Bhakti Movement | Tamil Nadu Board History | UPSC 2025-26 | Arti Chhawari | L3

If my voice is clear to all of you, please let me know in the comment section. Today's topic is from Medieval India and particularly from the Tamil Nadu Bodhi book, that is Bhakti Movement. In our last episodes, we saw early Medieval India and read about it. In early Medieval India, we saw some early kingdoms. For example, we talked about three very important strong kingdoms. We talked about Rashtrakutas, Gurjyot Pratihars, we also talked about Pals. When we go deep south, we see Cholas. Cholas rule here. These are political developments. These new kingdoms we saw here, these were political developments. All these are political developments. But parallel to these political developments, we will also see some philosophical developments. We will also see some religious reforms. Today, we will talk about that in this particular episode, in this particular lecture. Now, where does the story start? What is the idea of Bhakti? We will see all this. You will see all these things in the period from 13th to 15th century. Now, let us discuss a little bit about what is happening here. What is the story? The story is that whenever we talk about any religion here, if you see, in every religion, somewhere or the other, the prayer that is done for God, the prayer that is done for God, the worship that is done for God, the worship that is done for God, that has been defined. If I, because we are going to study the Bhakti movement, if I talk about Hinduism here, so, in Hinduism, here, what has been done, how to pray to every God and Goddess, how to worship them, that has been defined. What mistakes should not be made, which flower should be offered, at what time should worship be done here, like this. Like, Lord Shani should be offered oil here, Lord Shiva, if you are praying, then you should go on Monday, and if you want to worship Lord Shani, then Saturday is best. So, what I want to tell you here, I want to tell you here, that how God's worship, the worship of God, its rules had been made. It is still there, people still follow it. So, here, like this, rules were made, rules were made. Now, what happened? The rules that were made here, the temples that were made here, so, when the temples were constructed, so, in those temples, there were rules of coming and going, rules of everything. In some temples, women were not allowed, in some temples, shudras, untouchables, they did not have entry. By doing this, many rules were made. The rules of worshipping God, what should be done at what time, which flower, which fruit, which sweet should be offered, what should be the method, the method of proper prayer, what should be the process, what should be the whole system. So, we get to see all this here. Now, what happened? What happens in the medieval period? In the medieval period, some people come, you will see some people coming here, who come with the concept of bhakti. Now, what is this concept of bhakti? These people were arguing, that how can there be a method of worshipping God? How can there be a proper system of worshipping God? How can there be a method of worshipping God? The relation with God is a personal relation. And how it will be, that will be decided by an individual. If I want to do bhakti of God here, I want to connect with God here, I want that spiritual upliftment here, I want to feel that energy, I want to be connected with it, then how it will be, it will depend on me, no one else will come and tell me the rules. Because our relation with God, is like the relation between a father and his children, like the relation between a mother and her children. So here, if we want to approach them, if we want to connect with God, then what is the need to connect with them, based on a lot of rules? And if we do this based on rules, then will our devotion towards God be pure? So by doing this, a lot of questions start arising here. So what will you get? This idea was arising in South India, that the bhakti, that bhakti is our personal affair, how we want to do bhakti of God here, that we will decide. Some people, by dancing, feel that they are very close to God. Some people feel it by singing. Some people feel it by helping the poor, that they are connected to God. So, there can't be only one way to do bhakti. There can be many ways to do bhakti, and it depends on each individual, how they want to do bhakti here. So this idea was developed in South India. In South India, the idea of personal God was also developed. In South India, you will see Nainers, who were devotees of Lord Shiva, and then you will see Alwars, who were devotees of Lord Vishnu. So these Alwars and Nainers, sorry, these Alwars and Nainers, Untouchables, Shudras, people of lower caste class, these saints are coming from there, and they are keeping this idea of bhakti in front. Because many people were thinking that