it.

Data Ganj Bakhsh: Abu'l Hasan al Hujwiri, brought to the subcontinent as a captive in 1039, settled in Lahore and wrote the Persian Kashf-ul-Mahjub explaining tasawwuf; his tomb in Lahore became a pilgrimage site.

Worked example

What were the similarities and differences between be-shari'a and ba-shari'a sufis? (3 marks)

Try it first, then show the solutionSolution

1. Similarity: both belonged to the sufi tradition of seeking God through devotion and mysticism.
2. Ba-shari'a sufis complied with the shari'a and generally lived in organised khanqahs under a shaikh.
3. Be-shari'a sufis (Qalandars, Madaris, Malangs, Haidaris) deliberately defied the shari'a, scorned the khanqah, became mendicants, observed celibacy, ignored rituals and practised extreme asceticism.

Answer: Both were sufis; ba-shari'a followed the shari'a within khanqahs, while be-shari'a defied it through radical, mendicant asceticism.

The Chishtis in the subcontinent

NCERT section 7. The Chishtis; 7.1-7.3; Sources 7 and 8

Of the sufi groups who came in the late twelfth century, the Chishtis were the most influential because they adapted successfully to the local environment and adopted features of Indian devotional traditions.

Life in the khanqah: Shaikh Nizamuddin Auliya's hospice (c. fourteenth century) at Ghiyaspur on the Yamuna, outside Delhi, had small rooms and a big hall (jama'at khana); the Shaikh lived in a small room on the roof and met visitors morning and evening. Once, fearing a Mongol invasion, neighbours took refuge there. An open kitchen (langar) ran on futuh (unasked-for charity). Visitors from all walks of life came: soldiers, slaves, singers, merchants, poets, travellers, rich and poor, Hindu jogis and qalandars; poets Amir Hasan Sijzi and Amir Khusrau and the historian Ziyauddin Barani wrote about him. Practices such as bowing before the Shaikh, offering water to visitors, shaving initiates' heads and yogic exercises show assimilation of local traditions. He appointed successors to set up hospices across the subcontinent.

Major Chishti teachers: Shaikh Muinuddin Sijzi (d. 1235, Ajmer); Khwaja Qutbuddin Bakhtiyar Kaki (d. 1235, Delhi); Shaikh Fariduddin Ganj-i Shakar (d. 1265, Ajodhan, Pakistan); Shaikh Nizamuddin Auliya (d. 1325, Delhi); Shaikh Nasiruddin Chiragh-i Dehli (d. 1356, Delhi).

Ziyarat at Ajmer: the most revered shrine is that of Khwaja Muinuddin, 'Gharib Nawaz' (comforter of the poor). The earliest textual references date to the fourteenth century. Muhammad bin Tughlaq was the first Sultan to visit; Sultan Ghiyasuddin Khalji of Malwa paid for the first building over the tomb, in the late fifteenth century. It lay on the Delhi-Gujarat trade route. Akbar visited fourteen times (until 1580) for blessings for conquests, vows and the birth of sons, gave a huge cauldron (degh) in 1568 and built a mosque there. Princess Jahanara (1643) described her pilgrimage: prayers at every halt, not turning her back to the shrine, walking barefoot kissing the ground, circling the tomb seven times, placing itar and her rose scarf on it.

Music: sufis remember God through zikr (reciting Divine Names) or sama' ('audition', mystical music), integral to the Chishtis. Amir Khusrau (1253-1325) introduced the qaul, a hymn sung at the opening or closing of qawwali.

Languages: Chishtis in Delhi conversed in Hindavi; Baba Farid's verses are in the Guru Granth Sahib; Malik Muhammad Jayasi's Padmavat used the romance of Padmini and Ratansen as an allegory of the soul's journey to God; in and around Bijapur, short Dakhani poems (charkhanama for spinning, lurinama lullabies, shadinama wedding songs) were sung by women, probably inspired by Lingayat vachanas and the Marathi abhangs of Pandharpur. Through this medium Islam gained a place in Deccan villages.

