Class 12 History Chapter 8: Religious Histories: The Bhakti-Sufi Tradition
Welcome to HSLC Guru! This page provides complete ASSEB Class 12 History (Themes in Indian History Part-II) Chapter 8 — “Religious Histories: The Bhakti-Sufi Tradition” — question answers in English medium. Carefully prepared from NCERT Theme 6 (c. eighth to eighteenth century), the notes cover Alvars and Nayanars, Virashaivism, Kabir, Guru Nanak, Mirabai, Sankardeva, the Sufi silsilas, khanqahs and dargahs — everything you need for the HS Final examination.
About the Chapter
This chapter examines a rich set of religious developments between the eighth and eighteenth centuries — the rise of the great Puranic deities, the bhakti movements of the Tamil south and the medieval north, and the spread of Sufism across the subcontinent. Drawing on hagiographies, vachanas, dohas, padas, malfuzat and tazkiras, it shows how saints and Sufis used the language of the people to challenge ritualism, caste hierarchy and orthodoxy, while their shrines became living centres of devotion shared by Hindus and Muslims alike.
Summary (English)
The Bhakti movement flourished in India between the eighth and seventeenth centuries, emphasising loving personal devotion to a deity in place of elaborate ritual and priestly mediation. The earliest expression came from the Alvars (devotees of Vishnu) and Nayanars (devotees of Shiva), Tamil saints of the sixth to ninth centuries who travelled across the south singing in Tamil; their compositions, the Nalayira Divyaprabandham and Tevaram, are revered as the Tamil Veda. From the twelfth century the Virashaiva (Lingayat) movement led by Basavanna in Karnataka rejected caste, temple worship and Brahmanical authority through the vachanas. In north India a powerful saguna stream — devotion to a god with form — was carried by Tulsidas (Ramcharitmanas), Surdas (Sursagar), Mirabai and Ramananda, while the nirguna stream — devotion to a formless god — found voice in Kabir, Guru Nanak and Dadu. Two great philosophical traditions framed bhakti theology: Shankaracharya’s Advaita (non-dualism) and Ramanujacharya’s Vishishtadvaita (qualified non-dualism). In Assam, Srimanta Sankardeva (1449–1568) led the Eka-Sarana-Naam-Dharma, propagating exclusive devotion to Vishnu through borgeet, ankiya nat, the Bhagavata, and the institutions of namghar and sattra. Parallel to bhakti, Sufism — the mystical tradition of Islam — entered India in the eleventh century. Sufis organised themselves into silsilas (orders), the most important being the Chishti, Suhrawardi, Qadiri and Naqshbandi. They lived in khanqahs (hospices) under a pir or shaikh; after a pir’s death his tomb (dargah) became a place of pilgrimage and ziyarat — the dargah of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti at Ajmer is the most famous. Through poetry, music (sama) and inclusive teachings the bhakti saints and Sufis fostered a shared religious culture that shaped medieval Indian society.
সাৰাংশ (Assamese)
