DEVOTIONAL PATHS TO THE DIVINE -- CLASS 7

Bhakti Movement in South India

Bhakti Movement in South India

Learning Objective:

• What is Bhakti Movement?
• Why Bhakti Movement?
• Bhakti Movement in South India from 7th century AD to 9th century
• Nayanar and Alvar
• Important Teachings of Nayanar and Alvar
• Sacred books of Nayanar and Alvar

Note: Read the entire blog/lecture note as it will help in grabbing the concept and internalizing the learning. 

 Understanding Religious Development in Medieval India:

To understand religious development, it is important to understand society and social rules/norms of that time. Society under consideration is of 7^th century AD to 15^th century AD. The Society was based on caste system (upper caste, lower caste). Naturally there was inequality in the society as lower castes were not permitted to enter temples. There was no escape from rigid practices and beliefs. So how religion could give equality in this society? Bhakti movement made it possible. Then what this Bhakti Movement is? [Apart from that the society was in transition. People were changing their caste-based profession.And hence people were looking for social equality or break from the existing rigid beliefs and practices]

Before understanding Bhakti Movement, let me first explain very simple concept of religion – it was worship of god /it was attainment of god. There could be two ways to attainment of god. One was through ‘attainment of Knowledge’. But this way was difficult for common people. Only some privileged/special people of that time could attain it. Masses/large section of other castes could not enjoy the status of equality in religious matters.

Here the need for new path/way to access/find god was felt for the masses/large section of deprived people. This new path came from Bhakti Movement. The word ‘Bhakti’ we all understand; it is called devotion. This was a new way to worship. Now all people could worship through devotion to their personal gods. Saints who showed this path of Bhakti/devotion to personal gods are known as Bhakti Saints.

Q & A

What is Bhakti Movement? 

The word Bhakti means devotion (to personal god). Saints or Teachers preached devotion to personal god. Bhakti movement started in South India in 7th century AD. 

What was the need of Bhakti Movement?  

or

Why did many teachers reject prevalent practices or beliefs?

Whenever existing religious practices are not able to accommodate all sections of society, a new religious movement takes shape. The period under consideration i.e. 7th century AD to 15th century AD was based on caste system. The society was deeply divided into upper castes and lower castes. Entry to temple was not allowed for lower castes. There was no escape from rigid practices and beliefs. So how religion could give equality in this society? People were turning towards Buddhism and Jainism. As the prevailing practices and beliefs were the cause of social inequality, many thinkers and teachers of that time rejected these practices and beliefs. These teachers/saints preached Bhakti i.e. devtion to god in local languages. Naturally these saints came from all castes of society. Thus common people could find the ways to salvation.

Bhakti Movement: South India

The Bhakti Movement started in South India in 7^th century.  This movement started from Shiva Temple and Vishnu Temple. The saints who were devotees of Lord Shiva were called Nayanar saints [The nearest Sanskrit word that can be identified with Nayanar is ‘Nayaka’ means leader].The collection of Nayanar saints hymns  (poems) are called Devaram [or Tevaram meaning ‘Garland of God’]. Manikkavasaga [or Manikkavachagar], one of the Nayanar saints, composed hymns known as Tiruvasagam [or Tiru vackam, Tiru means sacred and vackam means utterances]. Nayanar saints promoted caste equality.

The saints who were devotees of Lord Vishnu were called Alvar saints [Alvar means one who is ‘immersed’ in the experience of God]. The collection of Alvar saints hymns  (poems) are called divyaprabandham.

Summary of Bhakti Movement: South India

Nayanar:

The hymns (songs) composed by 63 Nayanar saints have been complied in eleven (11) volumes. The collection of all eleven volumes is known as "Tirumurai".

The collection of first seven volumes (1st volume to seventh volume)is called "Tevaram" or "Devaram". This collection mainly consists of hymns composed by Appar, Nanasambandar, and Sundarmurti.

The eighth volume is known as "Tiruvackam" and has been composed by Manikkavasaga.   

Alvar:

Divya Prabandham is the collection of hymns by twelve (12) Alvar saints. 

Andal, the daughter of Periyalvar, was the renowned Alvar saint.

  Summary in tabulated form:

	Shiva Temple	Vishnu Temple
	Lord Shiva	Lord Vishnu
	Nayanar saints: Devotees of Lord Shiva	Alvar saints: Devotees of Lord Vishnu
	promoted caste equality,  Thus reduced social evils	Promoted caste equality,  Thus reduced social evils
Important saints	·   Appar ·   Nanasambandar ·   Sundermurti ·  Manikkavasaga(Manikkavachagar): composed ‘Tiruvasagam’ (Tiru+vackam)	·         Periyalvar ·         Andal (daughter of Periyalvar) ·         Tiruppam ·         Tondarradippodi ·         Nammalvar
Collection of hymns	Devaram (Tevaram)	Divyaprabandham (divya+prabandham)
Hagiography	Biographical hymns in praise of saints	Biographical hymns in praise of saints

 Questions for practice:

1. Name a woman Bhakti saint. (Hint: Andal)

2. What is Devaram/Tevaram? (Hint: collection of hymns of Nayanar saints. Nayanar were devotees of Shiva)

3. What is Divya Prabandham? (Hint: collection of hymns of Alvar saints. Alvar were devotees of Vishnu)

4. When and Where did the Bhakti Movement begin? (Hint: South India, 7th century AD)

5. How did the Bhakti Movement help in reducing social evils? (Hint: brought social equality ....)

6. What is Hagiography? (Hint: biographical hymns in praise of saints)

7. Name the work of Manikkavasaga. (Hint: Tiruvackam..... Tiru means sacred and vackam is utterances... )

8. The language chosen by Bhakti poets. (Hint: local language)

Motion and Time for class 7

Motion and Time 

SYSTEMS OF UNITS

There are seven basic units. In class 7 we will use 5 basic units but for knowledge sake we will see all the basic units.