Worked example

Why were the Chishtis the most influential sufi group in the subcontinent? (3 marks)

Try it first, then show the solutionSolution

1. They adapted successfully to the local environment and adopted features of Indian devotional traditions, such as bowing before the Shaikh, shaving initiates' heads, yogic exercises and sama'.
2. Their khanqahs, with langars on futuh, welcomed people of all backgrounds, including jogis and the poor.
3. They used local languages such as Hindavi and Dakhani, and Shaikh Nizamuddin sent successors to set up hospices across the subcontinent.

Answer: Adaptation to local traditions, open hospices for all, local languages and a network of successors spread their influence.

Sufis and the state

NCERT section 7.4 Sufis and the state; Source 9

Distance from power: a major feature of the Chishti tradition was austerity, including keeping a distance from worldly power, though not total isolation.

Exchanges:

• Sufis accepted unsolicited grants and donations; Sultans set up charitable trusts (auqaf) and granted tax-free land (inam).
• Chishtis did not accumulate donations but spent them fully on immediate needs: food, clothes, quarters and rituals such as sama'. This enhanced their moral authority and attracted people from all walks of life.
• Their piety, scholarship and believed miraculous powers made them popular with the masses, whose support kings wanted.

Legitimation: when the Turks set up the Delhi Sultanate, they resisted the ulama's insistence on imposing shari'a as state law, anticipating opposition from a mostly non-Muslim population. They sought out the sufis, who derived authority directly from God and did not depend on jurists. People also believed the auliya could intercede with God, which is why kings wanted their tombs near sufi shrines. The dargah of Shaikh Salim Chishti, built at Akbar's capital Fatehpur Sikri, stood for the close bond between the Mughal state and the Chishtis.

Conflict: both Sultans and sufis expected rituals such as prostration and kissing of the feet; disciples called Nizamuddin Auliya sultan-ul-mashaikh (Sultan among shaikhs).

Declining a royal gift (Source 9, from the Fawa'id-al-Fu'ad by Amir Hasan Sijzi, 1313): Nizamuddin refused a local ruler's deed to gardens and land, saying none of his spiritual masters engaged in such activity, and told how Shaikh Fariduddin accepted Ulugh Khan's money for the dervishes but returned the land deeds.

Other sufis, such as the Suhrawardi under the Delhi Sultans and the Naqshbandi under the Mughals, were associated with the state differently; some accepted courtly offices.

Worked example

Why did the Sultans of Delhi seek the support of sufis? (3 marks)

Try it first, then show the solutionSolution

1. They resisted the ulama's insistence on shari'a as state law because most subjects were non-Muslims; sufis, deriving authority directly from God, offered an alternative source of legitimation.
2. Sufis were popular with the masses for their piety, scholarship and believed miraculous powers, so association brought popular support.
3. Auliya were believed to intercede with God, so kings wanted their tombs near sufi shrines.

Answer: For legitimation independent of the ulama, for popular support, and for the believed spiritual benefits of the auliya's intercession.

Kabir, Baba Guru Nanak and Mirabai

NCERT section 8. New Devotional Paths; Sources 10 and 11

Kabir (c. fourteenth-fifteenth centuries):

• Verses are compiled in three overlapping traditions: the Kabir Bijak (Kabirpanth, Varanasi and Uttar Pradesh), the Kabir Granthavali (Dadupanth, Rajasthan) and the Adi Granth Sahib, all compiled long after his death.
• Languages include sant bhasha (language of nirguna poets) and ulatbansi (upside-down sayings, such as 'the lotus which blooms without flower'), hinting at how hard it is to express Ultimate Reality.
• He drew on many traditions: Islam (Allah, Khuda, Hazrat, Pir), Vedanta (alakh, nirakar, Brahman, Atman) and yoga (shabda, shunya). Some poems use monotheism and iconoclasm to attack polytheism and idol worship; others use the sufi ideas of zikr and ishq for nam-simaran.
• 'The One Lord' (Source 10): God has many names (Allah, Ram, Karim, Keshav, Hari, Hazrat), just as gold shaped into rings and bangles is still gold; distinctions are words people invent.
• Hagiographies (from the seventeenth century, about 200 years later) debate whether he was born Hindu or Muslim; Vaishnava ones say he was born a Hindu, Kabirdas, raised by a poor Muslim julaha (weaver) family, and initiated by Ramananda. But his verses name no specific guru, and it is hard to show Ramananda and Kabir were contemporaries; these traditions show the importance of his legacy.

