RBSE Class 7 Social Science Notes History Chapter 8 Devotional Paths to the Divine

These comprehensive RBSE Class 7 Social Science Notes History Chapter 8 Devotional Paths to the Divine will give a brief overview of all the concepts.

RBSE Class 7 Social Science Notes History Chapter 8 Devotional Paths to the Divine

→ The Idea of Supreme God

• One of the beliefs that developed from the 7th century onwards was that human beings are not equal, not even at birth, and social privileges are for those who are bom in a higher caste.
• Many people did not believe in this idea and turned to Buddhism or Jainism.
• Some attracted to the idea of a supreme God. Who could deliver humans from such bondage if approached with devotion. This idea is mentioned in Bhagavadgita.
• Shiva, Vishnu, and Durga became supreme deities, and their myth and legends became a part of Puranic stories.
• A New Kind of Bhakti in South India-Nayanars and Alvars
• Between the 7th and the 9th centuries, there was an emergence of new religious movements led by Nayanars (saints devoted to Shiva) and Alvars (saints devoted to Vishnu).
• Between the tenth and the twelfth centuries, the Chola and Pandya kings built splendid temples around the shrines visited by these saint-poets. Hagiographies or religious biographies of the Alvars and Nayanars used as source of history.

→ Philosophy and Bhakti

• Shankara, born in Kerala in the eighth century. He advised people to give up worldly things because such materialistic things are an illusion or maya.
• Ramanuja was bom in Tamil Nadu in the eleventh century. His doctrine greatly inspired the new strand of bhakti which developed in north India subsequently.

→ Basavanna’s Virashaivism

• The Tamil bhakti movement and temple worship came together to create the Virashaiva movement that began in Karnataka in the mid-twelfth century.
• The movement emphasised on the equality of all human beings and were also against all forms of ritual and idol worship.

→ The Saints of Maharashtra

• Between the thirteenth and the seventeenth centuries, many saint-poets such as
• Jnaneshwar, Namdev, Eknath, and Tukaram, as well as women such as Sakhubai, and the family of Chokhamela from Maharashtra inspired people to follow the bhakti of the Vitthala.
• They rejected caste system based on birth and did not believe in the idea of renunciation.

→ Nathpanthis, Siddhas and Yogis

• During this period, Nathpanthis, Siddhacharas and Yogis religious group emerged.
• They believed that to achieve salvation, training of mind and body is necessary through practices like Yogasanas, breathing exercises and meditation.

→ Islam and Sufism

• Islam propagated strict monotheistic religion which believes in submission to one God, rejects idol worship, and preaches collective worship of God.
• Religious scholars developed different aspects of the Holy Law called the Shariat.
• Sufis provided it with an additional dimension and sought union with God much as a lover seeks his beloved.
• They developednumerous ways of training such as Zikr, Sama and Raqs, discussion, breath control, contemplation, etc. This order has had many thinkers, such as Khwaja Muinuddin Chishti of Ajmer.
• The Sufi master’s held their assemblies in their Khanqahs or Hospices.  

→ New Religious Developments in North India

• The period after the thirteenth century saw a new wave of the bhakti movement in north India.
• Some of them are Kabir, Guru Nanak, Tulsidas, Surdas, Dadudayal, Ravidas, Mirabai.
• These saints composed literary works in regional languages. It became very popular.

→ A Closer Look- Kabir:

• Kabir was brought up in a family of Muslim julahas (weavers) in the city of Benares (Varanasi) or nearby lived in the fifteenth-sixteenth century.
• He wrote many verses called sakhis and pads which were sung by wandering bhajan singers.
• Many of his writings were later compiled in the Guru Granth Sahib, Panch Vani, and Bijak.
• He believed in formless ‘Supreme God’.

→ A Closer Look - Baba Guru Nanak:

• Guru Nanak was born in Talwandi in 1469 AD, but he travelled for years before he established the Dera Baba Nanak in Kartarpur.
• After Guru Nanak, the Gurus prepared the Gurmukhi script and Guru Granth Sahab and it was certified by Guru Gobind Singh.
• By the seventeenth century, the town of Ramdaspur (Amritsar) developed around a Gurudwara called the Harmandar Sahib. In 1699, Guru Govind Singh established ‘Khalsa Panth’.
• He used the essence of his teaching in three terms :
  • nam
  • dan and
  • isnan.