QUANTITY	UNIT	SYMBOL
TIME	second	s
LENGTH	meter	m
MASS	kilogram	kg
TEMPERATURE	kelvin	K
ELECTRIC CURRENT	ampere	A
LUMINOUS INTENSITY	candela	cd
AMOUNT OF SUBSTANCE	mole	mol

These units are called the “SI” units. To express quantities which are way greater or smaller than the defined SI units we use prefix before the units. For example radius of earth is 6400000 m.  For convenience we use prefixes such as

Prefix	Factor
milli	1/1000
centi	1/100
deci	1/10
deca	10
hecto	100
kilo	1000

Thus if we write 1km it means 1000m.

1 km = 1000 m

Or,    1 = 1000 m/1 km

                                            

Example: The distance between Delhi and Mumbai is 1384 km. What is the distance in m?

CONVERSION OF UNITS

For converting time we use the following factors.

1 hour = 60 minutes

1 minute = 60 seconds

1 hour = 60 X 60 seconds

Conversely,

1 second =  1/60 minutes

1 minute = 1/60 hour

1 second = 1/60 x 1/60 hour = 1/3600 hour

Standard method of conversion from one unit to another unit:

First Method:

Suppose we have been give speed as 36 km/h. What will be speed in m/s?

1 km = 1000 m

So, 1 = 1000m/1km

Further 1 h = 60x60 s = 3600 s

So, 1 = 1 h/ 3600 s

Hence 36 km/h = 36 km/h x 1000m/1 km x 1h/3600 s = 10 m/s

Practice this method for other examples.

A few questions for practice:

1.   36,000 km/h = ....... km/s
2.   7.2 km/h = ............... m/s
3.   54/90 km/minutes = ................... m/s 
4.   1/10 km/minutes = ..................... km/h 
5.  0.15 km/minutes = ..................... km/h

Second Method:

Suppose we have been give speed as 36 km/h. What will be speed in m/s?

36 km/h = 36x1000 m/60x60 s =10 m/s

Practicing the first method will be helpful in more complicated problems involving different units. Anyway, practice in whatever method you are comfortable.

Types of Motion:

Motion is a change of position of an object with respect to time. Motion can be classified as per the path undertaken by the object.

1   

         Straight line motion: If motion of the object is in a straight line, it is straight line motion. Example: Motion of a train on a straight bridge; Motion of a horse pulling a cart on a straight road.

2    Circular motion: If motion of an object is in a circle, it is circular motion. Example: Motion of a child in a merry-go-round,

3    Oscillatory motion: back and forth motion is oscillatory motion. Example: Motion of a child on a see-saw; Motion of the hammer of an electric bell

Distance-Time Graph:

Distance – Time Graph says about the speed of an object. This grah will tell whether object is stationary, or moving with constant speed or speed is not constant. Our objective should be able to understand these graphs very well. We have to read the graph, and tell nature of speed instantly.

Example-1

Distance (m)	0	2	4	6	8
Time (s)	0	1	2	3	4

This is the Distance Time Graph for the tabulated data. Look at the time interval and corresponding distance. In the first second, the distance travelled is 2 m. Between 1 s and 2 s, the distance travelled is again 2 m (4 m – 2 m). Likewise for all the intervals, distance travelled is equal. This type of graph says that the speed is constant or uniform.

Example-2

Distance (m)	10	12	14	16	18
Time (s)	0	1	2	3	4

Again this is an example of constant speed. See the time intervals 0-1 s, 1-2 s, 2-3 s, 3-4 s and corresponding distance traveled in every interval. It is 2m for every interval.

Example 3:

Distance (m)	8	8	8	8	8
Time (s)	0	1	2	3	4

This graph is an example of stationary object i.e. no speed. See at any time, the distance is the same.

Example 4:

Distance (m)	0	1	4	9	16
Time (s)	0	1	2	3	4

This is an example of changing speed. During 0-1 s, distance travelled is 1m. During 1-2 s, distance traversed is 3 m; during 2-3 s, distance traversed is 5 m; and during 3-4 s distance travelled is 7 m. As the distance is changing for every interval of time, this is an example of changing speed, i.e speed is not constant.

Now let us see what is speed? Speed is distance per unit time.

speed = distance/time

In all graphs above, distance has been plotted on y-axis, whereas time has been plotted on x-axis. This convention or way of plotting is more useful as it gives us value of speed directly. Learn to read the graph.

Note: It is important and necessary to read text book and solve the problems. Only this way one can have clear understanding of the subject. Here I have tried to explain concepts that will be helpful in reading and understanding the concept. Try to solve NCERT book problems including Exemplar problems. The next lecture will deal with problems from these books.