Baba Guru Nanak (1469-1539):

• Born in a Hindu merchant family at Nankana Sahib near the Ravi; trained as an accountant, studied Persian, spent time among sufis and bhaktas, travelled widely.
• Advocated nirguna bhakti; rejected the outward practices he saw around him: sacrifices, ritual bathing, worship of images, austerities, and the scriptures of Hindus as well as Muslims. The Absolute, 'rab', had no gender or form.
• Way to the Divine: remembering and repeating the Divine Name; hymns called shabad in Punjabi, sung in ragas with Mardana playing the rabab.
• Organised followers into a community with congregational worship (sangat); appointed Angad as successor.
• He apparently did not wish to found a new religion, but his followers later consolidated their practices. Guru Arjan compiled his hymns with those of four successors and of Baba Farid, Ravidas and Kabir in the Adi Granth Sahib (hymns called gurbani). Guru Gobind Singh added Guru Tegh Bahadur's compositions (the Guru Granth Sahib), founded the Khalsa Panth (army of the pure) and laid down its five symbols: uncut hair, a comb, a dagger, a steel bangle and a pair of shorts.

Mirabai (c. fifteenth-sixteenth centuries): the best-known woman bhakti poet; biographies come mainly from her bhajans, transmitted orally. A Rajput princess from Merta in Marwar, married against her wishes into the Sisodia clan of Mewar, she defied her husband and the role of wife and mother, recognising Krishna as her lover. Her in-laws tried to poison her; she left to become a wandering saint. Some traditions say her preceptor was Raidas, a leather worker, showing defiance of caste norms. She attracted no sect, but her songs are still sung, especially by the poor and 'low caste' in Gujarat and Rajasthan. In one verse she asks what Mewar's ruler can do to her when only God's anger matters.

Shankaradeva (late fifteenth century, Assam) taught Bhagavati dharma, based on the Bhagavad Gita and Bhagavata Purana: surrender to Vishnu, naam kirtan in sat sanga, satra (monasteries) and naam ghar (prayer halls); his works include the Kirtana-ghosha.

Worked example

Describe the major teachings of Baba Guru Nanak and how they were transmitted. (3 marks)

Try it first, then show the solutionSolution

1. He advocated nirguna bhakti: the Absolute (rab) has no gender or form; he turned away from sacrifices, ritual bathing, image worship, austerities and the scriptures of both Hindus and Muslims.
2. He taught remembrance and repetition of the Divine Name through shabad in Punjabi, sung in ragas with Mardana on the rabab, and organised the sangat with collective recitation.
3. Transmission: he appointed Angad as successor; Guru Arjan compiled the Adi Granth Sahib; Guru Gobind Singh added Guru Tegh Bahadur's hymns to form the Guru Granth Sahib.

Answer: A formless God approached through the Divine Name and congregational singing; transmitted through a line of gurus and the Adi Granth/Guru Granth Sahib.

Reconstructing histories of religious traditions

NCERT section 9. Reconstructing Histories; box on sufi sources

Historians use sculpture, architecture, stories about preceptors and compositions of devotees. Each needs context and special skills: languages and awareness of genre, from the simple vachanas of Basavanna to the ornate Persian of Mughal farmans.

Sources for sufi traditions:
1. Treatises or manuals: e.g. Hujwiri's Kashf-ul-Mahjub, showing outside influences on Indian sufi thought.
2. Malfuzat ('uttered', conversations of sufi saints): e.g. the Fawa'id-al-Fu'ad, conversations of Nizamuddin Auliya compiled by Amir Hasan Sijzi Dehlavi; compiled with the shaikhs' permission for didactic purposes.
3. Maktubat ('written', collections of letters): show the shaikh's religious experience and the recipients' spiritual and worldly concerns; e.g. the Maktubat-i Imam Rabbani of the Naqshbandi Shaikh Ahmad Sirhindi (d. 1624), whose ideology is often contrasted with Akbar's liberal, non-sectarian views.
4. Tazkiras ('to mention and memorialise', biographies of saints): e.g. Siyar-ul-Auliya of Mir Khwurd Kirmani (fourteenth century, the first in India, on Chishti saints) and Akhbar-ul-Akhyar of Abdul Haqq Muhaddis Dehlavi (d. 1642). Authors often glorified their own orders and included implausible details, yet tazkiras are of great value.

