NANAK AND KABIR BOTH NANAK AND KABIR BELONG

NANAK AND KABIR

BOTH NANAK AND KABIR BELONG TO THE NIRGUNA SCHOOL AND PREACHED A RELIGIOUS SYSTEM OF MONOTHEISM. BOTH OF THEM TAUGHT THE ABOLITION OF CASTE AND DOUBTED THE AUTHORITY OF THE VEDAS AND OTHER SACRED BOOKS. NOT BELIEVING IN THE RELIGIOUS AUTHORITY, KABIR SOUGHT TO UNDERSTAND ISLAM AND EVEN TO ESTABLISH A SYNERETIC SYSTEM APPROPIATE TO THE LIFE OF THE PEOPLE OF INDIA. NANAK LAID GREAT EMPHASIS ON THE PURITY ON THE CHARACTER AND CONDUCT AS THE FIRST CONDITION OF APPROACHING GOD, AND THE NEED OF A GURUFOR GUIDANCE. HE SHOWED A MYSTIC, CONTEMPLATIVE BENT OF MIND AND PREFERRED THE COMPANY OF SAINTS AND SADHUS. NANAK LAID EMPHASIS ON “ONE GOD” , BY REPEATING WHOSE NAME AND DWELLING ON IT WITH LOVE AND DEVOTION, ONE COULD GET SALVATION WITHOUT DISTINCTION OF CASTE, CREED OR SECT.

BOTHE NANAK AND KABIR CREATED A CLIMATE OF OPINION WHICH CONTINUED TO WORK THROUGH THE AGES, SO THAT THEY BECAME THE SYMBOLS OF HUMAN EQUALITY, HINDU-MUSLIM UNITY AND OPPOSITION TO CASTE AND HYPOCRASY IN ALL FORMS. THEY WANTED THE SOCIAL INTEGRATION OF THE SOCIETY AND A COMMON NATIONALITY. BY PROMOTING PEACE AND HARMONY THEY WANTED TO CREATE SOME SORT OF PANACEA FOR THE LOWER CASTES , SO AS TO OVERCOME THE REDUNDANT MULLAHS AND PANDITS.

IMPACT ON BHAKTI MOVEMENT THE STYLE OF NANAK AND KABIR WAS QUITE NEW TO THE BHAKTI MOVEMENT. THEIR STYLE WAS SIMPLE , CONTINUOUS AND MARKED BY THE PASSION WHICH IS NEW TO INDIA. THIS OBVIOUSLY ATTRACTED LOT OF PEOPLE TOWARDS THEM AND THE LATTER BECAME THE FOLLOWERS OF THE TWO SAINTS. THEY TOOK BHAKTI MOVEMENT TO THE NEWERE HEIGHTS AND THEIR STYLES WERE ADOPTED BY THE LATER DAY SAUNTS LIKE VALLABHACHARYA, NAMDEV, TUKARAM, EKNATH, SHANKERDEV, CHAN DIDAS ETC. THEY ALSO CONTRIBUTED TO THE GROWTH OF THE VERNACULAR LANGUAGES. -------1. RAMANANDA AND KABIR WERE BRILLANT SPECIMENS OF HINDI LITERATURE. 2. NAMDEV IN MARATHI LITERATURE. 3. MIRABAI SPOKE IN PEOPLE’S LANGUAGE 4. NANAK ENCOURAGED PUNJABI. CHANDIDASWAS A FAMOUS BENGALI POET.

BY SEEIN THE IMPACT OF THE BHAKTI MOVEMENT THE RULERS OF THE TIMEALSO ENCOURAGED MANY TRANSLATIONS. THE MUSLIM RULERS OFBENGAL ENCOURAGED SCHOLORS TO TRANSLATE RAMAYAN AND MAHABHARATA INTO BENGALI. GREAT ENCOURAGEMENT WAS GIVEN TO TELGU LITERATURE BY THE VIJAY NAGAR KINGS. MOREOVER MANY COMMENTARIES WERE WRITTEN IN THE BHAKTA YOGA AS EXPOUNDED IN THE GITA. THE MOST IMPORTANT COMMENTARY WAS THAT OF THE JYNASHWARA.

THE TEACHINGS OF NANAK AND KABIR IN PARTICULAR AND THE BHAKTI MOVEMENT IN PARTICULAR INFLUENCED THE POLICIES OF AKBAR AND SHIVAJI. DIN-I-ILAHI AND SUL-I-KUL OF AKBAR WAS NOT AN ISOLATED PHENOMENON. TO CONCLUDE BHAKTI MOVEMENT STIMULATED HINDUISM INTO THE RETROSPECTIVE AND CRITICAL EXAMINATION AND KEPT ALIVE HINDUISM BY ATTEMPTING TO SET ONE’S OWN HOUSE IN ORDER. SO THE STRUGGLE BETWWEN THE TWO TRENDS ONE LIBERALA AND NON-SECTARIAN AND OTHER ORTHODOX AND TRADITIONAL WAS AT THE HEART OF MANY INTELLECTUAL MOVEMENT WHICH BEGAN IN THE 16 TH AND 17 TH CENTURIES. IN THIS CONTINUING STRUGGLE THE IMPACT OF NANAK AND KABIR WAS BY NO MEANS INSIGNIFICANT.