- Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhism, travelled extensively preaching his message of one God and rejecting religious rituals and discrimination. He established the langar, gurudwara, and appointed Guru Angad as his successor. - The teachings of Guru Nanak and subsequent gurus were compiled in the Guru Granth Sahib. Guru Nanak emphasized pursuing an active life of worship, honest living, and helping others to attain salvation. - Guru Nanak's followers faced persecution from Mughal emperor Jahangir, and later Guru Gobind Singh organized the Khalsa movement, establishing the Sikh community as a political organization called the Khalsa Pan

1. Devotional
Paths to the
Divine
Class 7 History Chapter 8

2. Table of Contents
01 The Idea of a Supreme
God
02
A New Kind of Bhakti in
South India – Nayanars and
Alvars
03 Philosophy and Bhakti
04 Basavanna’s Virashaivism
05 The Saints of Maharashtra
06
Nathpanthis, Siddhas and
Yogis
07 Islam and Sufism
08
New Religious Developments
in North India
09 A Closer Look: Kabir
10
A Closer Look: Baba Guru
Nanak

3. The Idea of a Supreme
God
01

4. The Idea of a Supreme God
● Before large kingdoms emerged, different
groups of people worshipped their own Gods
and Goddesses.
● As people were brought together through
the growth of towns, trade and empires, new
ideas began to develop.
● The idea that all human beings are not equal
even at birth gained ground during this
period.
● The idea of a Supreme God who could deliver
humans from bandage through devotion or
bhakti emerged.

5. The Idea of a Supreme God
● Gods and Goddesses worshipped in different
areas came to be identified with Shiva,
Vishnu or Durga.
● Local myths and legends became a part of
the Puranic stories.
● Methods of worship recommended in the
Puranas were introduced into the local cults.
● The idea of bhakti became highly popular
and even Buddhists and Jains adopted these
beliefs.

6. A New Kind of Bhakti in
South India – Nayanars and
Alvars
02

7. A New Kind of Bhakti in South India – Nayanars and
Alvars
● Between the 7th and the 9th centuries, there
was an emergence of new religious
movements led by Nayanars (saints devoted
to Shiva) and Alvars (saints devoted to
Vishnu).
● They came from all castes, including those
considered “untouchables”, such as the
Pulaiyar and the Panars.
● They detested Buddhists and Jains and
preached that love for Shiva and Vishnu was
the path to salvation.
● They believed in the ideals of love and
heroism from the Sangam literature and
mixed them with values of bhakti. Sangam literature

8. A New Kind of Bhakti in South India – Nayanars and
Alvars
● Nayanars and Alvars wandered from place to
place and composed unique poems and
music in praise of their deities.
● Between the 10th and 12th centuries, the
Chola and Pandya kings built splendid
temples around the shrines visited by the
saint-poets.
● Their poems were compiled and their
hagiographies (religious biographies) were
composed, and even today, they are sources
of history for modern researchers.

9. Philosophy and Bhakti
03

10. Shankara
● Shankara, born in Kerala in the 8th century,
was a very influential thinker of India.
● He was an advocate of Advaita or the
doctrine of the oneness of the human soul
and the Supreme Soul which is formless and
is the Ultimate Reality.
● He advised people to give up worldly things
because they are an illusion or maya, and to
follow the path of knowledge because it is
the true path of salvation.

11. Ramanuj
● He was born in Tamil Nadu in the 11th
century and was influenced by Alvars.
● He thought that the path of salvation was
through intense devotion to Lord Vishnu.
● He also suggested the theory of
Vishishtadvaita or qualified oneness which
says that even if a soul unites with the
Supreme Soul, it remains distinct and under
the blessing of the Supreme Soul.
● This ideology inspired a new form of bhakti
in northern India.

12. Basavanna’s Virashaivism
04

13. Basavanna’s Virashaivism
● The Tamil bhakti movement and temple
worship came together to create the
Virashaiva movement that began in
Karnataka in the mid-twelfth century.
● It was initiated by Basavanna and other
virashaivas such as Allama Prabhu and
Akkamahadevi.
● They fought for the equality of all human
beings and against the Brahmanical ideas of
caste and poor treatment of women.
● They were also against religious rituals and
idol worship.