Continuity and change: most traditions still flourish, which lets historians compare present practice with texts and paintings, but people may not accept that traditions changed. Historians must investigate with sensitivity while recognising that religious traditions are dynamic.

Worked example

Name four kinds of texts produced in and around sufi khanqahs, with one example each. (4 marks)

Try it first, then show the solutionSolution

1. Treatises or manuals: Kashf-ul-Mahjub of Hujwiri.
2. Malfuzat (conversations): Fawa'id-al-Fu'ad, compiled by Amir Hasan Sijzi.
3. Maktubat (letters): Maktubat-i Imam Rabbani of Shaikh Ahmad Sirhindi.
4. Tazkiras (biographies): Siyar-ul-Auliya of Mir Khwurd Kirmani, or Akhbar-ul-Akhyar.

Answer: Treatises, malfuzat, maktubat and tazkiras, with the examples above.

Bhakti-Sufi Traditions: Changes in Religious Beliefs and Devotional Texts (c. eighth to eighteenth century) in real life

Each concept, met in an everyday situation. Read the situation, answer the question in your own words, then compare with the model answer. The one-line hook is what to remember.

Topics in this chapter

• Alvars, Nayanars and Virashaivas
• Sufism and the Chishti Silsila
• Kabir, Guru Nanak and Mirabai

Bhakti-Sufi Traditions: Changes in Religious Beliefs and Devotional Texts (c. eighth to eighteenth century): key facts

Period and categories

c. 8th-18th centuries; saguna (with attributes) vs nirguna (without attributes)

Bhakti had about a thousand years of history before this period.

Tamil bhakti

Alvars (Vishnu) + Nayanars (Shiva), c. 6th century; Nalayira Divyaprabandham (12 Alvars, 'Tamil Veda'); Tevaram (Appar, Sambandar, Sundarar), 10th century

Women: Andal (Alvar), Karaikkal Ammaiyar (Shiva).

Chola patronage

Temples at Chidambaram, Thanjavur, Gangaikondacholapuram; bronzes of Shiva; c. 945 Parantaka I installs images of Appar, Sambandar, Sundarar

Vellala peasants revered the saints.

Virashaivas

Basavanna (1106-68), minister of a Kalachuri ruler; Lingayats; linga worn on left shoulder; jangama; burial; vachanas in Kannada

Questioned caste, pollution and rebirth; supported widow remarriage and post-puberty marriage.

Five pillars of Islam

Shahada, namaz/salat, zakat, sawm, hajj

Overlaid with sectarian and local diversity.

Shari'a sources

Qur'an + hadis + qiyas (analogy) + ijma (consensus)

Zimmi status with jizya, extended to Hindus in India.

Sufi terms

Khanqah	hospice
shaikh/pir/murshid	master
murid	disciple
khalifa	successor
silsila	chain
dargah	tomb-shrine, 'court'
ziyarat	pilgrimage
urs	death anniversary
wali	friend of God
barakat	grace
karamat	miracles

Tasawwuf from suf, safa or suffa.

Chishti teachers and dargahs

Muinuddin Sijzi	1235, Ajmer
Qutbuddin Bakhtiyar Kaki	1235, Delhi
Fariduddin Ganj-i Shakar	1265, Ajodhan
Nizamuddin Auliya	1325, Delhi
Nasiruddin Chiragh-i Dehli	1356, Delhi

Years are years of death.

Ajmer dargah

First Sultan visitor	Muhammad bin Tughlaq
First building	Ghiyasuddin Khalji of Malwa (late 15th c.)
Akbar	14 visits till 1580, degh in 1568
Jahanara	pilgrimage 1643

Khwaja Muinuddin = Gharib Nawaz.

Chishti khanqah terms

Jama'at khana	hall
langar	kitchen
futuh	unasked-for charity
auqaf	trusts
inam	tax-free land
sama'	music
zikr	Divine Names
qaul	Amir Khusrau

Nizamuddin = sultan-ul-mashaikh.

