The bhakti movement and the sants
भक्ति आन्दोलन
Also written: bhakti movement · sant tradition · kabir · mirabai · tukaram · ravidas · nayanmars alvars · भक्ति
The bhakti movement is the largest internal reform in the tradition's history. It began in the Tamil country in the sixth century and moved north over a thousand years, and everywhere it went it did the same three things: it taught in the local language, it made the highest goal available without ritual qualification, and it produced saints from every stratum of society.
| Saint | Region and period | Background | Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| The 63 Nāyanmārs | Tamil, 6th–9th c. | Kings to potters | Tirumuṟai — the Tamil Śaiva canon |
| The 12 Ālvārs | Tamil, 6th–9th c. | Includes Āṇṭāḷ, a woman, and Tiruppāṇ, an outcaste | Divya Prabandham — the 'Tamil Veda' |
| Basavaṇṇa | Karnataka, 12th c. | Court minister | Vīraśaiva; the vacanas; rejection of temple and birth hierarchy |
| Akka Mahādevī | Karnataka, 12th c. | Woman renunciate | Among the most uncompromising voices in the corpus |
| Jñāneśvar | Maharashtra, 13th c. | Ostracised family | Jñāneśvarī — the Gītā in Marathi, at nineteen |
| Nāmdev | Maharashtra, 13th c. | Tailor | Abhaṅgas; his verses are in the Guru Granth Sahib |
| Ravidās | North, 15th c. | Cobbler | Verses in the Guru Granth Sahib; 'Begampura', the city without sorrow |
| Kabīr | Banaras, 15th c. | Weaver, raised Muslim | The sharpest critic of ritual in either religion; claimed by Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs alike |
| Mīrābāī | Rajasthan, 16th c. | Rajput princess | Left a palace for Kṛṣṇa; the most sung bhajans in India |
| Caitanya | Bengal, 16th c. | Scholar | Saṅkīrtana; the Gaudīya tradition |
| Śaṅkaradeva | Assam, 15th–16th c. | — | Ekasaraṇa; the sattras and Assamese devotional culture |
| Narsinh Mehta | Gujarat, 15th c. | — | 'Vaiṣṇava jana to' — Gandhi's daily bhajan |
| Tukārām | Maharashtra, 17th c. | Grocer | Abhaṅgas of unmatched directness; the Varkari tradition |
| Tulsīdās | North, 16th c. | — | Rāmcaritmānas — the Rāmāyaṇa in Avadhi, and the most read book in north India |
What it changed
- Scripture in the spoken language: Marathi, Tamil, Hindi, Bengali, Kannada, Assamese, Gujarati, Punjabi.
- Access without Sanskrit, without initiation and without birth qualification.
- Women as saints and teachers in every stream.
- The theological argument, made from the Gītā's own text, that whoever takes refuge — whatever their birth — reaches the highest goal.
- Music as the primary vehicle: kīrtana, bhajan, abhaṅga, vacana, pada.
The tributaries — traditions born from the same ground
Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, the Nātha and Siddha lines, the bhakti sants and the modern reform movements: what…
Buddhism
The Buddha's teaching, the four noble truths and the eightfold path, anātman and dependent origination, the sc…
Jainism
The twenty-four Tīrthaṅkaras, the eternal soul and karma as matter, the five vows, anekāntavāda, and the most …
Sikhism
Guru Nānak and the ten Gurus, Ik Onkar, the Guru Granth Sahib as living scripture, the three pillars of practi…
The Nātha sampradāya and haṭha yoga
Matsyendranātha and Gorakhnātha, the nine Nāthas and eighty-four Siddhas, the body as the vehicle of liberatio…
Modern movements and teachers
Brahmo Samaj, Arya Samaj, Ramakrishna Mission, and the teachers of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries who …
Last revised 2026-08-16. Corrections are welcome — see how this site is written.