History Test - 12

The correct answer is option 1, i.e Nayanar.

• Nayanar is called Shaivism in the Bhakti Movement.

• The seventh to ninth centuries saw the emergence of new religious movements, led by the Nayanars (saints devoted to Shiva) and Alvars (saints devoted to Vishnu).

• They came from all castes including those considered “untouchable” like the Pulaiyar and the Panars.

• They were sharply critical of the Buddhists and Jains and preached ardent love of Shiva or Vishnu as the path to salvation.
• They drew upon the ideals of love and heroism as found in the Sangam literature (the earliest example of Tamil literature, composed during the early centuries of the Common Era), and blended them with the values of bhakti.
• There were 63 Nayanars, best known among them were Appar, Sambandar, Sundarar and Manikkavasagar.
• There were 12 Alvars, who came from equally divergent backgrounds, the best known being Periyalvar, his daughter Andal, Tondaradippodi Alvar and Nammalvar.
• Their songs were compiled in the Divya Prabandham.

Trick to remember - If you reverse "A" of Alvar, you get V or Vishnu. Hence Alvars are devotees of Vishnu. The other term would be for Shiva Devotees.

​Bodhisattva:

• An individual who is on the path of getting enlightenment to become a buddha is referred to as Bodhisattva.

Wali:

• The terms Sufi, Wali, Darvesh, and Faqir are used for Muslim saints.
• Wali was a Sufi who claimed proximity to Allah.
• They are the saints who attempted to achieve the development of their intuitive faculties through ascetic exercises, contemplation, renunciation, and self-denial. 

The correct answer is Migrant communities, who did not observe the norms of caste society.

• Historians who have studied Sanskrit texts and inscriptions dating between the eighth and fourteenth centuries point out that the term musalman or Muslim was virtually never used.
• Instead, people were occasionally identified in terms of the region from which they came.
• So, the Turkish rulers were designated as Turushka, Tajika were people from Tajikistan and Parashika were people from Persia.
• Sometimes, terms used for other peoples were applied to the new migrants. For instance, the Turks and Afghans were referred to as Shakas and Yavanas (a term used for Greeks).
• A more general term for these migrant communities was mlechchha, indicating that they did not observe the norms of caste society and spoke languages that were not derived from Sanskrit.
• Such terms sometimes had a derogatory connotation, but they rarely denoted a distinct religious community of Muslims in opposition to Hindus. Also, the term “Hindu” was used in a variety of ways, not necessarily restricted to a religious connotation.

Additional Information

• Silsila - literally means a chain, signifying a continuous link between master and disciple, stretching as an unbroken spiritual genealogy to the Prophet Muhammad.
• Ulama : (plural of alim, or one who knows) are scholars of Islamic studies. As preservers of this tradition, they perform various religious, juridical, and teaching functions.

The correct answer is pilgrimage to the tombs of Sufi saints.

Key Points

• During the Medieval period in India Sufism emerged as a powerful movement.
• Sufis were so-called because of the purity (safa) of their hearts. 
• Unity in God, complete self-surrender, charity, Ibadat, love for mankind, etc. are the main teaching of Sufism.
• Ziyarat means the pilgrimage to the tomb on the death anniversary of the Sufi saint. 
• Its main objective was to seek spiritual grace from the Sufi.
• Music and dance are an important part of Ziyarat.

Additional Information

• Some of the prominent Sufi Shaikhs in India:
  • Data Gunj Bakhsh
  •  Khwaja Muinuddin Chishti
  • Shaikh Qutbuddin
  • Bakhtiyar Kaki
  • Fariduddin Gunj-i Shakar
  • Shaikh Nizamuddin Auliya 

The correct answer is Andal.

Key Points

• Alvars were a group of South Indian mystics who from the 7th to 10th century wandered from temple to temple singing ecstatic hymns in adoration of the god Vishnu.
• They are described as falling unconscious in rapture before the image of their lord.
• They held that Vishnu or one of his avatars confers upon devotees the grace that is necessary for total surrender to him.
• Andal is one of the 12 Alwars.
• Out of these 12, only Andal is a female.
• She was a 10th century Tamil poet who is revered as a saint in the southern parts of India.

 Thus, we can say that Andal was an Alvar saint.

The correct answer is ​It gave birth to complicated rituals.

Important Points

• Bhakti movement - 
  • The movement probably began in the Tamil region around the 6th and 7th century AD and achieved a great deal of popularity through the poems of the Alvars and Nayanars, the Vaishnavite and Shaivite poets.
  • Hailing from both high and low castes, these poets created a formidable body of literature that firmly established itself in the popular canon.
  • As a social movement, it challenged the caste hierarchy, emphasized the individual's direct connection to god and the possibility of salvation for all through good deeds and simple living.
  • As a literary movement, it liberated poetry from singing the praises of kings and introduced spiritual themes.
  • From a style point of view, it introduced simple and accessible styles like vachanas (in Kannada) and other forms in various languages to literature and ended the hegemony of Sanskrit metrical forms.

Key Points

• Effects of the Bhakti movement -
  • Various preachers spoke and wrote in the regional languages. So, the Bhakti movement provided an impetus for the development of regional languages such as Hindi, Marathi, Bengali, Kannada, etc. Hence, statement 1 is correct.
  • Through these languages, they made a direct appeal to the masses.
  • The caste system was condemned by the Bhakti saints, the lower classes were raised to a position of great importance. Hence, statement 2 is correct.
  • The importance of women in society was also increased because the Bhakti movement gave equal importance to them. Hence, statement 3 is correct.
  • Moreover, the Bhakti movement gave to the people a simple religion, without complicated rituals. They were required to show sincere devotion to God. Hence, statement 4 is incorrect.
  • The new idea of a life of charity and service to fellow people developed.