Kabir's corpus

Kabir Bijak (Kabirpanth, UP); Kabir Granthavali (Dadupanth, Rajasthan); Adi Granth Sahib

Sant bhasha; ulatbansi.

Sikh tradition

Guru Nanak	1469-1539, succeeded by Angad
Guru Arjan	compiles Adi Granth Sahib
Guru Gobind Singh	Guru Granth Sahib, Khalsa Panth, five symbols

Shabad in Punjabi; sangat; Mardana on the rabab.

Sufi sources

Treatises (Kashf-ul-Mahjub); malfuzat (Fawa'id-al-Fu'ad); maktubat (Maktubat-i Imam Rabbani); tazkiras (Siyar-ul-Auliya, Akhbar-ul-Akhyar)

Tazkiras glorify their own orders.

Names for communities (8th-14th c. texts)

Turushka (Turks), Tajika, Parashika (Persians), Shakas, Yavanas, mlechchha; 'musalman' virtually never used

Labels rarely meant a religious community.

How the board asks Bhakti-Sufi Traditions: Changes in Religious Beliefs and Devotional Texts (c. eighth to eighteenth century)

The question patterns to expect, and the method that works for each.

Tricks to remember Bhakti-Sufi Traditions: Changes in Religious Beliefs and Devotional Texts (c. eighth to eighteenth century)

Short memory aids. Say each one aloud once, then use it on a question the same day.

• A for Alvar, V for Vishnu

  "Alvars Venerate Vishnu; Nayanars Name Nataraja (Shiva)."

  Use it when: MCQs on Tamil saints.

• Chishti five by death year

  "My Queen Finds Nice Nights": Muinuddin 1235, Qutbuddin 1235, Fariduddin 1265, Nizamuddin 1325, Nasiruddin 1356.

  Use it when: Chronology and matching.

• Five pillars

  "SSZSH": Shahada, Salat, Zakat, Sawm, Hajj.

  Use it when: Short answers on popular Islam.

• Four sufi source types

  "Teachers Make My Tea": Treatises, Malfuzat, Maktubat, Tazkiras.

  Use it when: Sources questions.

• Kabir's three corpora

  "BGA": Bijak (Kabirpanth), Granthavali (Dadupanth), Adi Granth.

  Use it when: Questions on how Kabir's verses were transmitted.

• Khalsa five symbols

  Hair, dagger, shorts, comb, bangle: head to wrist.

  Use it when: Guru Gobind Singh questions.

Bhakti-Sufi Traditions: Changes in Religious Beliefs and Devotional Texts (c. eighth to eighteenth century): board-level solved questions

Ordered from board level to HOTS. Cover the solution, write your own, then compare step by step.

Case-study practice (Section E style)

Read the situation, then answer every part. In the board paper this is a 4-mark question split into 1 + 1 + 2 marks.

Where the marks are

How a typical answer is split into step marks. Show every step: a right final answer alone rarely earns full marks.

Where students lose marks in Bhakti-Sufi Traditions: Changes in Religious Beliefs and Devotional Texts (c. eighth to eighteenth century)

The slips examiners see most often, and what to write instead.

• ✗Mistake: Swapping Alvars and Nayanars

  Both were Tamil bhakti saints.

  Wrong working

  The Alvars were devotees of Shiva.

  Right working

  The Alvars were devotees of Vishnu; the Nayanars were devotees of Shiva.

  ✓Do this: Nayanar and Nataraja both start with N: Nayanars = Shiva.

  Usually costs: 1 mark in an MCQ; accuracy in source answers.

• ✗Mistake: Mixing up be-shari'a and ba-shari'a

  The prefixes look alike.

  ✓Do this: Ba = 'with' (complied with the shari'a); be = 'without' (defied it).

  Usually costs: 1-2 marks.

• ✗Mistake: Stating hagiographical claims as facts

  Students repeat that Ramananda was Kabir's guru.

  ✓Do this: Say 'according to Vaishnava hagiographies' and add the historians' doubts.

  Usually costs: 1-2 marks.

• ✗Mistake: Describing Hindu and Muslim as fixed community labels in early texts

  Modern usage is projected backwards.

  ✓Do this: Note that Sanskrit texts of the eighth to fourteenth centuries used regional terms (Turushka, Tajika, Parashika) or mlechchha, and rarely denoted a religious community.