14. The Saints of Maharashtra
05

15. The Saints of Maharashtra
Between the 13th and the 17th centuries-
● Maharashtra saw many saint-poets such as
Janeshwar, Namdev, Eknath, and Tukaram,
women such as Sakkubai, and the family of
Chokhamela.
● They inspired people to follow the bhakti of
the Vitthala temple in Pandharpur as well as
that of the god that lives in the people’s
hearts.
● They rejected all kinds of rituals,
unnecessary display of piety, and
discrimination on the basis of caste.
Vitthala temple

16. The Saints of Maharashtra
● They rejected the concept of renouncing the
world and preferred to stay with their
families and serve fellow humans.
● This was a new form of bhakti where
happiness was in sharing the pain of others.

17. Nathpanthis, Siddhas and
Yogis
06

18. Nathpanthis, Siddhas and Yogis
● Nathpanthis, Siddhacharas, and Yogis
preached renunciation (self-sacrifice).
● They taught that the path to salvation was
through meditation on the formless Ultimate
Reality and the oneness of the human soul
with it.
● They preached intense training of the mind
and body through yoga asanas, breathing
exercises, and meditation.
● These groups were popular among the ‘low’
castes.

19. Nathpanthis, Siddhas and Yogis
● Their criticism for the common Vedic religion
created a base for a new religion to become
a common power in the north.

20. Islam and Sufism
07

21. Islam and Sufism
● Sufis were Muslim mystics who rejected
hypocrisy in religion and emphasised love
and devotion to God and compassion for
fellow human beings.
● Islam is a strictly monotheistic religion which
believes in submission to one God, rejects
idol worship, and preaches collective worship
of God.
● Muslim scholars developed a holy law called
the Shariat.
● Sufis rejected Shariat because they wanted
union with God just like a lover seeks unity
with his beloved.

22. Islam and Sufism
● Sufis composed expressive poems and
music, and also rich prose that included
fables and anecdotes.
● Great sufi saints include Ghazali, Rumi, and
Sadi who believed that the heart can be
trained to look at the world with a different
perspective.
● They used zikr (chanting of a name or
formula), contemplation, sama (singing), raqs
(dancing), discussion of parables, breath
control, etc. under the guidance of a master
called a pir.

23. Islam and Sufism
● Genealogies of sufis were known as silsilas,
and each followed a different method of
ritual practice and instruction.
● After the establishment of the Delhi
Sultanate, major sufi centres developed in
India, of which the Chishti silsila was one of
the most influential.
● This (Chishti Silsila) order has had many
thinkers, such as
➢ Khwaja Muinuddin Chishti of Ajmer,
➢ Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki of Delhi,
➢ Baba Farid of Punjab,
Chishti silsila
Khwaja Muinuddin
Chishti of Ajmer
Baba Farid of
Punjab

24. Islam and Sufism
➢ Khwaja Nizamuddin Auliya of Delhi, and
➢ Bandanawaz Gisudaraz of Gulbarga.
● Sufi masters held assemblies in their
khanqahs or hospices.
● People mostly associated sufis with
miraculous powers that could relieve others
of their illnesses and troubles.
● So their tombs or dargahs became places of
pilgrimage for people to visit and pay their
respects.
Khwaja
Nizamuddin Auliya
of Delhi
Bandanawaz
Gisudaraz of
Gulbarga
Khanqahs

25. New Religious Developments
in North India
08

26. New Religious Developments in North India
● Tulsidas accepted God in the form of Rama
and composed the Ramcharitmanas in Awadhi
(a language used in eastern Uttar Pradesh).
● This work is important both as a religious
book and a literary work.
● Surdas was a devotee of Krishna, and he
expresses his devotion with compositions
such as the Sursagara, Surasaravali and
Sahitya Lahari.
● Many different kinds of movements influenced
each other in North India, and people from
different religions and castes thronged to
holy places to listen to preachers of new
religions.

