HISTORY CHP-8 Religious Belief and

Popular Movements
I. Based on your understanding, tick (✔) the correct option.
1. Nayanars and Alvars were:
a. Bhakti saints from north India who sang praises of the goddess Shakti
b. religious singers from Gujarat who preached freedom for women
c. Bhakti saints from south India who composed songs praising the gods Vishnu
and Shiva

2. The Alvars were devotees of:

a. Lord Shiva
b. Lord Vishnu
c. both of them

3. The Nayanars are also known as:

a. Vaishnavites
b. Shaivites
c. both of them

4. The doctrine of Advaita was propagated by:

a. Adi Shankaracharya
b. Ramanuja
c. the Virashaivas

5. He founded the religious sect known as Mahapuruxiya Dharma:

a. Ravidas
b. Ramanuja
c. Srimanta Sankardeva

6. The Virashaiva movement was founded by:

a. Basavanna
b. Sundarar
c. Andal

7. Who established the four mathas for the propagation of his philosophy?
a. Shankaracharya
b. Ramanuja
c. Ramananda

8. The famous dargah at Ajmer is the final resting place of which Sufi saint?
a. Moinuddin Chishti
b. Salim Chishti
c. Baba Farid

9. Kabir preached his thoughts in beautiful couplets known as:

a. vachanas
b. vanis
c. doha

10. Guru Nanak composed hymns, singing them to the accompaniment of a stringed
instrument known as the:
a. sitar
b. veena
c. rabab

II. Answer the following in one sentence.

Q1. What do you understand by the term 'Advaita'?

Ans 1. The doctrine of Advaita was propagated by
him, wherein, Ultimate Reality is considered as the joining of the individual soul and
the The Virashaivas Supreme God.

Q2. Nund Rishi was a Sufi mystic from which region of India?
Ans 2. Sheikh Nooruddin Noorani, also known as Nund Rishi was a Kashmiri Sufi
mystic. In the 14th to15th centuries, there was a Sufi order in Kashmir
called the Rishis. Nund Rishi worked for the Kashmiri peasants, was critical of the
caste system and believed in the harmonious coexistence of one
community with the other. The Rishi Sufi order had a deep impact on the life of the
Kashmiri people.

Q3. Which book contains Meerabai's songs?

Ans 3. Padavali book contains Meerabai’s songs.

Q4. Name the various silsilah or orders of the Sufis.

Ans 4. The main Sufi religious orders in India were Chishti, Suhrawardi and
Naqshbandi. The Chishti Silsilah was one of the most influential

Q5. Name some famous female Bhakti-saints of the medieval period.

Ans 5. Meerabai’s, Akka Mahadevi, Andal, Janabai, Gangasati and
Ratanbai were the other female Bhakti-saints.

C. Answer the following

Q1. Who were alvar and nayanar saints?

Ans 1.The Alvar and Nayanar were saint-poets who popularized the Bhakti movement
became popular in South India in the eighth century. They preached the path of
surrendering oneself to God. They travelled from place to another, singing hymns in
praise of different Gods.

Q2. The Marathi poet-saints rejected the idea of renunciation. What were the
other teachings of these poet saints?
Ans 2 The most important Bhakti saints in Maharashtra were Jnaneshwar, Namadeva,
Eknath, Sakku Bai and Tukaram. They were worshipers of Lord Vitthala (Vishnu).
Jnaneshwar wrote Jnaneshwari, a Marathi commentary on the Bhagavad
Gita.Namadeva and Tukaram were known for their devotional poems.

1. The Marathi poet-saints focused on the notion of a personal God residing in the
hearts of all people.

2. They rejected all forms of ritualism and social differences based on birth. They also
rejected the idea of renunciation and preferred to live with their families, earning their
livelihood.

3. They emphasised the new humanist idea of sharing each other's pain

Q3. Who was the founder of Mahapuruxiya Dharma? What were the major
tenets of his religious teachings?
Ans 3. Srimanta Sankardeva was a famous Bhakti saint from Assam. Around the 16th
century, he founded the religious sect known as Mahapuruxiya Dharma.
1. He opposed the caste system and stressed on social synthesis.
2. His verses about the glory of Lord Krishna continue to be popular today.
3. The Kirtana-ghosha is his most renowned work; every verse he wrote was a
reflection of the concept of bhakti, composed in extremely simple language.

Q4. What were the various practices of the Sufis?

Ans 4. Sufis developed elaborate methods of training, using zikr (chanting of a name),
contemplation, singing (musical recitations were called sama),dancing, discussion of
parables and breath control under the guidance of a master or pir who was the main
religious teacher. The devotional songs of Sufis or qawwali continue to be extremely
popular.

Q5. What was Adi Shankaracharya's contribution to the Bhakti movement?

Ans 5. Born into a poor yet pious brahmana family in Kerala, Shankaracharya is
remembered as one of the first Hindu thinkers who re-examined and
reformed early Vedic philosophy.
1. The doctrine of Advaita was propagated by him, wherein, Ultimate Reality is
consideredas the joining of the individual soul and the Supreme God.
2. He considered the world to be an illusion or maya.
3. Renunciation of the world was prescribed by him to attain salvation.
4. He laid the foundation of four mathas or monastic centres at Sringeri (Karnataka),
Dwarka (Gujarat), Puri (Odisha) and Jyotirmath (Uttarakhand) with the aim of
propagating his philosophy.