  Usually costs: 1-2 marks in a source answer.

• ✗Mistake: Writing a list of sufi terms without explaining practices

  Students memorise vocabulary only.

  ✓Do this: Link each term to what happened: khanqah life, silsila initiation, urs at the dargah, sama' as remembrance.

  Usually costs: 2-3 marks in an 8-mark answer.

NCERT exercise guide: Bhakti-Sufi Traditions: Changes in Religious Beliefs and Devotional Texts (c. eighth to eighteenth century)

What each exercise in the NCERT chapter tests, how to approach it, and a question of the same kind solved step by step. Questions here are written in our own words.

Practice questions on Bhakti-Sufi Traditions: Changes in Religious Beliefs and Devotional Texts (c. eighth to eighteenth century)

Write each answer on paper first. Open the hint only if you are stuck, and the answer only when you have finished.

1. Q1 · 1 mark · MCQBoard level

   By the twelfth century, the principal deity at Puri was identified as:
   (a) Vitthala
   (b) Jagannatha
   (c) Venkateshvara
   (d) Nataraja

   Hint

   Lord of the world.

   Answer

   (b) Jagannatha, a form of Vishnu.

2. Q2 · 1 mark · MCQHarder board level

   Arrange the Chishti saints by year of death: (i) Nizamuddin Auliya; (ii) Muinuddin Sijzi; (iii) Fariduddin Ganj-i Shakar; (iv) Nasiruddin Chiragh-i Dehli.
   (a) ii, iii, i, iv
   (b) iii, ii, i, iv
   (c) ii, i, iii, iv
   (d) ii, iii, iv, i

   Hint

   1235, 1265, 1325, 1356.

   Answer

   (a) ii, iii, i, iv.

3. Q3 · 1 mark · MCQHarder board level

   Which is NOT a practice associated with the Lingayats?
   (a) Wearing a small linga on the left shoulder
   (b) Cremation as prescribed in the Dharmashastras
   (c) Remarriage of widows
   (d) Reverence for jangama

   Hint

   What did they do with their dead?

   Answer

   (b) They ceremonially buried their dead.

4. Q4 · 1 mark · Assertion-reasonBoard level

   Assertion (A): The Khojahs developed new modes of communication for Quranic ideas.
   Reason (R): They used ginan, devotional poems in several regional languages sung in ragas.
   Choose (a)-(d).

   Hint

   Ginan from jnana.

   Answer

   (a) Both are true and R explains A.

5. Q5 · 2 marks · Very short answerBoard level

   What did Amir Khusrau contribute to Chishti sama'? (2 marks)

   Hint

   A hymn at the start or end.

   Answer

   He gave sama' a unique form by introducing the qaul, a hymn sung at the opening or closing of qawwali, followed by sufi poetry in Persian, Hindavi or Urdu; qawwals at Nizamuddin's shrine still begin with the qaul.

6. Q6 · 2 marks · Very short answerBoard level

   How did Arab Muslim traders on the Malabar coast blend their faith with local practices? (2 marks)

   Hint

   Language and family.

   Answer

   They adopted the local language, Malayalam, and local customs such as matriliny and matrilocal residence.

7. Q7 · 8 marks · Long answerHOTS / competency

   Examine how and why rulers tried to establish connections with the Nayanars and the sufis. (8 marks)

   Hint

   Cholas; Delhi Sultans and Mughals.

   Answer

   Nayanars: Vellala peasants revered them, so Chola kings sought popular support; they built magnificent Shiva temples (Chidambaram, Thanjavur, Gangaikondacholapuram) and bronzes recreating the saints' visions, claimed divine support, introduced Tamil Shaiva hymns in temples, organised the Tevaram and, under Parantaka I (c. 945), consecrated images of Appar, Sambandar and Sundarar for festival processions. Sufis: Delhi Sultans resisted imposing shari'a as state law because of a non-Muslim majority and sought legitimation from sufis whose authority came directly from God; sufis were popular for piety, scholarship and believed miracles; auliya were believed to intercede with God, so kings wanted tombs near shrines; Sultans gave auqaf and inam; Muhammad bin Tughlaq visited Ajmer, Ghiyasuddin Khalji built over the tomb, Akbar visited fourteen times and gave a degh and mosque; Shaikh Salim Chishti's dargah at Fatehpur Sikri symbolised the bond. Tensions: rituals of prostration and titles like sultan-ul-mashaikh; Chishti refusal of land.