27. New Religious Developments in North India
● People such as Kabir and Guru Nanak
rejected all orthodox religions but people
such as Tulsidas and Surdas accepted
existing beliefs and made them accessible to
all.
● Shankaradeva of Assam (late 15th century)
was a devotee of Vishnu, composed poems
and plays in Assamese, and set up a
namghars or houses of recitation and
prayer.
● Mirabai was a Rajput princess married into
the royal family of Mewar (in the 16th century)
before she became a disciple of Ravidas who
was a saint from the ‘untouchable’ caste.

28. New Religious Developments in North India
● She was a devotee of Krishna and composed
many bhajans which became popular among
the people of Rajasthan and Gujarat.

29. A Closer Look: Kabir
09

30. A Closer Look: Kabir
● Kabir, who probably lived in the fifteenth-
sixteenth centuries, was brought up in a
family of Muslim julahas (weavers) in the city
of Benaras.
● He wrote many verses called sakhis and pads
which were sung by wandering bhajan
singers.
● Many of his writings were later compiled in
the Guru Granth Sahib, Panch Vani, and
Bijak.
● His teachings rejected major religious
traditions and ridiculed external worship in
Brahmanism and Islam, the special position
of the priestly class, and the caste system. Kabir

31. A Closer Look: Kabir
● He mostly wrote in Hindi, but he also used a
cryptic language sometimes.
● He believed in a formless Supreme God and
preached that the only path to salvation was
through bhakti (devotion).
Guru Granth Sahib

32. A Closer Look: Baba Guru
Nanak
10

33. A Closer Look: Baba Guru Nanak
● Guru Nanak was born in Talwandi, but he
travelled for years before he found the Dera
Baba Nanak in Kartarpur.
● Irrespective of their creed or caste, his
followers ate together in a common kitchen
known as a langar.
● And the sacred place/temple he created for
worship and meditation was called a
dharamshala (now known as a Gurudwara).
● Before he died in 1539, he appointed follower
called Lena (later known as Guru Angad) as
his successor.
Baba Guru Nanak
Dera Baba Nanak
in Kartarpur
Langar
Gurudwara

34. A Closer Look: Baba Guru Nanak
● Guru Angad compiled the work of Guru
Nanak and added to it his script known as
Gurmukhi.
● The next three Gurus also wrote under
Nanak’s name, and their work was compiled
by Guru Arjan in 1604.
● Work of Shaikh Farid, Sant Kabir, Bhagat
Namdev, and Guru Tegh Bahadur were also
added to these compilations.
● Finally, in 1706, Guru Gobind Singh
authenticated the compilation and created
the Guru Granth Sahib.
Gurumukhi
script Guru Arjan
Guru Gobind
Singh
Guru Granth
Sahib

35. A Closer Look: Baba Guru Nanak
● Guru Nanak’s followers increased in the 16th
century as people from all castes and
occupations joined the community.
● By the 17th century, the town of Ramdaspur
developed around a Gurudwara called the
Harmandir Sahib and become a self-
governing society.
● The Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan saw them
as a potential threat, and in 1606 he ordered
the execution of Guru Arjan.
● By the 17th century, Guru Gobind Singh
organised the Khalsa Movement, and the
community of Sikhs became a political
organisation called the Khalsa Panth.
Execution of Guru Arjan By
Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan
Harmandir Sahib
Khalsa Panth

36. A Closer Look: Baba Guru Nanak
● Guru Nanak emphasised the worship of one
God and insisted that caste, creed, and
gender were irrelevant to attaining salvation.
● According to him, pursuit of an active life
would liberate humans, and he also used the
terms nam, dan, and isnan to mean right
worship, welfare, and purity of conduct.
● His ideas today are called nam-japna, kirat-
karna, and vand-chhakna, which mean right
belief and worship, honest living, and helping
others.
Kirat-karna (honest
living)

37. Thankyou