worshipping God can't be so complex. That's why this idea of bhakti came. And this is being developed in South India. And also of personal God. That is, Alwars and Nainers here, respectively will worship their Gods. Nainers will worship Lord Shiva. And they will do as they like. Dancing, singing, doing bhajans, Alwars will worship Lord Vishnu. So in this way, this idea of bhakti was developed here. So what is bhakti movement? In bhakti movement, you will find many saints, who worship God. And every saint, their way of worshipping God, their way of bhakti, is unique. Okay? How is that way? That way is unique. Because everyone believes that doing bhakti of God is our part. That is, how we want to do it, how we want to connect with God, we decide that individually here. There should be no rules of worshipping God. There should be no process system. Okay? So in this way, this idea of bhakti was developed. Okay? Now, we will go to the South for a few days, for some time. And we will see how this idea of bhakti has evolved further. Okay? We will see how this idea of bhakti has evolved further. So we see a saint in the South, Shankaracharya. We also call him Adi Shankaracharya. You will see him in the 9th century. Shankaracharya, you will see him here from Kerala. And he gave two ideas here. Advaita and Nirguna. Now I will explain to you what they actually mean. It is important for us to understand this. Now, before understanding Advaita and Nirguna, you will have to understand a philosophy. That is Vedanta. Okay? This philosophy of Vedanta, what does this philosophy of Vedanta say? This philosophy of Vedanta says only one thing, that Brahma is the truth, and everything else is false. And why are we using the word Brahma? For the supreme, for the supreme soul. For the supreme soul. For God. Paramatma. Supreme soul. So Vedanta philosophy says only that is the truth. Why is it the truth? Because it is immortal. God, Paramatma, Supreme soul, Brahma, we are not talking about Lord Brahma, we are talking about Brahman. This word means Atma. And not just any Atma, Supreme Atma. It is believed that the Atma that resides in all of us, the Consciousness, is the Supreme Atma. But is there any Atma that is superior to us? Which Atma is superior to us? Paramatma, which we call Brahman. So Vedanta philosophy says only that is the truth. Only that is the truth in this life. Everything else is a lie. Everything else ends after a time. We are born. This body has been named by the society. This body has been given a caste by the society. Along with this, this body has received many things. But after a time, this body will end. So everything in this world will end after a time. It will end. But if there is no end to anything, then it is Atma. So what is Vedanta philosophy saying? Vedanta philosophy is saying that Atma is the only reality. It is the only truth. Everything else will have a time and everything else will end after a time. So what is Shankaracharya going to do? Shankaracharya will share his arguments in this Vedanta philosophy. So what is Shankaracharya saying? Let's understand this. When we are talking about Brahman, we are talking about consciousness. We are talking about the Supreme Soul. So what is Shankaracharya saying? Shankaracharya is giving an idea of Advaita. Now what is Advaita? A-dvaita. Advaita is the idea of dualism. What is the meaning of Dvaita? Dvaita means dual. It means two. A-dvaita means non-dual. Dvaita means dual. It means two. A-dvaita means non-dual. So it is non-dualism. But what is he talking about? He is talking about the type of Atma. I just told you that there are two types of Atma. There are two types of Atma. One is the Supreme Atma. It means God. Because it is the Supreme Soul. And the other is the Jeeva Atma. Which is present in all of us. Okay? So this is dualism. It means two. But what is Shankaracharya saying? That this is not true. Consciousness and Atma are not of two types. One is the Supreme Atma and the other is the Jeeva Atma They are not of two types. They are one. Here the Supreme Atma is the Jeeva Atma and the Jeeva Atma is the Supreme Atma. The consciousness in all of us, the Atma in all of us is a part of the Supreme Atma. So they are two different Atmas. That is why here he is talking about A-dvaita. A-dvaita means non-dualism. It is not two but one. So he is bringing the idea of A-dvaita. Okay? So yes, it is true that the Atma is the truth, the Supreme Atma is the truth, the Brahman is the truth, everything else is false. Everything else will end after some time. But this Brahman is not that it is different and the Atma in the human being is different. No. The Brahman and the Atman are both one. Both are the same. The Supreme Atma and the Jeeva Atma and the Supreme Soul and the Atma in us are both one. This is what Shankaracharya is saying. So he is rejecting the concept of dualism. He is saying that it is not two