The correct answer is Alvars.

Key Points

• Nalayira Divyaprabandham:
  • ​It is one of the major anthologies of compositions by the Alvars.
  • It is a collection of 4,000 Tamil verses composed by the 12 Alvars.
  • In its present form, it is compiled by Nathamunigal during the 9th – 10th centuries.
  • These were sung by the Alwars in devotional ecstasy in various shrines of Vishnu, made famous as Magalashasana sthalas.
  • It was frequently described as the Tamil Veda, thus claiming that the text was as significant as the four Vedas in Sanskrit that was cherished by the Brahmanas.
  • The Divya Prabandham is in the form of adoration of the deities of 108 temples (divya desams) situated in different parts of the country and employs every form of poetics (ani) and prosody (chandam) available in Tamil.

Additional Information

• Alvars are those who are “immersed” in devotion to Lord Vishnu while Nayanars are those who are devotees of Shiva.
• They travelled from place to place singing hymns in Tamil in praise of their gods.
• Alvars and Nayanars initiated a movement of protest against the caste system and the dominance of Brahmanas or at least attempted to reform the system.

The correct answer is Zimmis.

Key Points

• The word 'zimmi' is derived from the Arabic word 'zimma' which means protection.
• The category of zimmis was developed for the followers of revealed scriptures such as the Bible and Vedas.
• Zimmis paid the tax, jizya to the Muslim rulers and gained the right to be protected by the rulers.
• The followers of Prophet Muhammad set up an empire called the Caliphate.
• The Umayyads and the Abbasids were called the caliphs. 
• According to Ain-i-Akbari, qalandars belonged to the group of beshara silsilahs.

The correct answer is Guru Nanak accepted the religious texts of both Hindus and Muslims.

Key Points

Kabir is a great poet-cum-saint of Indian society.

• He has had appeal among Hindus and Muslims alike as it is believed that he was born as Hindu but was brought up by a Muslim couple.
• He wrote poems that exhorted both communities to take to social reforms.

The major teachings of Kabir were as follows:

• Kabir described God as Nirankari (having no shape). Hence, statement 1 is correct.
• He used the terms drawn from Islamic tradition like Allah, Khuda, Hajrat, and Peer but also used words of Vedic traditions like Alakh ( (the unseen) and nirnakar (the formless).
• Thus, he freely took to both traditions viz. Islamic and Vedantic.
• He repudiated idol worship and polytheism.
• He emphasized the oneness of God though there can be many names of His.
• He criticized the religious rituals of Hindus and Muslims alike.
• He also preached against caste discrimination. Hence, statement 2 is correct.
• He combined the Sufi traditions of love of God with the Hindi tradition of remembrance of God.
• He also emphasized the dignity of labor.
• Thus, the essence of the teachings of Kabir was simple living based on love and respect for all. He wrote in simple language to be understood by the common man of the country.
• Guru Nanak was born in a Hindu family in 1469 at Nankana Saheb on the bank of the river Ravi(now in present Pakistan).
  • He was the founder of Sikhism and is the first of the ten Sikh Gurus.
  • He spent time in the company of Sufi saints and Bhaktas of various socio-religious movements.

The major teachings of Guru Nanak are as follows:

• He rejected the religious texts of both Hindus and Muslims. Hence, statement 4 is Not correct.
• He preached God is Nirakar viz. without any shape. Hence, statement 3 is correct.
• He criticized religious practices like ceremonial baths, sacrifices, idol worship, and emphasized simplicity.
• He called upon his followers to connect to the divine by remembering and repeating the divine name.
• Guru Nanak expressed himself in Punjabi, the language of the local people in a lyrical form called Shabad. Shabad can be recited in various ragas.

• The correct answer is option 4, i.e., Sheikh Salim Chisti.
• Sheikh Salim Chisti was the Muslim saint who lived at the place where Fatehpur Sikri was built.
• Sheikh Salim Chisti, the Sufi saint lived in the 16th century during the Mughal emperor Akbar.
• The 'khanqah' was the original home of Sheikh Salim Chisti and is located near Fatehpur Sikri in today's Uttar Pradesh.
• Sheikh Salim Chisti's tomb is situated in the middle of the Emperor Akbar's courtyard at Fatehpur Sikri.
• Fatehpur Sikri is a World Heritage site. 
• Nizamuddin Auliya was a 13th century Muslim Sufi saint of the Chisti order.
• Nasiruddin Chiragh Dehlavi was also a Muslim Sufi saint and disciple of Nizamuddin Auliya.
• Baba Fakruddin was a Sufi saint of the 12th century and prior to this he was a king of Sistan and Shahpur in Iran.

The correct answer is Lingayats.

• The followers of Basavanna who led a movement in Karnataka were called Lingayats.

Key Points

• Basavanna is the founder of Lingayatism and is strongly against the rigid practices of the caste system.
• Lingayats believed that there is no rebirth and on death, the devotee reunites with Shiva never coming back to the World. 
• Hence Lingayats of the Kannada region questioned the theory of rebirth and rejected the caste hierarchy. 
• The person who led a new religious movement in Karnataka was Basavanna.
  • His followers were known as Virashaivas (heroes of Shiva) or Lingayats (wearers of the linga).