Advaita and the Tamil Bhakti movement

[Guest guest]

Dear Listers,

 

I'd like to have some information from the learned listers on the

influence of Advaita on the bhakti movement of the Alvars and the

Nayanmars.

 

It is possible that there was no influence as:

 

1. The Alvars and Nayanmars themselves are dated by scholars to a

period between 600 AD and 850 AD. I notice from other sites and

scholarly literature that Adi Sankara's avatara is dated by some to

788 AD. The earliest epigraphic notice of the celebrated acharya is

around 1068 AD.

 

This objection may be answered by looking into the teachings of Adi

Sankara's acharyas and pracharyas ... in general the acharyic

lineage.

 

2. Since the Bhakti saints insisted on the notion of personal god and

place of worship, it is possible that their concerns were somewhat

different from the topics addressed by Adi Sankara in his most

influential writings like the Bhashyas.

 

This objection may be answered by illustrations where , in their

general tattva, the bhakti saints can be shown to be presenting

advaita views.

 

3. A few verses in the Bhakti corpus look askance at what is refered

to as "maayavaadam". This may lend itself to the interpretation that

they held views that were inimical to advaita.

 

This may be answered by the realization that in the Saiva Corpus

there are far more verses criticizing the jaina world view (esp. by

Sambandhar, Sundarar) and in the Vaishnava corpus, which concerns

itself less with other darsanas, more verses criticizing the Saiva

worldview. In effect advaita may have been closer to either

tradition.

 

What I want from the learned listers is any verses they can recall

from the Vaishnava or Saiva bhakti tradition which shows influence of

advaitic thought, any legends, stories, karNAparampara's they may

have heard in this regard.

 

I'd appreciate detailed responses, with or without references.

 

Thanks and Warm Regards,

 

LS

[Guest guest]

I believe the poet saints of Maharastra such as Jnaneshwar Maharaj

were bhakti's and also jnani's An interesting read is Jnaneshwar

Maharaj's Amritanubhav. In it, he quotes from the Shiva Sutras which

are advaitic and from Kashmir although Jnaneswar is from Maharastra.

I don't know about Tamil.

[Guest guest]

Namaste,

 

Bhakti and Jnana are like two mighty rivers. When they meet

the Ocean of Truth, the ocean can describe both infallibly!

 

Jnaneshvara's spiritual tradition ['sampradaaya'] is known

as 'naatha-sampradaaya', and is traced to aadi-naatha [shiva],

matsyendranatha, gorakhanatha, gahininaatha, nivR^ittinaatha

[Jnaneshvara's guru and elder brother], so it did come from the North.

 

Tukarama, is the prototype of the 'bhakta', [along with

Namadeva], and has described bhakti thus:

 

"hechi thora bhakti aavaDate devaa .

sa~Nkalpaavii maaya sa.nsaarachii .."

 

This verily is great devotion that pleases God, when this wheel of

life is experienced as the power of His wish [my paraphrase].

 

Gita says [18:54]:

 

brahma-bhuutaH prasannaatmaa na shochati na kaa~Nkshati .

samaH sarveshhu bhuuteshhu madbhakti.n labhate paraam.h ..

 

Becoming Brahman, of serene self, he neither grieves nor desires,

treating all beings alike; he attains supreme devotion to me.

 

Also, 11:54 :

 

bhaktyaa tu ananyayaa shakya aham eva.nvidhaH arjuna .

j~naatu.n drashhTu.n cha tattvena praveshhTu.n cha parantapa ..

 

But by undistracted devotion can I, of this form, be known and seen

in reality, and entered into, O Arjuna [Oppressor of foes].

 

 

[For a comparative discussion of Jnaneshvara's and Shankara's views,

pl. visit URL:

 

http://www.here-now4u.de/eng/being_and_beings__some_epistem.htm ]

 

 

Regards,

 

s.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

advaitin, "Paul J. Cote" <pjcote@l...> wrote:

> I believe the poet saints of Maharastra such as Jnaneshwar Maharaj

> were bhakti's and also jnani's An interesting read is Jnaneshwar

> Maharaj's Amritanubhav. In it, he quotes from the Shiva Sutras

which

> are advaitic and from Kashmir although Jnaneswar is from

Maharastra.