8. Q8 · 3 marks · Short answerHOTS / competency

   Suppose two neighbours argue over whose festival is more important, each insisting their god is the true one. How might a verse of Kabir respond? (3 marks)

   Hint

   Gold and ornaments.

   Answer

   Kabir would ask how there can be two lords of the world. God is called Allah, Ram, Karim, Keshav, Hari or Hazrat, but just as gold made into rings or bangles is still gold, these are names for one Reality. Distinctions are words people invent, and those who quarrel waste their lives and miss the one God.

9. Q9 · 3 marks · Short answerHarder board level

   Why are hagiographies about Kabir's birth and guru not accepted at face value by historians? (3 marks)

   Hint

   Dates and verses.

   Answer

   They were composed from the seventeenth century, about 200 years after his life, and reflect later debates over whether he was born Hindu or Muslim. Vaishnava hagiographies say he was born Hindu, raised by julahas and initiated by Ramananda, but his verses mention guru and satguru without naming anyone, and it is hard to show Ramananda and Kabir were contemporaries without improbably long lives. They show the importance of his legacy rather than proven facts.

10. Q10 · 3 marks · Short answerHOTS / competency

    In what ways did Karaikkal Ammaiyar and Andal challenge patriarchal norms? (3 marks)

    Hint

    Self-image and renunciation.

    Answer

    Andal saw herself as Vishnu's beloved and expressed her love openly in verse. Karaikkal Ammaiyar chose extreme asceticism and depicted herself as a fearsome demoness, rejecting ideals of feminine beauty. Both renounced social obligations without joining any order or becoming nuns, so their existence and compositions challenged patriarchal norms.

Test your recall

Answer in your head or on paper first, then open the card. Pulling an answer out of memory makes it stick far better than re-reading.

1. 1.Who coined the terms 'great' and 'little' traditions?Show answer

   The sociologist Robert Redfield, in the twentieth century.

2. 2.What is the Nalayira Divyaprabandham?Show answer

   The 'Four Thousand Sacred Compositions' of the 12 Alvars, compiled by the tenth century and called the Tamil Veda.

3. 3.Who was Basavanna?Show answer

   A Brahmana minister in the court of a Kalachuri ruler who led the Virashaiva movement in twelfth-century Karnataka (1106-68).

4. 4.Who conquered Sind in 711?Show answer

   The Arab general Muhammad Qasim.

5. 5.What is a khanqah?Show answer

   A sufi hospice, controlled by a teaching master (shaikh, pir or murshid).

6. 6.Why is the Chishti silsila so named?Show answer

   After its place of origin, the town of Chisht in central Afghanistan.

7. 7.Who first funded a building over Khwaja Muinuddin's tomb?Show answer

   Sultan Ghiyasuddin Khalji of Malwa, in the late fifteenth century.

8. 8.Who compiled the Adi Granth Sahib?Show answer

   Guru Arjan, the fifth preceptor.

9. 9.What were Shankaradeva's satra and naam ghar?Show answer

   Monasteries for transmitting spiritual knowledge and prayer halls, in Assam.

Quick revision checklist

The night before the exam: can you do each of these without looking?

• ☐Can you explain the two processes in the integration of cults with the Puri example?
• ☐Can you define saguna and nirguna with examples?
• ☐Can you give three ways the Alvars and Nayanars challenged caste?
• ☐Can you list five Chola links with the Nayanars?
• ☐Can you list five Lingayat beliefs or practices?
• ☐Can you explain zimmi, jizya and the five pillars?
• ☐Can you define khanqah, silsila, dargah, urs and sama'?
• ☐Can you list the five Chishti saints with years and dargahs?
• ☐Can you explain why Sultans sought sufis and where conflict arose?
• ☐Can you summarise Kabir, Guru Nanak and Mirabai in three points each?

Bhakti-Sufi Traditions: Changes in Religious Beliefs and Devotional Texts (c. eighth to eighteenth century): frequently asked questions