but one. That is why the concept of A-dvaita has to be kept in front. Okay? A-dvaita. After that comes another concept of Nirguna Brahman. We understand the Brahman the Atma, the Supreme Atma, the Supreme Soul. What does Guna mean? Guna means some properties, some attributes. What does Guna mean? It means some properties, some attributes. Nirguna does not mean it has no qualities. It means that the Brahman, the Supreme Soul, the Consciousness, the Supreme Energy does not have any qualities of its own. It has no attributes of its own. When the Atma is present in our body, the Atma is a part of our body. So all the attributes are of this body. This body has a color, a height, a weight, a name, a caste, a class. So all these things are connected to this body. When this body is finished, destroyed, then nothing will go with the Atma. The Atma will become a part of a new body. That new body will also get new attributes. It means that the Atma does not have any qualities of its own. The Atma does not have any color, shape or name. This is what Shankaracharya says. So Shankaracharya calls the Brahman as Nirguna, without any qualities. And when there will be no attributes, then how will you make him into a statue? How will you give him the shape of a statue? So here he is calling the Brahman as Nirguna. He is saying that he does not have any qualities or shape. He is attribute-less. He is without attributes. Without. Without qualities, without attributes. Without qualities. Without attributes, without qualities. Without any attributes. It means he is formless. He does not have any form or shape of his own. Formless. I hope you have understood these two concepts. Shankaracharya presented Shankaracharya pushed these ideas. The concept of Bhakti was becoming more broad. So here Shankaracharya says that first of all God and Jeevatma are one. If you want to attain God, if you want to understand God, then understand yourself. If you understand yourself, then you will connect with God. Because the soul inside you is the form of God. It is not different. And second thing, the soul, God, he does not have any form or shape. He is formless. He does not have any attributes. He does not have any form or shape. So these are the arguments. Now, because we are reading the arguments, we should not ask who is speaking the truth. Because everyone had their own ideas. Everyone had their own ideas. And according to that, everyone shared their ideas. So in the 9th century, Shankaracharya was there. But after that, in the 12th century, you see Ramanujan in Tamil Nadu. Where is he? He is in the Tamil Nadu region. He is in a place called Shri Perimbudu. Now see, what is he doing? He does not accept what Shankaracharya says. He says, every creative process, all the objects that we see around us, even if they are only for a short time, but at that particular time, they are real. God is also real. Atma is also real. Matter is also real. So he is presenting his own arguments. And what is he saying? Brahman is not without qualities. Brahman is all-pervading. But what is Adi Shankaracharya saying? No, Brahman is without qualities. But what is Ramanujan saying here? Brahman is all-pervading. Brahman means the Supreme Soul, the Supreme Reality, has its own attributes. There are some attributes. We can see this here. So Ramanujan has given his own ideas here. What is he saying? He is saying here, Shankaracharya Ji, I accept your concept of Advait Vata. I believe that Advait Vata is true. There are no two types of souls. There is only one soul, that is Param Soul, Param Atma, that is Brahman. I agree with you. This is what Ramanujan is saying. But I do not agree with you that Param Atma does not have its own qualities. Of course it does. So Brahman is all-pervading, has qualities, has attributes. Advait Vata and all-pervading. So this Advait Vata is a different type of Advait Vata. Because in this Brahman is being called all-pervading. So what do we call this? We call this a special type of Advait Vata. special special Advait Vata. Advait Vata. Special Advait Vata. So what has Ramanujan brought? Ramanujan has brought the idea of special Advait Vata. Along with that, he has also brought the concept of Prabhakti Marga. Now what is Prabhakti Marga? It means self-surrender. Right? If you are there, if you are God, then what is the need to fear? In our devotion, we should surrender ourselves completely. We should walk on the path of self-surrender. So this is what Ramanujan says. After Ramanujan, in the 13th century, Madhavacharya came. He came to the Karnataka region. See, we are still roaming in the South. First we saw Shankaracharya in Kerala. Then we went to Tamil Nadu. There we saw Ramanujan. Now in Karnataka, you will see Madhavacharya. What is Madhavacharya saying? Madhavacharya is saying that Ramanujanji, I do not agree with what you are saying. There are two types of souls. One is Jeevatma