> I don't know about Tamil.

[Guest guest]

Dear Srinivas:

 

Namaste,

 

The origin of Advaita is the Vedas and Vedic religion has strong

influence across the length and width of India. Though it may be

difficult to establish a direct link between Advaita and the Bhakti

movement, subtle connections do exist. Your question is rather

complicated because the Hindu religious traditions during the

time-period 600 A.D. to 800 A.D. was challenged by the influence of

both Jainism and Buddhism. Shankara's biographical sketch also

how Shankara determined to reestablish the Vedic Religion

during those turbulent period. The great Tamil literature,

"Chilappathikaram" illustrates the influence of Jainism and Buddhism

in both Pandya and Chera kingdoms. In short there is stronger

evidence that the purpose of "Bhakti Movement" was drive out the

influence of Jainism and Buddhism from Tamil Nadu. Interestingly,

very little trace of Jainism and Buddhism remained in the Tamil Nadu

after the Bhakti movement. Another objective of the Bhakti movement

was to reestablish the Vedic Religion in India. Though we may not be

able to establish the influence of Shankara on the Bhakti Movement but

Shankara did contribute to the establishment of religious institutions

including temples in various parts of India.

 

The following article and Website reference supports most of my

assertions. I welcome any additions, corrections and comments using

other known sources in Tamil Literature and History.

 

warmest regards,

 

Ram Chandran

 

=======================

Religious Traditions of the Tamils (Prof. A. Veluppillai)

URL :http://www.geocities.com/Athens/5180/tamil.html

[The following article originally appeared in "Circle" mailing list

and posted in soc.culture.tamil newsgroup haran (S.

Prabaharan) Newsgroups: soc.culture.tamil

Religious Traditions of Tamils, by Prof. Veluppillai 9

Feb 1996 03:20:55 GMT ]

 

5.3. Bhakti Period 600 A.D. to 1200 A. D.

 

The Tamils were under the Pallava and the pAnhdija kingdoms during the

earlier half of this period and under the cOLa Empire during the

latter half of the same. The Tamil power reached its zenith under the

cOLa Empire, which also ruled many non- Tamil communities in South

India and Sri Lanka. In the history of religion and literature, this

period is referred to as the bhakti period. Bhakti is a Sanskrit word,

meaning devotion. This Sanskrit word and the Tamilicised form patti

became popular quite late. The bhaktti poetry seems to be a curious

transformation of literary traditions of the Academy period. Both akam

tradition, dealing with love between man and woman and puRam

tradition, dealing with heroism and generosity of warriors are

combined in a strange manner and the position of man as well as hero

goes to god, while the position of woman and hero-worshipper go to the

devotee. A. K. Ramanujan has recently brought out a good translation

into English of some of these early poems.

 

Though the origins of the concept of bhakti are traceable in Sanskrit

sources, bhakti movement as such originated in the Tamil land.

Personal relationship between the devotee and the god was its main

characteristic, and worship became a fervent personal experience in

response to divine grace. Religion for the devotees is no longer a

matter of contemplation of a transcendent, impersonal absolute, but

of ecstatic response to an intensely personal experience. This leads

to a profound sense of the devotee s own shortcomings and to a

trustful recourse to the god s forgiveness, with the whole

personality being surrendered to the deity. It is this position which

inspired the scholar - missionary G. U. Pope's evaluation - which

seems to be somewhat superficial - of this religion as the religion,

closest to Christianity, among Indian religions. Norman Cutler has

worked on the poetics of Tamil devotion.

 

The vedic religion - the Brahminical religion - becomes a popular

religion of the Tamils, through the bhakti movement. The Sanskrit

sources contributed another important element for this religion. This

religion owes a massive debt to the Sanskrit purAnhAs and epics. The

temple rituals, prescribed in the Sanskrit AkamAs, became very

important. From the very beginning, sectarian differences are

noticeable, may be because of the influence of purAnhAs. Saiva and

Vaishnava movements were presented to the Tamil people as Tamil

religions This was made possible by religious synchronism. murukan

becomes identified with Skanda and kArttikEja and related to Siva as

a son, koRRavy becomes identified with umA, Siva's consort and as

murukan s mother, and mAjOn becomes identified with Vishnu. Saivism

is the form of Hinduism, very popular among the Tamils.

