The development of Bhakti movement took place in Tamil Nadu between the 7th and 12th Centuries and it gradually spread to North India. The Bhakti movement stressed on the mythical union of individual and God. The idea of preaching Bhakti through hymns and stories was traditionally done by Alvars and Nayannars of the Tamil devotional cult and in North India by two streams i.e. Nirguna bhakti and Saguna bhakti.
Salient features of the Bhakti movement include:
• Philosophy: Bhakti movement believed in the concept of oneness of God and brotherhood of all human beings. Bhakti Saints looked upon religion as a loving bond between the worshipped and worshippers.
• Methods of propagation: Bhakti saints adopted various mediums like poetry, song dance and kirtans to connect to God. They emphasized on single-minded, intense devotion to God and believed in one Supreme Being.
• Role of a guru: Bhakti saints advocated the need of guru who would guide the devotee in connecting with the God.
• Diverse background of Bhakti saints: They belonged to diverse social backgrounds including Brahmanas, lower castes, artisans, weavers etc. Most of the Bhakti Saints were from lower castes.
• Participation of women: Some of the prominent ones include Andal, Mirabai, Lalla Ded etc. They composed several devotional verses.
• Stress on equality: There was no distinction based on caste, creed or religion. Also, orthodoxy of the society was attacked by Bhakti movements. There was opposition to social issues like sati, female infanticide etc. Also, Bhakti saints attacked institutionalised religions and religious rituals.
• Bridging the gulf between Hindu and Islamic traditions: Bhakti saints like Kabir and Guru Nanak drew their ideas from Hindu and Islamic traditions and made a strong plea for Hindu-Muslim unity.
Bhakti movement and regional languages:
• The Bhakti movement promoted the growth of vernacular languages and literature in different parts of the country.
• The Bhakti saints preached in their respective vernacular languages and connected with the masses. They also compiled literature in their native languages e.g. Kabir in Hindi, Guru Nanak in Gurmukhi, Narasimha Mehta in Gujarati etc.
• The Alvars composed a collection of hymns ‘DivyaPrabandham’ in Tamil, which has been deemed as the ‘Fifth Veda’.
• Many Sanskrit works were translated into regional languages by the Bhakti saints. Further, scriptures previously available only in Sanskrit became accessible to the common people. For e.g. Tulsidas made the epic Ramayana more accessible by writing in Awadhi.
• Bhakti saints Chaitanya and Shankaradeva encouraged their followers to use Bengali and Assamese respectively rather than Sanskrit.
• Regional languages like Marathi, Maithili, Kannada, Awadhi etc. were enriched through the efforts of the Bhakti saints.
Bhakti movement represented a break from the earlier devotional literature, which was mostly written in Sanskrit and Bhakti literature in regional languages played a crucial role in the popularisation of the Bhakti movement and espoused spirituality among the common people.