and the other is Paramatma. What is Madhavacharya saying? Madhavacharya is saying that yes, the soul is Saguna. Saguna Brahman. But along with that, he believes in Dwait Vata. He believes in Dwait Vata. We Indians have always been argumentative. We have always been making arguments. Why is there so much diversity in India? The reason behind that diversity is also that arguments were given space in India. It is not that if someone is bringing a different idea, then it will be suppressed. No. New ideas were also allowed to flourish. So think about it. One Vedanta philosophy or should I say, within Hindu philosophy, there are many saints who are presenting their arguments, sharing their ideas. And it is not that the socialists are trying to kill them. So in India, every new idea has been synthesized. It has been absorbed. When you go to Western countries, it is not like that. When you go to Western countries, you must have heard about Socrates. When he interpreted some religious ideas and told them to people, people could not tolerate it. Socrates was poisoned and killed. But this has not happened in India. So think about it. Different philosophers are coming here and sharing their ideas. And they are also being absorbed in India. You can follow the philosophers that you like. So what was Shankaracharya doing? He was talking about Dwait Vata, about Adwait Vata. He was talking about Adwait Vata and Nirgun Brahman. Ramanujan came and said that Adwait Vata is fine, but Nirgun Brahman is not fine. So this is a special type of Adwait Vata, a special type of Adwait Vata. Prabhati Marga, the path of self-surrender, he is also talking about that. He believes that everything is true, even if it is for a short time. In the 13th century, Madhavacharya was coming. What was he doing? He was saying that the soul is of two types, that is, it believes in Adwait Vata and the soul has its own attributes, that is, Sagun Brahman. Clear everyone? So all these ideas were going on well in South India. We can see them circulating well here. Then what happened? These ideas of Bhakti, because see, how are these saints able to share their ideas? The concept of Bhakti is that our relation with God is our personal relation and we define that relation. So every saint comes and he shares his idea here. So this idea of Bhakti will gradually go from South to North. The scholars in North India, the saints, will also go there. So who will you see in North India? Ramanand Swami. Next, the saints of Bhakti movement are Ramanand Swami. He was born in Prayag Raj and he follows the ideas of Ramanujan. Now what were the ideas of Ramanujan? Vishisht Adwait Vata and Sagun Bhakti. So he followed the ideas of Ramanujan. He was a follower of Ramanujan but later he made his own sect. He is a worshipper of Lord Ram. He worships Lord Ram. Like I said, there was a concept of personal deity. Nainers worship Lord Shiva and Alwars worship Lord Vishnu. So you will find this. So who is the personal deity of Ramanand Swami? Lord Ram. Ramanand Swami did not believe in caste class system. So all the students will come from different castes, classes and varnas of the society. Most of the students will come from every section of the society. Like Ravidas, Kabirdas, Kabirdas used to make chulha, Sen, Saddhanna, Dhanna, Narhari, Pippa. Pippa is a king. You will find people who make chulha. Similarly, Nainers will also come. Like this, many disciples of Ramanand Swami have come from different castes, classes and varnas and they have also accepted them. So one of the disciples of Ramanand Swami is Kabirdas. Now when we talk about Kabirdas, Kabirdas means couplets. You will find couplets of two lines. So Kabirdas used to make chulha, a stove. Today we have a stove with a knob. But earlier they used to make chulha and earn money from it. Then he became a disciple of Ramanand Swami. So Kabirdas is a student of Ramanand Swami. The story is that Kabirdas's ideas are very universal and he promotes universal brotherhood. What he is saying is that he is not limiting himself to Hinduism. He is saying that all the deities you worship are the same. You have given different forms. So this is why Kabirdas considers Hindu-Muslim unity or Hindu-Muslim brotherhood as a symbol. So Hindus or Muslims should be in unity. He is saying that all the religions are the same. You have given different names but you all worship the same deity. And as far as we are concerned, we have divided each other into castes, religions. But the amazing thing is that the soil will remain on this earth. So we all have the same origin and our end will also be the same. The beginning of our story is the same and the end is also the same. If you listen to such songs, you will find the toy of soil in the soil. So we are the toys of soil. If we die, we will be buried in some religions and in some we will be given fire. So we all have the same origin and our