 

The Saiva movement was relatively more involved in religious conflicts

and controversies. Saint Appar, a convert from Jainism to Saivism,

converted the Pallava ruler from Jainism to Saivism. His poetry seems

to be a strange mixture of Jaina world-view and Siva bhakti. Even

though he expresses his regret for having wasted much of his life as

a Jaina monk, his poetry seems to be a form of synchronism between

Jainism and Saivism. The Jaina world-view and Jaina didactic works

become acceptable to the Saivites. Saint Campanthar, a younger

contemporary of saint Appar, converted the pAnhdija ruler from Jainism

to Saivism.. He defeated the Buddhists in another controversy. As a

Brahmin, he was a champion of Vedic religion against the Jains and the

Buddhists. There are plenty of polemical references about the Jains

and the Buddhists in his bhakti poetry. Saint Manikkavasagar was also

said to have defeated the Lankan Buddhists in a controversy, but there

is no trace of polemics in his compositions. For about a

millennium, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism were the three important

religions among the Tamils. The triangular contest for the loyalty of

the Tamils led to the growth of polemical literature to which

adherents of all religions contributed. The Buddhist contribution is

seen in the manhimEkaly and the kunhdalakEci, the Jaina contribution

in the NIlakEci and the Saiva contribution in the civagnAnacittijAr.

But overall, conflicts are rare, especially after Hinduism

consolidated its position. The Saiva or Vaishnava rulers, were

generally generous to all the Hindus, irrespective of their personal

inclinations and also patronized the Jaina and Buddhist religious

establishments of their subjects.

 

A very important text for Tamil Saivism is the periya purAnham, the

Saiva hagiology of 63 NajanmAr, (saint lords), all of whom lived in

South India and attained heaven through their bhakti to Siva. This

work influenced vIra Saivism of Karnataka. Saint Manikkavasagar's

devotional poems are acknowledged as the most moving in Tamil

literature. G. U. Pope brought a translation of the tiruvAcakam into

English. almost a century ago. Glenn Yocum has published a study of

tiruvAcakam recently. The devotional poems of Saint cuNtarar,

numbering about a tthousand verses, had been translated by David

Shulman recently. The Twelve Sacred Books of the Tamil Saivas were

complete in the 12th century A.D. For the vast majority of the Tamil

Saivites, the basic works of their religion are these Twelve Sacred

Books. They don't look to any Sanskrit work for guidance.

 

The Vaishnava bhakti movement was dominated by twelve AzvArs - those

who contemplate deeply on Vishnu. They were authors of

tivvijapirapaNtam (sacred composition) of four thousand verses.

Compared to the saiva devotional poems, the Vaishnava devotional poems

make greater use of akam tradition and less of puRam tradition of the

classical period. Friedhelm Hardy had brought out a fine publication

recently on the history of this movement. Some important saints are

AdAL, kulacEkarar, tirumangky and NammAzvAr. The works of the last one

are very important and are sometimes referred to as Tamil Vedas.

Though less influential in Tamil land, the Vaishnavite bhakti

movement exerted great influence throughout India, during the later

periods. The temple worship seems to be a prominent feature from

the beginning of the bhakti movement. Temples, built of durable

material, first rock-cut and then made of stone, made their

appearance from the 8th century. Huge stone temples were built by the

cOLa Emperors and their successors throughout tamizNAdu. The temples

became the centres, around which many aspects of life of the people

were organized. Architects and sculptors were needed in the

construction activities. Music, dance, and drama were patronized by

the Hindu temples. These temples were generally rich, having been

owners of land other forms of wealthy. They employed people and

helped them in times of distress. The big temples are still great

pilgrim centres to which the Tamil Hindus from all over the world

yearn to visit. Most of the big temples in tamiz Nadu have myths of

their own. David Shulman has made an interpretation of these myths

recently. The big temples are the main attraction for the modern

tourists in tamiz NAdu.