IV. Answer the following questions in detail.

Q1. Explore some important beliefs of the Bhakti movement.
Ans 1.

1. belief in the idea of a Supreme God

2. rejection of caste system
3. zeal to break the cycle of birth and rebirth
4. emphasis on love, devotion and complete surrender to God
5. rejection of elaborate rituals
6. poetry, hymns, music and dance as a way to remain in touch with the divine
7. use of local languages to spread their ideas
8. worship of God, either with form or without form rejection of idol worship
9. rejection of inequality and participation of all people
10. questioning of authority, even of kings and rulers
11. rejection of mediators between a human being and God in the form of priests

Q2. Mention some of the features of the Bhakti movement in north India.
I. Ravidas(Uttar Pradesh)
A cobbler by caste, Ravidas was a 15th centurysocio-religious reformer, humanist,
poet and spiritual thinker.
1. He believed that one's actions rather than birth, distinguished him from others.
2. He vehemently opposed the inhuman practice of untouchability and advocated that
God should be accessible to everyone.
II. Srimanta Sankardeva
Srimanta Sankardeva was a famous Bhakti saint from Assam. Around the 16th
century, he founded the religious sect known as Mahapuruxiya Dharma.
1. He opposed the caste system and stressed on social synthesis.
2. His verses about the glory of Lord Krishna continue to be popular today.
The Kirtana-ghosha is his most renowned work; every verse he wrote was a reflection
of the concept of bhakti, composed in extremely simple language.
III. Kabir
One of the earliest and most influential Bhakti saints of north India was Kabir. The
son of a Hindu widow, he was brought up in the house of a Muslim weaver where he
learnt the profession of weaving. He resided in Benaras where he came in contact
with both Hindu and Muslim saints.
1. He believed in one God whom he called by several names such as Govinda, Hari,
Sain, Sahib, Allah and Rama.
2. He was against idol worship, rituals and pilgrimages.
3. Because he believed in the equality of all human beings, he opposed all kinds of
discrimination, rejected caste superstitions and the practice of untouchability.
IV. Guru Nanak
1. He was born in Talwandi, northwest of Lahore (now in Pakistan) in 1469 CE.
2. He composed hymns, singing them to the accompaniment of a stringed instrument
known as the rabab.
3. Guru Nanak laid emphasis on one God, piousness of character and conduct, and the
need of a guru or teacher. He strongly denounced superstitions and idol worship.

Q3. What were the major teachings of Kabir?

Ans 3. One of the earliest and most influential Bhakti saints of north India was Kabir.
The son of a Hindu widow, he was brought up in the house of a Muslim weaver where
he learnt the profession of weaving. He resided in Benaras where he came in contact
with both Hindu and Muslim saints.
1. He believed in one God whom he called by several names such as Govinda, Hari,
Sain, Sahib, Allah and Rama.
2. He was against idol worship, rituals and pilgrimages.
3. Because he believed in the equality of all human beings, he opposed all kinds of
discrimination, rejected caste superstitions and the practice of untouchability.
4. He felt that a person can be reformed under the guidance of a guru or teacher.
5. Kabir preached humanity, reverence, peace and love as necessary attributes to
achieve unity with God.
6. His self-composed couplets called dohas enlighten us about his life and philosophy.
7. The principal tenets of Kabir's teachings are collected in Bijaka.

Q4. How did the teacher-disciple relationship form the backbone for the spread
of Sufi movement in India?
Ans 4.
 The disciple was called murid and both the pir and his disciples lived together
in khankahs that started as a kind of rest house for travellers but came to
resemble a monastic establishment.
 When the head of a khankah died, his grave or dargah became a pilgrim
center. The pir chose one of his disciples as his successor to carry on his word.
 The succession of pirs was known as silsilahs or religious orders, each
following a slightly different method of instruction and ritual practice.
 The main Sufi religious orders in India were Chishti, Suhrawardi and
Naqshbandi. The Chishti Silsilah was one of the most influential orders
 Some of the important pirs during the medieval period were
 Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti of Ajmer
 Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki of Delhi
 Baba Farid of Punjab
 Khwaja Nizamuddin Auliya of Delhi
 Bandanawaz Gesudaraz of Gulbarga

Q5. Define Sufism and its major tenets.

Ans 5.
 Sufism, the mystical movement in Islam, emerged to reject elaborate rituals,
codes of behaviour and idol worship.
 A large number of Sufis from Central Asia settled down in India from the 11th
century onwards.
 The establishment of the Delhi Sultanate and several major Sufi centres across
the subcontinent gave an impetus to the Sufi movement in India.
 Sufism is a belief that one can become united with God through prayers and
meditation and by living a simple life of self-discipline.
 Sufi philosophy included new ideas and religious practices such as penance
 Sufis believed that the heart could be trained to look at the world in a different
way.
 Sufis mixed freely with the people of the lower classes.