end is the same. We are made of the same nature and we will be buried in the same nature. So you can see So he never favored caste, class system, varna system or different religions who talk differently. He is saying that you all are worshipping Lord Ram. He does not follow caste system. Now I want to bring some more clarity about Kabir and his ideas. Kabir Das is a devotee of Ramanand Swami and Ramanand Swami is a devotee of Lord Ram. That is correct. And you will also see in Kabir Das's dogmas. But there is a very interesting thing. Here is Kabir Das and for comparison let's take Tulsidas. Tulsidas is also one of the bhakti sons. So on one side we have Kabir Das and on the other side we have Tulsidas. If you ask Kabir Das whom he worships he will say I worship Lord Ram. If you go to Tulsidas and ask him whom he worships he will say I worship Lord Ram. If you go to Tulsidas and ask him whom he worships he will say Tulsidas will say yes, I can tell you. He is Raghuvanshi Lord Ram. He was born in Ayodhya. He is the best king among men. He killed Lord Ram. When we ask Tulsidas to define Lord Ram Tulsidas is telling us so many attributes of Lord Ram. If you ask him how he looks he will tell you that he wears a dress and when he goes to exile he has an arrow so his definition is based on Ramayana. Tulsidas also wrote Ramcharitmanas which is his own version of Ramayana. So Tulsidas who worships Lord Ram is doing good deeds. But if you go to Kabir Das and ask him whom he worships then Kabir Das will tell you how to define him. My Lord Ram is not the Ramayana Ram. My Lord Ram is only Ram. That means Kabir Das also believed that God is formless. He has no form. He is Nirgun. Kabir Das himself says that I worship Nirgun. I don't believe that God can be given any form. Yes, I had to chant God's name so I gave God a name and I found Ram's name beautiful and I gave it to him. But he does not have any attributes of his own. So Kabir Das's attributes are different. I can say that Kabir Das worships Nirgun and Tulsidas worships Sagun. Absolutely correct. So this is the difference. Kabir Das's followers are called Kabirpanthi. These Kabirpanthi compiled Kabir Das's teachings and prepared a book called Bijak Bolta. Okay? I hope this part is clear now. Now we are talking about Kabir Das's disciples and Kabir Das's students. So we get to see a student of Kabir Das Guru Nanak Dev. He was born in a Khatri family in Talwandi, present day Pakistan. He was married and started taking responsibilities. He worked as an accountant in many places. But those things did not make him happy. He liked to sit with the saints and finally he left the job of an accountant and started working with the saints. As I told you, Guru Nanak is a disciple of Kabir Das. Guru Nanak Dev talks about Nirgun Bhakti. There is no form of God. There is no form. If there is no form, how can you make a statue or a painting? Guru Nanak Dev was a student of Kabir Das. He talks about Nirgun Bhakti. You should do Nirgun Bhakti. Whenever you try to connect with God, see what happens. You must have seen this many times. For example, we connect ourselves with God. For example, many people chant Ram Ram Ram Ram Ram but their conduct is not pure. They commit corruption. They do wrong things and chant Ram Ram Ram Ram in the evening. This is wrong. Guru Nanak Dev says whenever you try to connect with God, first of all, look at your personal conduct, your character, your actions, what you think. You cannot be one with God. That is not possible. He says this. As Kabir Das said, Allah and God are one. Guru Nanak Dev used to follow this. Guru Nanak Dev used to follow this. He emphasized on oneness of God. He also said if you want to connect with God, first of all, your actions, your personal conduct, your character, should be pure. If you do wrong things and chant God's name in the evening, you will not be able to connect with God. This is important. Guru Nanak Dev used to follow this. Guru Nanak Dev even came after him. Most of the gurus came after him. Because of their teachings, Guru Nanak Dev's ideas became institutionalized. Someone is sharing their ideas. You should make an Institution where my ideas are propagated, my ideas are spread or you create a sect in my name, create a different religion in which my ideas are propagated. So Guru Nanak Dev's ideas were institutionalized by his followers and then the birth of Sikhism takes place. Sikh means learn, learn Sikhism. So this whole sect was based on Guru Nanak Dev's ideas. Guru Nanak Dev became the first Guru of this sect and like this many other Gurus have come. There are 10 Sikh Gurus. So this is Sikhism. So what has happened is that Guru Nanak Dev's ideas have been institutionalized. Those ideas have been transformed into a sect, into a religion. And religion means way of life. So Sikhism became a way of life which was based on Guru Nanak Dev's ideas. And whoever