অষ্টম শতিকাৰ পৰা সপ্তদশ শতিকালৈ ভাৰতত ভক্তি আন্দোলনে এক ব্যাপক ৰূপ লয়। ই কৰ্মকাণ্ড আৰু পুৰোহিত নিৰ্ভৰ ধৰ্মাচৰণৰ ঠাইত ঈশ্বৰৰ প্ৰতি একান্ত ব্যক্তিগত ভক্তিৰ ওপৰত গুৰুত্ব দিয়ে। ইয়াৰ আদিৰূপ দক্ষিণ ভাৰতৰ আলবাৰ (বিষ্ণু ভক্ত) আৰু নায়নাৰ (শিৱ ভক্ত) সকল — ষষ্ঠ-নৱম শতিকাৰ তামিল সন্ত। দ্বাদশ শতিকাত কৰ্ণাটকত বাসৱান্নাই বীৰশৈৱ বা লিংগায়ত আন্দোলনৰ পতন কৰি জাতিভেদ আৰু ব্ৰাহ্মণ্য আধিপত্যৰ বিৰুদ্ধে মাত মাতে। উত্তৰ ভাৰতত সগুণ ভক্তিৰ ধাৰাত তুলসীদাস, সূৰদাস, মীৰাবাঈ আৰু ৰামানন্দ আৰু নিৰ্গুণ ধাৰাত কবীৰ, গুৰু নানক আৰু দাদু প্ৰসিদ্ধ। শংকৰাচাৰ্যৰ অদ্বৈতবাদ আৰু ৰামানুজাচাৰ্যৰ বিশিষ্টাদ্বৈতবাদে ভক্তিৰ দাৰ্শনিক ভেটি গঢ়ি তোলে। অসমত শ্ৰীমন্ত শংকৰদেৱে (১৪৪৯–১৫৬৮) এক শৰণ নাম ধৰ্মৰ প্ৰৱৰ্তন কৰি বৰগীত, অংকীয়া নাট, ভাগৱত আৰু নামঘৰ-সত্ৰৰ যোগেদি বৈষ্ণৱ ভক্তিৰ প্ৰচাৰ কৰে। সমান্তৰালভাৱে ইছলামৰ ৰহস্যবাদী ধাৰা চুফীবাদ একাদশ শতিকাত ভাৰতলৈ আহে। চিশ্তি, ছুহৰাৱৰ্দি, কাদৰি আৰু নকছবন্দি সিলছিলা চাৰিটা প্ৰধান। চুফীসকল খানকাহত পীৰৰ নেতৃত্বত থাকিছিল আৰু পীৰৰ সমাধি বা দৰগাহ তীৰ্থস্থান হৈ পৰিছিল — আজমেৰৰ খাজা মইনুদ্দীন চিশ্তিৰ দৰগাহ ইয়াৰ অগ্ৰগণ্য উদাহৰণ।
NCERT Textbook Questions and Answers
1. Explain with examples what historians mean by the integration of cults.
Answer: By the integration of cults historians refer to a long historical process in which different religious traditions came together — local and regional cults of goddesses, tribal deities, and folk heroes were absorbed into the worship of the great Puranic gods like Vishnu, Shiva and the goddess Durga, while elements of Brahmanical practice were simultaneously assimilated into popular faiths. Two parallel processes worked together: (i) Brahmanas accepted and reworked beliefs and practices of diverse social groups, recording them in Sanskrit Puranas; and (ii) the worship of deities like Vishnu and Shiva was disseminated through the same texts to ordinary people in a simple form. For example, at Puri (Odisha), the local tribal deity Jagannatha (literally lord of the world) was identified with Vishnu by the twelfth century. The goddess cults were similarly integrated when local deities were identified as wives of the Puranic gods — Lakshmi as the consort of Vishnu, Parvati of Shiva.
2. To what extent do you think the architecture of mosques in the subcontinent reflects a combination of universal ideals and local traditions?
Answer: Mosques in the subcontinent display features that were universal to Islam alongside features drawn from regional traditions. The universal elements include the orientation of the building towards Mecca (qibla), the mihrab (niche) and the minbar (pulpit). At the same time, regional architectural styles strongly influenced their roofs and building materials. The thirteenth-century Atiya mosque in Mymensingh district (Bangladesh) was built of brick. The Shah Hamadan mosque in Srinagar (built late fourteenth-century), regarded as one of the finest examples of Kashmiri wooden architecture, has a spire and beautiful papier-mache decorations. The mosque in Kerala (thirteenth century) had a shikhara-like roof. Thus mosque architecture reflects a creative blend of pan-Islamic ideals and local traditions of construction.
3. What were the similarities and differences between the be-shari’a and ba-shari’a sufi traditions?
Answer: Both traditions were Sufi — that is, mystical paths within Islam emphasising love of God and renunciation of worldly desire. The ba-shari’a Sufis (those bound by the shari’a, Islamic law) accepted the obligations of Islamic law and were organised into silsilas like the Chishti, Suhrawardi, Qadiri and Naqshbandi. They lived in khanqahs under a shaikh and trained disciples through prescribed rites. The be-shari’a Sufis (those not bound by the shari’a) defied conventional norms — they were wandering mendicants known by names such as Qalandars, Madaris, Malangs and Haidaris. They shaved their heads, wore iron rings and chains, and sometimes used intoxicants. Thus while both shared the Sufi quest for divine love, the ba-shari’a worked within Islamic law and the be-shari’a outside it.
