1. What is Bhakti Movement?
Ans: The Bhakti Movement in India happened during the later half of medieval period (800 CE to 1700 CE). It started in the south of India and slowly spread to the north. It is aimed at the principle of monotheism, that is existence of one God.
2. What are the features of Bhakti Movement?
Ans: The features of Bhakti Movement are:
a) The concept of Bhakti means single minded devotion to one God.
b) The Bhakti cult discarded the rituals and sacrifices as modes of worship.
c) The Bhakti saints often regarded knowledge as a constituent of Bhakti. It is important to have a guru for attaining the knowledge according to this movement.
d) The Bhakti Movement completely discarded the discriminations based on caste or creed. The saint of the Bhakti Movement were strong supporters of social unity.
e) The Bhakti Movement also discarded the domination of priests as well as rituals.
f) The Bhakti saints preached in the simple languages of the masses.
3. Who revived the philosophy of advaitya?
Ans: Shankaracharya.
4. What does the concept of Bhakti mean?
Ans: The concept of Bhakti means single minded devotion to one God.
5. Give any two reasons for the popularity of Bhakti Movement.
Ans: The two reasons for why Bhakti Movement gains popularity were:
a)It could be accessed by anyone.
b) The Bhakti Movement in India gave a rich collection of literature based on devotion , spirituality, faith and numerous devotional hymns and chants.
6. Name a Bhakti saint who is famous for the dohas.
Ans: Kabir.
7. Where are dohas preserved?
Ans: Dohas are preserved in the Guru Granth Sahib.
8. Write any two features of Kabir's teachings?
Ans: The two features of Kabir's teaching are -
a)He laid stress on Bhakti. He said that through Bhakti or devotion one would come nearer to God, one could be released from the cycle of birth and death.`
b) He made no distinction between Hindus and Muslims. He believed and preached that humanity was one and religions should not divide community.
9.Who was Kabir?
Ans: Kabir was a poet of early 15th century. He tried to established a harmony between the Hindus and Muslims. It is said that he was born of a Hindu widow, but brought up by a Muslim weaver. When he grew up he became disciple of Ramananda.
Kabir was the first saint to bridge a gap between Hinduism and Islam. He preached his teachings among the people spoken Hindi as understood by common people . His devotional bhajans or dohas are compiled and preserved in the Bijaka and Guru Granth Sahib.
10.Write about the teachings of Kabir.
Ans: The teachings of Kabir are very simple. For instance:
a)Kabir laid stress on Bhakti. He said that through Bhakti or devotion one would come nearer to God, one could be released from the cycle of birth and death.`
b) He made no distinction between Hindus and Muslims. He believed and preached that humanity was one and religions should not divide community.
c) Kabir did not believe in idol worship . He was also against the performance of rituals and superstitions or pilgrimage to the so called holy places.
d) To Kabir there should be no discrimination on the basis of caste.
e) Kabir was in favour of "Love of Humanity".
f) In Kabir's view , God resided inside the human heart. He advised everyone to seek truth within their own hearts.
11.Write few lines about Meera Bai.
Ans: Meera Bai was a Hindu religious saint, who born in Rajasthan. She spent her life in singing hymns for the gods and in the company of saints of Mathura and Vrindavan. She became a disciple of Ravidas. The theme of Meera Bai's bhajans was Lord Krishna. In her songs she openly challenged the norms of the upper castes.
12. Write few lines about Namdev.
Ans: Namdev was born in Maharashtra. He tried to bring harmony between Hinduism and Islam. He composed poetry in Hindi and Marathi and preached and professed unity of God. He was against idol worship and ritualism. To him, salvation could be achieved through devotion to God. He took Bhakti Movement from the south to the north.
13. Write few lines about Tukaram.
Ans: Tukaram was a famous saint of early 17th century, Maharashtra. To him, God is omnipresent. He believed that there cannot be anything impure in this world. God is contained in this whole universe just like water in ice and yarn in cloth, and that is why, to consider anything impure in this world is an insult to God. To him, satsangs or prayer meetings are important as they bring unification of gods, saints and people through chanting prayers.
14. Write few lines about Surdas.
Ans: Surdas was a Hindu saint who was known to be blind from birth. He was an ardent devotee of Lord Krishna. To him, preaching and salvation could be attained by devotionto Lord Krishna. His works were:
a) Sursagar
b) Surasaravali and
c) Sahitya Lahari.
15. Write few lines about Chaitnya Mahparbhu.
Ans: Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was a great saint ,who started Bhakti movement in Beangal. He was a devotee of Lord Krishna. His favourite form of worship was kirtan. To him, the chanting of name of Lord Krishna was in itself a way to salvation. He did not believe in practice of rituals and was against the distinction of caste and creed.
16.Write about Madhavachaya.
Ans: Madhavacharya was born in Karnataka. He was the third of a trio of philosophers who influenced Indian thoughts in the 13th century . He came after Sri Shankaracharya and Shri Ramanujacharya.
His teachings include the importance of prayers and meditation. He believed that to meditate effectively one needs to clear the mind and attain detachment from worldliness by studing the sacred texts which could be done with the assistance of Guru.
17. Write few lines about Nayanars?
Ans: In South India a new kind of Bhakti was led by Nayanars who were devoted to Shiva. They drew upon the ideals of love from the Sangam literature and blended it with the ideas of Bhakti. They composed poems in praise of God and moved from one place to another singing them. There were 63 Nayanars. They were from many castes and backgrounds like peasants, potters, soldiers, hunters etc. Their poems have been compiled in Tevaram and Tiruvacakam.
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Exercises
A.Choose the correct option:
i. Ramananda ii. Ramanuja iii. Shankara iv. None of these
Ans: i. Ranananda.
i. Idol worship ii. Good deeds iii. Performance of rituals
iv.Pilgrimage to holy places.
Ans: Good deeds.
i. Kabir ii. Surdas iii. Guru Nanak iv. Tulsidas.
Ans: Guru Nanak.
i. Kabir ii. Guru Nanak iii. Meera Bai iv. Sant Surdas
Ans: Guru Nanak.
i. Nayanars ii. Alvars iii. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu iv. Namdev
Ans: Nayanars.
i. Ravidas ii. Tulsidas iii. Surdas iv. Ramanuja
Ans: Ravidas.
i. Lord Vishnu ii. Lord Rama iii. Lord Shiva iv. Lord Krishna.
Ans: iv. Lord Krishna.
i. Namdev ii. Surdas iii. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu
iv. Kabir
Ans: iii. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.
i. Maharashtra ii. Bengal iii. Karnataka iv. Tamil Nadu
Ans: i. Maharashtra
i. Diwan -i- am ii. Diwan - i - khas iii. Khanqahs
iv. None of these.
Ans: iii. Khanqahs .
B.Fill in the blanks:
1. The Bhakti Movement aimed at the principle of monotheism i.e. existence of one God.
C. State whether true or false.
Ans: True.
Ans: False.
Ans: False.
Ans: True.
Ans: False.
D. Match column A with Column B Column A Column B
Ek Omkar Guru Nanak
Ramanuja Tamil Nadu
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