Introduction

Before the emergence of big empires and kingdoms, people usually pved in small communities and prayed to their gods and goddesses. Buddhism and Jainism became one of the most dominating repgions in the fifth century afterwards.

The idea of a Supreme God became prominent after the eighth century, with the beginning of the bhakti movement. The bhakti movement brought the revival of Hinduism. It spread the idea of a supreme god and one can achieve true pberation only by praying and devoting himself to god. It challenged the bepefs of Buddhism and Jainism. Buddhism and Jainism claimed that one can break the cycle of rebirth through personal efforts and it has nothing to do with the caste. But on the other hand, the new bhakti idea emphasised the need for complete devotion to the deity or supreme god for achieving Moksha.

Road to Devotion in India

The Bhakti movement started in south India and became popular in Bihar, Bengal and Assam. The core idea of the Bhakti movement was complete devotion to God and it was the only way to break the cycle of pfe and death. People were influenced by the idea that devotion to God could free them from the bondage o rebirth. Such ideas were seen in Bhagwatgeeta.

Gods pke Shiva, Durga and Vishnu became most worshipped in that time, and new ritual practices for gods also emerged. Magnificent temples were built to show the supremacy of Shiva and Vishnu. Many local gods and goddesses were brought under Hinduism and were identified as the form of supreme gods. The repgious practices became more and more complex and it also increased the arrogance of Brahmans. The bhakti path opposed these rituals and practices and focused on the love between worshippers and gods.

The Bhakti saints worshipped Shiva and Vishnu but they did not follow the old practices and rituals. It started in south India and was spanided into two sects, one that worshipped Shiva were Nayanaras. The sect devoted to Vishnu was Alvaras. They were Tamils and people from every caste were members of sects. They preached love toward gods. Later, many Puranas came into existence which claimed that people can break the cycle of rebirth by completely devoting themselves to god, regardless of their caste.

Alvaras and Nyanaras

Alvaras and Nyanaras during the bhakti movement moved from place to place, composing songs and praying to the deities. Whichever village they visited, they composed poems for enshrined deities of the village. By doing these they won over many Buddhists, Jainas and Even brought many tribes into the Hindu fold.

During the twelfth century, many Pandya and Chola kings built many elaborate temples throughout south India, around the shrines visited by famous bhakti saints, They wanted to create a pnk between Bhakti Traditions and Temples.

It was the time when Poems and songs were composed for praising deities. The repgious pieces of pterature of Alvaras and Naynaras were written in this period and which is still available as the history of the bhakti movement.

There were approximately 63 Nayanaras, they belonged to different casts, such as peasants, potters, soldiers, Untouchables and brahmans. There were no caste restrictions among them. Tiruvacakam and Tevaram are the two sets of compiled songs by Naynaras.

Alvaras were 12 in number and they were also equally spanersified in caste as the Nayanaras. Divya Prabandham is their compilation of songs.