4. Discuss the ways in which the Alvars, Nayanars and Virashaivas expressed critiques of the caste system.
Answer: The Alvars and Nayanars (sixth–ninth centuries) included people from all castes — Brahmana, peasant, artisan and even castes considered “untouchable” such as the Pulaiyar and the Panars. They composed in Tamil rather than Sanskrit, the language of priests, and asserted that Bhakti was open to all regardless of birth. Their compositions — the Nalayira Divyaprabandham of the Alvars and the Tevaram of the Nayanars — were declared equivalent to the Vedas (the Tamil Veda). Andal, a woman Alvar, became one of the most loved poet-saints. The Virashaivas of Karnataka (twelfth century), led by Basavanna, Allama Prabhu and Akkamahadevi, went further: they rejected the authority of the Vedas, the doctrine of rebirth, all temple ritual, the caste system itself, and child marriage; they encouraged widow remarriage and post-puberty marriage. They argued for the equality of all human beings and the dignity of labour, expressing these ideas in vachanas (literally “sayings”) composed in Kannada.
5. Describe the major teachings of either Kabir or Baba Guru Nanak, and the ways in which they have been transmitted.
Answer (Kabir): Kabir (c. fifteenth–sixteenth century) was a nirguna bhakta who described an Ultimate Reality without form (nirguna). He attacked all forms of religious orthodoxy — Hindu and Muslim alike — denouncing idol worship, pilgrimage, ritual bathing, the caste system and the authority of the Brahmana and the Mullah. He used the language of paradoxes (ulatbansi) to describe a god he called by many names — Allah, Khuda, Hazrat, Pir, alongside Alakh, Nirakar, Brahman, Atman, Rama and Govinda. His verses were composed in a popular spoken north-Indian language called sant bhasha, and have been transmitted in three main collections: the Kabir Bijak (preserved by the Kabirpanth), the Kabir Granthavali (associated with the Dadupanth in Rajasthan), and the Adi Granth Sahib of the Sikhs (which contains many of Kabir’s hymns).
Answer (Baba Guru Nanak): Born in 1469 at Nankana (Punjab), Guru Nanak preached devotion to a single, formless god (nirguna) whom he called Rab. He rejected sacrifices, ritual baths, image worship, pilgrimage and the authority of the scriptures of Hindus and Muslims alike. The path to god, he taught, lay in remembrance of the divine name (nam), charity (dan) and ethical conduct (ishnan). He organised his followers into a community at Kartarpur with a common kitchen (langar), and before his death (1539) chose Lehna as his successor — Guru Angad. Guru Angad compiled Nanak’s hymns in a new script, Gurmukhi, and the tradition was carried by the line of Sikh Gurus. The fifth Guru, Arjan, compiled the Adi Granth Sahib in 1604; the tenth Guru, Gobind Singh, established the Khalsa Panth (1699) and laid down its five symbols.
6. Discuss the major beliefs and practices that characterised Sufism.
Answer: Sufism is the mystical and ascetic tradition of Islam. Its central belief is the love of one God and surrender to the divine will. Sufis interpreted the Quran in mystical and allegorical terms, and considered the Prophet a perfect human being who was the supreme guide. Major beliefs and practices include: (i) renunciation of worldly desires and devotion to God alone; (ii) organisation into silsilas — chains of master-disciple succession — the chief being the Chishti, Suhrawardi, Qadiri and Naqshbandi; (iii) life in khanqahs (hospices) under a pir or shaikh, where disciples (murids) were initiated through bay’a (oath of allegiance); (iv) practice of zikr (recitation of the divine name) and sama (devotional music gathering); (v) belief in the spiritual lineage from one shaikh to another and in the intercession of the saint; (vi) after a pir’s death his tomb-shrine (dargah) became the site of pilgrimage (ziyarat) and the celebration of urs (death anniversary). The Chishtis, in particular, lived simple austere lives, kept distance from the state, and accepted disciples regardless of religion or caste.