wanted this way of life, this kind of life, could follow Sikhism here. So you will see Sikhism coming like this and those who follow Sikhism are called Sikhs. Right? Okay. Now your question is, what is Gurdwara? Gurdwara is a Sagun philosophy, it's name. No. What was actually done? Actually, in the beginning, Langar started. Langar. Meaning open kitchen. In which caste, class, religion, nothing was seen. Open kitchen. People of different caste, class, religion would cook and people of different caste, class, religion would eat. This is Langar. This is open kitchen. You will see it here. So that Langar, its place, where it was given, it was considered as Gurdwara. But in today's time, what we see is that along with Langar, Gurdwara has become an institution to spread and propagate Sikh teachings. It has become a place. Okay? This is how the whole system came here. So Guru Nanak Dev. There are other scholars also. Many other scholars are also present here. Like Namdev. Now we have come a little towards Maharashtra. Namdev. Namdev, earlier, used to do the work of silk. Then he started doing dacoity. But later he became a saint. What is he saying here? We should have devotion and love for God. See, you believe in God because you are afraid of him. Then it is wrong. Okay? Namdev is saying this. He also does not believe in idol worship. That is, he also does Nirgun Bhakti. These Brahmins, Purohit, who had made their domination in society, they also consider it wrong. They also consider the caste system wrong. Then comes Gyandev. He is also from Maharashtra. What did he do? He has written his commentary on Bhagavad Gita. Which we call Gyaneshwari. This is factual information. Keep this in mind. Then there is another name in Maharashtra, Eknath. He also opposed the caste system. He also did bhajan and kirtan and worshipped God. Eknath. Okay? Then there is another name in Maharashtra, Tukaram. Tukaram was contemporary to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. What did Tukaram do? Tukaram broadened the idea of Bhakti. Tukaram said, Why is Bhakti only for God? Bhakti should also be for our people. Bhakti should also be for the land on which we are born. Right? This is called Desh Bhakti. Tukaram broadened the idea of Bhakti. He made it bigger. Bhakti is not only for God. Bhakti is for the people who are connected to us. Bhakti is for the land on which we are born. Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj got a lot of help from this idea of Bhakti. Because of this, he was able to develop the feeling of nationalism The concept of Maratha nationalism comes from Tukaram's broadened idea of Bhakti. There are some more names here. Like Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. You will find him in Bengal region. If you look at his paintings, you will see him raising his hand. He is actually a devotee of Lord Krishna. If I say that he is a devotee of Lord Krishna, what will you say? Is he a Nirgun devotee or Sagun devotee? He is a Sagun devotee. He worships Lord Krishna. He believes that it is necessary to leave this world if you want to connect with Lord Krishna. He goes to different parts of India and spreads the ideas of Krishna Bhakti. He spreads the ideas of Universal Brotherhood. He opposes the differences between caste and class. He clearly says that how can you not do the Bhakti of God? You can do Bhajans, Kirtans, Dances, Songs, Love, Devotion. You can do the Bhakti of God in every way. This Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, on the basis of his ideas, there was a community here, or I can say, a sect was started here. It is called Gaudiya Sampradaya. So, what is Gaudiya? Gaudiya is actually God. God means region. Bengal area is called God. God is the region. And this sect, this community, Gaudiya Sampradaya, Gaudiya sect, in which Lord Krishna's Bhakti is done. There are some other names like Nimbarka or Vallabhacharya. These are also Vaishnavites here. Lord Vishnu and Lord Krishna, their most popular avatar, Lord Krishna, their Bhakti is done here. If I talk about Vallabhacharya, he has given Pushti Marg. What is Pushti Marg? It means you should choose a path which is nourishing for you, good for you, good for you and good for others. So, if you choose a path of Bhakti which is nourishing for you, but also good for others, then it is very good. For example, someone thinks that I will do God's Bhakti through donation. So, for example, he goes to orphanage every few days and spends time with children there. So, he is making himself pure and good but he is also helping others. So, what is Pushti Marg? It is a path which is full of grace, which is nourishing in nature, not for your own self but for others also. So, this idea of Pushti Marg is given by Vallabhacharya. In Vallabhacharya, Lord Krishna's Bhakti developed a sect which is called Vallabh Sampradaya. Vallabh Sampradaya. And in Vallabh