Bhakti-Sufism Test-1

Sheikh Nizamuddin hospice is located in on the banks of the river Yamuna in Delhi.

The Vira Shaiva tradition was introduced in Karnataka in the 12th century. A new Movement emerged which was led by a Brahman called Basavanna. He was a Jain originally and the Minister in the court of the Chalukya King. All his followers were called the Vira Shaiva or the heroes of Shiv.

Malik Muhammad jayasi composed Padmavat which was the story of Padmavati and the king of Chittor Ratansen.

Vaishnavism was a form of Hinduism within which Vishnu was worshipped as the principal deity) and Shaivism - a tradition within which Shiva was regarded as the chief god.

At a different level, historians of religion often classify bhakti traditions into two broad categories: saguna (with attributes) and nirguna (without attributes). The former included traditions that focused on the worship of specific deities such as Shiva, Vishnu and his avatars (incarnations) and forms of the goddess or Devi, all often conceptualised in anthropomorphic forms. Nirguna bhakti on the other hand was worship of an abstract form of god.

The importance of the traditions of the Alvars and Nayanars was sometimes indicated by the claim that their compositions were as important as the Vedas. For instance, one of the major anthologies of compositions by the Alvars, the Nalayira Divyaprabandham, was frequently described as the Tamil Veda, thus claiming that the text was as significant as the four Vedas in Sanskrit that were cherished by the Brahmanas.

The compositions of Andal, a woman Alvar, were widely sung in medieval period (and continue to be sung to date). Andal saw herself as the beloved of Vishnu; her verses express her love for the deity.

Historians who have tried to understand the developments during Bhaktism suggest that there were at least two processes at work. One of the most striking examples of this process is evident at Puri, Orissa, where the principal deity was identified, by the twelfth century, as Jagannatha (literally, the lord of the world), a form of Vishnu.