7. Examine how and why rulers tried to establish connections with the traditions of the Nayanars and the Sufis.
Answer: Rulers sought connections with these traditions to gain religious legitimacy and the affection of their subjects. The Chola kings (ninth–thirteenth centuries) supported Brahmanical and bhakti traditions, building enormous stone temples for Vishnu and Shiva at Chidambaram, Thanjavur and Gangaikondacholapuram, and providing magnificent bronze images of the deities. Kings like Parantaka I had the hymns of the Nayanars Appar, Sambandar and Sundarar engraved on temple walls, and the singers and the canon (Tevaram) were given royal patronage. Rulers proudly took titles like “the resounder of the Tamil Tevaram”, showing their identification with Tamil Shaiva bhakti. With Sufism, rulers cultivated ties with the great khanqahs to claim the blessing of the saint. Sultan Iltutmish appointed Shaikh Qutbuddin Bakhtiyar Kaki’s followers; the Tughluqs sent gifts to Chishti shaikhs; Akbar made repeated pilgrimages on foot to the dargah of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti at Ajmer to seek the saint’s barakat (spiritual power). Yet some shaikhs, like Shaikh Nizamuddin Auliya, refused to meet sultans, demonstrating Sufi independence even while rulers sought their blessing.
8. Analyse, with illustrations, why bhakti and sufi thinkers adopted a variety of languages to express their opinions.
Answer: Bhakti and Sufi thinkers wished to reach ordinary people, who did not understand Sanskrit, Arabic or Persian — the elite languages of priests and scholars. So they used the spoken languages of the regions in which they lived. The Alvars and Nayanars composed in Tamil; the Virashaivas in Kannada; Jnaneswar and Namdev in Marathi; Mirabai in Rajasthani Braj; Surdas, Tulsidas and Kabir in different dialects of Hindi (Brajbhasha, Awadhi, sant bhasha); Chaitanya in Bengali; and Sankardeva and Madhavadeva in Assamese (and a literary form known as Brajavali). The Sufis too composed in local languages alongside Persian — Baba Farid composed verses in the local language (later included in the Adi Granth Sahib); Amir Khusrau wrote in Hindavi; Malik Muhammad Jayasi wrote the Padmavat in Awadhi; Bulleh Shah in Punjabi. Using popular languages enabled the saints to challenge the monopoly of priestly elites, to spread their message of love and equality among peasants, artisans and women, and to make a deep and lasting cultural impact on the regions in which they lived.
Short Answer Type Questions
1. Who were the Alvars and Nayanars?
Answer: The Alvars (literally “those immersed in devotion”) were saints devoted to Vishnu, while the Nayanars (“leaders”) were devoted to Shiva. They flourished in Tamil Nadu between the sixth and ninth centuries, travelled from place to place singing the praises of their deities in Tamil, and identified specific shrines as abodes of Vishnu and Shiva, around which great temples later developed.
2. What is meant by saguna and nirguna bhakti?
Answer: Saguna (“with attributes”) bhakti is the devotion to a personal god in a recognisable form, such as Rama, Krishna, Shiva or the Devi. Nirguna (“without attributes”) bhakti is the devotion to a formless, abstract Ultimate Reality. Tulsidas, Surdas, Mirabai and Sankardeva belonged to the saguna stream, while Kabir, Guru Nanak and Dadu belonged to the nirguna stream.
3. Who was Basavanna?
Answer: Basavanna (1106–1167) was a twelfth-century Brahmana minister at the court of the Kalachuri king Bijjala in Karnataka. He led the Virashaiva or Lingayat movement, which rejected caste, the authority of the Vedas and the doctrine of rebirth, encouraged widow remarriage, and was expressed in Kannada vachanas — short, moving devotional sayings.
4. What is a khanqah?
Answer: A khanqah was a Sufi hospice where a shaikh (also called pir) lived with his disciples (murids), instructing them in the spiritual path. It served as a centre of religious teaching, communal living, hospitality to travellers, and distribution of food (langar) — and often became a major social institution influencing the surrounding region.
5. What is a dargah?
Answer: A dargah is the tomb-shrine of a Sufi pir, which after his death becomes a site of pilgrimage and ziyarat (visit) for devotees. The most famous in India is the dargah of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti at Ajmer in Rajasthan; others include the shrines of Nizamuddin Auliya at Delhi and Shaikh Salim Chishti at Fatehpur Sikri. Both Hindus and Muslims visit dargahs, especially during the urs (death anniversary).