Sampradaya, Vithoba, Vithal Dev, means Lord Vishnu's form, Vithal Dev, is worshipped. So, Vallabhacharya also had many students. One student of Vallabhacharya is Surdas. Surdas could not see, but he was a devotee of Lord Krishna. And he has written many songs and many bhajans in Lord Krishna's Bhakti. For example, a compilation of his bhajans is Sur Sagar and one is Sur Sawali. Similarly, in the Rajasthan area, you will find Mirabai. She was originally a Rajput queen, but after her husband's death, she had a spiritual marriage and accepted Lord Krishna as her husband. And she has written many bhajans in his Bhakti. You must have heard many bhajans written by Mirabai. For example, Mirabai is the one who has called Lord Krishna as Girdhar, Girdhar Gopal. You must have heard many bhajans like Meru To Girdhar Gopal, Doos Rana Koi. So, many such bhajans have been written by Mirabai. Then comes Tulsidas. We have already read about him. Tulsidas worships Lord Ram in the form of Lord Vishnu. But which Ram is this? This is Ramayan Ram. Tulsidas has written his own version of Ramayan which we call Ram Charita Manas. Ram Charita Manas. This is his own version. So, what did we see today? We saw how every saint has his own path and his own way of worshipping God. Worshipping God has its own way. Not only has it its own way, but every saint has defined God in his own way. Some say that God is innocent. Some say that God is good. Some say that God has attributes. Some say that God has no attributes. So, this is how you can see the difference. Right? So, these are all bhakti saints. This is the idea of bhakti. This is also considered a reformist movement. Because somewhere or the other, in Hindu society, there were complexities regarding God's worship. There were a lot of rules regarding God's worship. That one should worship God Bhakti movement is bringing reform in that idea. So, this can also be called a reformist movement. If there was no bhakti movement, a lot of performing art would not have developed in India. Why am I saying performing art? Like dance. In India, you will see 8 classical dance forms. All of them are medium to express your emotions. All 8 classical dance forms are a form of devotion. Kathak. What is Kathak? How did Kathak dance originate? To worship God. Odissi, Manipuri, Satriya, Bharatnatyam, Kuchipudi, Kathakali, all these classical dance forms show their devotion to God through dance. Similarly, Carnatic music developed in South India. Carnatic music is also an outcome of bhakti. In which, by singing, you are worshipping God and trying to connect with God. Similarly, in India, a lot of theatres are performed. Ramleela, Rasleela. These theatres are also a form of devotion to God. So, a lot of performing arts that we see today are actually an outcome of this bhakti movement. Okay? Yes. So, this was all for today. Before leaving, I would like to share an important information for all of you. You can get a 15-month UPSC-CSE subscription for Rs. 24,999. Today is 30th July. Tomorrow is 31st July. So, this offer will end on 31st July. If you subscribe under this offer, you will get a lot of benefits. You will get a plus 1 course, CSAT classes, test series, batches and a PDF, PPT, mains test series, dedicated doubt clearing session, one-to-one mentor should be. You can take this 15-month subscription under this offer till tomorrow. You can also join the Manzil 2025 batch which will target the 2025 exam. Okay? You can use referral code ARTI1702 to take subscription of Unacademy Plus. Here Manzil is targeting batch 2025. It will be taught in English-Hindi language mix. There are other similar batches like Achievers. All educators will deliver lecture in English language. Shikhar will deliver lecture in Hindi language. Neve will deliver lecture in English language. It will be 2 years batch. It will target 2026. It will be foundation batch. In Iconic subscription, you are getting some additional benefits. Like daily answer writing, live mentorship, GS notes, notebooks, doubt asking platform, daily content, practice sessions. In Iconic subscription, you are getting some new features. In Unacademy offline center, you are getting recorded classes of Iconic subscribers. You are getting quick revision module, answer evaluation, interview guidance. You can take subscription of Unacademy Plus. In July, there are some optional classes. PSIR, Geography, Sociology, History, Public Administration, Mathematics, Anthro and Agriculture. All these classes are available on Unacademy Plus. You can subscribe Unacademy Plus optional category and cover your optional classes. You can use referral code ARTI1702. Thank you so much. We will meet in the next session with some more good topics. I hope you have understood the new words that you have learnt today. Which new words you have learnt today? Which new concepts you have learnt? Do tell them in the comment section. So take care.