6. Who was Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti?
Answer: Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti (c. 1141–1236) was the founder of the Chishti silsila in India. Born in Sistan (Iran), he travelled across Central Asia and arrived in Ajmer at the end of the twelfth century, where he settled and preached love of God, simple living, and service of humanity. His tomb (the Ajmer Sharif Dargah) is the most important Sufi shrine in the subcontinent, visited by emperors including Akbar and millions of pilgrims every year.
7. What is a silsila?
Answer: Silsila is an Arabic word meaning “chain”. It refers to the unbroken spiritual lineage of a Sufi order in which each shaikh transmits his teaching to his successor, going back through the line of saints to the Prophet Muhammad. The four major silsilas active in India were the Chishti, Suhrawardi, Qadiri and Naqshbandi.
8. What are the main features of Sankardeva’s Eka-Sarana-Naam-Dharma?
Answer: Srimanta Sankardeva (1449–1568) preached exclusive surrender (eka-sarana) to one God — Vishnu/Krishna — through the chanting of his name (naam). The faith rejected idol worship, sacrifice and caste; emphasised devotion through borgeet (devotional songs), ankiya nat (one-act plays) and recitation of the Bhagavata; and was institutionalised in the namghar (community prayer hall) and the sattra (monastery), which became the cultural and religious foundation of Vaishnavism in Assam.
9. What were the major contributions of Mirabai?
Answer: Mirabai (c. sixteenth century) was a Rajput princess of Mewar who became a devotee of Krishna, defying convention and family expectation. She is said to have been a disciple of the saint Raidas. Her devotional songs (padas) in Rajasthani–Braj express intense love for Krishna whom she regarded as her divine husband; they continue to be sung today and inspired generations, particularly women, to claim the path of bhakti for themselves.
10. Distinguish between Shankaracharya’s Advaita and Ramanujacharya’s Vishishtadvaita.
Answer: Shankaracharya (eighth century) preached Advaita (“non-dualism”) — the doctrine that Brahman, the Supreme Reality, is the only truth, the world is illusion (maya) and the path to salvation is knowledge (jnana) of the unity of atman and Brahman. Ramanujacharya (eleventh century) preached Vishishtadvaita (“qualified non-dualism”) — Brahman and the world of souls and matter are both real, the souls being attributes of Brahman; salvation is through bhakti — total surrender (prapatti) to Vishnu — rather than through abstract knowledge alone.
Long Answer Type Questions
1. Trace the development of the Bhakti movement from the Tamil south to north India between the sixth and seventeenth centuries.
Answer: The Bhakti movement began in Tamil Nadu in the sixth century with the Alvars and Nayanars, saints devoted respectively to Vishnu and Shiva. Composing in Tamil, they came from all castes — including women like Andal and Karaikkal Ammaiyar — and asserted that Bhakti was open to all. By the ninth century the Chola rulers had taken these traditions into the heart of state religion, building great temples and inscribing the saints’ hymns. From the eleventh century the philosopher-saints Ramanujacharya and Madhvacharya gave bhakti its theological foundation. In the twelfth century the Virashaiva movement of Basavanna in Karnataka pushed bhakti in a more radical anti-caste, anti-temple direction. In thirteenth-century Maharashtra, Jnaneswar, Namdev and later Eknath and Tukaram developed the Varkari tradition centred on Vitthala of Pandharpur. From the fifteenth century the movement reached its full intensity in north India: Ramananda, often called the meeting point of north and south, accepted disciples from all castes; Kabir produced the most powerful nirguna critique of orthodoxy; Guru Nanak founded the Sikh tradition; Mirabai, Surdas and Tulsidas spread saguna bhakti of Krishna and Rama. In the east, Chaitanya in Bengal and Sankardeva in Assam led popular Vaishnava movements. By the seventeenth century bhakti had touched every region of India, transforming literature, music, architecture and society.
2. Discuss the contribution of Sankardeva to the religious and cultural life of Assam.
Answer: Srimanta Sankardeva (1449–1568) was the architect of medieval Assam’s social, religious and cultural renaissance. He preached the Eka-Sarana-Naam-Dharma — exclusive devotion to one God, Krishna-Vishnu — open to all irrespective of caste, gender or community. Religiously, he simplified worship by replacing image worship with the chanting of God’s name, recitation of the Bhagavata, and group prayer in the namghar. He founded the institution of the sattra, the monastery which became the centre of Vaishnava life in Assam. Culturally, his contribution was unmatched: he composed devotional songs (borgeet) in Brajavali, dramas (ankiya nat) like Cihna Yatra, Kalia-damana and Patni-prasada that gave birth to bhaona, the Assamese theatre tradition; he wrote the Kirtana-ghosha, painted the great Vrindavani Vastra, designed musical instruments such as the khol, and propagated the gayan-bayan tradition. His foremost disciple Madhavadeva continued his work with the Naam-ghosha. Through these efforts Sankardeva united diverse tribes and communities of Assam into a shared cultural fabric and gave the Assamese language its classical foundation.
3. Examine the major silsilas of Sufism and their characteristics.
Answer: Four silsilas dominated Sufism in India:
- Chishti silsila: Founded in India by Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti (Ajmer, late twelfth century). It became the most popular order — its great shaikhs included Qutbuddin Bakhtiyar Kaki, Baba Farid, Nizamuddin Auliya and Nasiruddin Chiragh-i-Dilli. Chishtis kept distance from the state, lived austerely, accepted disciples from all communities and developed sama (devotional music).
- Suhrawardi silsila: Established in India by Bahauddin Zakariya at Multan. The Suhrawardis accepted state patronage, kept large estates and were closely linked to the Sultans of Delhi.
- Qadiri silsila: Originated with Shaikh Abdul Qadir Jilani (Baghdad, twelfth century) and spread in India during the Mughal period, particularly in the Deccan and Punjab. It was associated with the Mughal prince Dara Shukoh.
- Naqshbandi silsila: Reached India in the late sixteenth century through Khwaja Baqi Billah; its greatest figure, Shaikh Ahmad Sirhindi (the Mujaddid), insisted on strict adherence to the shari’a and opposed innovations like sama.
4. How did the Sufis and bhakti saints contribute to communal harmony in medieval India?
Answer: The Sufis and bhakti saints offered a religious vision that crossed the lines separating Hindu from Muslim. They taught that all human beings stood equal before one God, condemned caste and ritualism, and used the spoken languages of the people. The dargahs of Sufi pirs — Ajmer, Delhi, Fatehpur Sikri — were visited by Hindus as much as Muslims; the qawwalis sung there became a shared musical heritage. Kabir openly declared “Allah and Rama are one”; Guru Nanak refused to be defined as Hindu or Muslim; the Adi Granth Sahib included the verses of Hindu bhaktas (Namdev, Ravidas, Ramananda) and Muslim Sufis (Baba Farid). Akbar’s policy of sulh-i-kul (“absolute peace”) drew on the same syncretic tradition. Through poetry, music and shared shrines, Sufis and bhakti saints generated a composite religious culture that became a permanent feature of the subcontinent’s life.
5. What sources do historians use to reconstruct the history of the Bhakti–Sufi traditions, and what problems do these sources pose?
Answer: Historians draw on a wide range of sources: (i) the compositions of the saints themselves — Tevaram, Nalayira Divyaprabandham, Kannada vachanas, Hindi dohas, Punjabi shabads, Assamese borgeet, the Adi Granth Sahib; (ii) hagiographies (lives of the saints) like the Periyapuranam (Tamil) and the Bhakta-mala of Nabhadas; (iii) Sufi malfuzat (recorded conversations of shaikhs such as the Fawa’id al-Fu’ad of Nizamuddin Auliya), maktubat (letters), and tazkiras (biographical notices); (iv) Persian chronicles and inscriptions; and (v) art, architecture and manuscript paintings. These sources pose problems: hagiographies were composed long after the saints to glorify them and contain miraculous episodes that are difficult to verify; verses circulated orally and many were attributed to saints later; sectarian compilers often shaped the texts to fit later doctrines; and some saints (like Kabir) wrote nothing themselves. Historians must therefore read these sources critically, comparing different versions and locating them in their social and political contexts.
Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs)
1. The Alvars were devotees of:
(a) Shiva (b) Vishnu (c) Devi (d) Brahma
Answer: (b) Vishnu
2. The Nayanars were devotees of:
(a) Vishnu (b) Devi (c) Shiva (d) Surya
Answer: (c) Shiva
3. The Nalayira Divyaprabandham is a collection of hymns of:
(a) Nayanars (b) Alvars (c) Virashaivas (d) Sants
Answer: (b) Alvars
4. The Tevaram contains the hymns of:
(a) Alvars (b) Nayanars (c) Lingayats (d) Sufis
Answer: (b) Nayanars
5. The Virashaiva movement was led by:
(a) Ramanuja (b) Madhva (c) Basavanna (d) Chaitanya
Answer: (c) Basavanna
6. Vachanas are devotional sayings in the:
(a) Tamil language (b) Kannada language (c) Marathi language (d) Telugu language
Answer: (b) Kannada language
7. The doctrine of Advaita was preached by:
(a) Ramanujacharya (b) Madhvacharya (c) Shankaracharya (d) Nimbarka
Answer: (c) Shankaracharya
8. The doctrine of Vishishtadvaita was preached by:
(a) Shankaracharya (b) Ramanujacharya (c) Vallabhacharya (d) Madhvacharya
Answer: (b) Ramanujacharya
9. Kabir is associated with which form of bhakti?
(a) Saguna (b) Nirguna (c) Sakhi (d) Saiva
Answer: (b) Nirguna
10. Tulsidas composed:
(a) Sursagar (b) Ramcharitmanas (c) Bijak (d) Padavali
Answer: (b) Ramcharitmanas
11. Surdas was a devotee of:
(a) Rama (b) Krishna (c) Shiva (d) Vitthala
Answer: (b) Krishna
12. Mirabai was a devotee of:
(a) Shiva (b) Krishna (c) Rama (d) Devi
Answer: (b) Krishna
13. Guru Nanak was born in:
(a) 1449 (b) 1469 (c) 1486 (d) 1539
Answer: (b) 1469
14. The compiler of the Adi Granth Sahib (1604) was:
(a) Guru Nanak (b) Guru Angad (c) Guru Arjan (d) Guru Gobind Singh
Answer: (c) Guru Arjan
15. Sankardeva was born in:
(a) 1449 (b) 1469 (c) 1486 (d) 1568
Answer: (a) 1449
16. The dargah of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti is at:
(a) Delhi (b) Fatehpur Sikri (c) Ajmer (d) Multan
Answer: (c) Ajmer
17. Khanqah refers to:
(a) Sufi tomb (b) Sufi hospice (c) Sufi text (d) Sufi music
Answer: (b) Sufi hospice
18. Sama refers to:
(a) Recitation of the Quran (b) Sufi devotional music (c) Five pillars of Islam (d) Pilgrimage
Answer: (b) Sufi devotional music
19. Which of the following Sufi orders strictly adhered to the shari’a and opposed sama?
(a) Chishti (b) Suhrawardi (c) Qadiri (d) Naqshbandi
Answer: (d) Naqshbandi
20. The Fawa’id al-Fu’ad records the conversations of:
(a) Baba Farid (b) Nizamuddin Auliya (c) Bakhtiyar Kaki (d) Salim Chishti
Answer: (b) Nizamuddin Auliya
21. Lingayats reject:
(a) Worship of Shiva (b) Caste system (c) The vachanas (d) The Kannada language
Answer: (b) Caste system
22. Sankardeva propagated:
(a) Shaiva-bhakti (b) Eka-Sarana-Naam-Dharma (c) Shakta tradition (d) Tantric Buddhism
Answer: (b) Eka-Sarana-Naam-Dharma
23. Ramananda is associated with:
(a) Krishna bhakti (b) Rama bhakti (c) Devi bhakti (d) Shiva bhakti
Answer: (b) Rama bhakti
24. Bay’a in Sufism means:
(a) Pilgrimage (b) Oath of allegiance to a pir (c) Almsgiving (d) Death anniversary
Answer: (b) Oath of allegiance to a pir
25. Urs is:
(a) The Sufi tomb itself (b) The death anniversary of a pir (c) A daily prayer (d) A class of mendicant
Answer: (b) The death anniversary of a pir
Major Saints and Their Contributions
| Saint | Period | Region / Language | Tradition / Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alvars | 6th–9th c. | Tamil Nadu / Tamil | Vaishnava bhakti; Nalayira Divyaprabandham |
| Nayanars | 6th–9th c. | Tamil Nadu / Tamil | Shaiva bhakti; Tevaram |
| Andal | 9th c. | Tamil Nadu / Tamil | Woman Alvar; Tiruppavai |
| Shankaracharya | 8th c. | Kerala / Sanskrit | Advaita Vedanta |
| Ramanujacharya | 11th c. | Tamil Nadu / Sanskrit-Tamil | Vishishtadvaita; Sri-Vaishnavism |
| Basavanna | 1106–1167 | Karnataka / Kannada | Virashaiva (Lingayat); vachanas |
| Jnaneswar | 13th c. | Maharashtra / Marathi | Bhavartha-deepika (Jnaneswari) |
| Namdev | 13th–14th c. | Maharashtra / Marathi | Varkari devotion to Vitthala |
| Ramananda | 14th–15th c. | Varanasi / Hindi | Rama bhakti; teacher of Kabir, Raidas |
| Kabir | 15th–16th c. | Varanasi / Sant Bhasha | Nirguna bhakti; Bijak, Granthavali |
| Guru Nanak | 1469–1539 | Punjab / Punjabi | Founder of Sikh tradition |
| Mirabai | 16th c. | Rajasthan / Rajasthani-Braj | Krishna bhakti; padas |
| Surdas | 16th c. | Braj / Brajbhasha | Sursagar; Krishna bhakti |
| Tulsidas | 16th c. | Awadh / Awadhi | Ramcharitmanas; Rama bhakti |
| Chaitanya | 1486–1533 | Bengal / Bengali | Gaudiya Vaishnavism; sankirtan |
| Sankardeva | 1449–1568 | Assam / Assamese-Brajavali | Eka-Sarana-Naam-Dharma; borgeet, ankiya nat |
| Madhavadeva | 1489–1596 | Assam / Assamese | Naam-ghosha; foremost disciple of Sankardeva |
| Moinuddin Chishti | d. 1236 | Ajmer / Persian | Founder of Chishti silsila in India |
| Nizamuddin Auliya | d. 1325 | Delhi / Persian-Hindavi | Greatest Chishti shaikh; Fawa’id al-Fu’ad |
| Bahauddin Zakariya | d. 1262 | Multan / Persian | Suhrawardi silsila |
Key Terms
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Bhakti | Loving personal devotion to a deity |
| Saguna | Devotion to a god with form (Rama, Krishna, Shiva, Devi) |
| Nirguna | Devotion to a formless, abstract Ultimate Reality |
| Alvar | “One immersed in devotion to Vishnu”; Tamil Vaishnava saint |
| Nayanar | “Leader”; Tamil Shaiva saint |
| Vachana | “Saying”; Kannada Virashaiva devotional verse |
| Lingayat | Wearer of the linga; follower of Basavanna’s tradition |
| Advaita | Non-dualism — Brahman alone is real (Shankaracharya) |
| Vishishtadvaita | Qualified non-dualism (Ramanujacharya) |
| Sant Bhasha | Composite north-Indian language used by sants like Kabir |
| Sufism | Mystical, ascetic tradition within Islam |
| Silsila | “Chain”; spiritual lineage of a Sufi order |
| Khanqah | Sufi hospice where the shaikh lived with disciples |
| Pir / Shaikh | Sufi master and spiritual guide |
| Murid | Disciple of a Sufi pir |
| Bay’a | Oath of allegiance taken by a murid to his pir |
| Dargah | Tomb-shrine of a Sufi saint |
| Ziyarat | Pilgrimage to a Sufi shrine |
| Urs | Death anniversary of a pir, celebrated as union with God |
| Sama | Sufi musical assembly with devotional songs (qawwali) |
| Zikr | Repeated recitation of the names of God |
| Malfuzat | Recorded conversations of a Sufi shaikh |
| Tazkira | Biographical anthology of saints |
| Eka-Sarana | Exclusive surrender to one God; Sankardeva’s path |
| Namghar | Community prayer hall in Assam Vaishnavism |
| Sattra | Vaishnava monastery in Assam |
| Borgeet | Devotional songs composed by Sankardeva and Madhavadeva |
| Ankiya Nat | One-act devotional plays of Sankardeva |
| Hagiography | Biography of a saint celebrating his life and miracles |
Prepared for ASSEB Class 12 History students. For more chapters and complete HS textbook solutions, visit hslcguru.com.