Rekha Pande on Gender, Culture and History

Abdul Rahim Khan-i-Khanan , popularly known as simply Rahim, was a poet who lived in India during the rule of Mughal emperor Akbar. He  was a Mansabdar in the court of Akbar. Abdul Rahim was the son of Bairam Khan, Akbar's trusted guardian and mentor. He was one of the nine important ministers (dewan) in his court, also known as the Navaratnas. Abdur Rahim Khan  was a brave warrior in his own right. He  became very much involv...

Sundar das is said to be a follower of Dadu Dayal. He was born in 1596 in Dhausa near Jaipur. From the age of ten till thirty he studied the holy scriptures by staying in Kasi. He returned to Rajasthan  and died in 1689 in Sangamer. Sant Sunderdas composed about 48 books,  which included philosophy, bhajans, and poems in several vernacular languages spoken during his time. His works continue to inspire spiritual seekers even today....

Ras Khan was an Indian Sufi Muslim poet who became a devotee of the Hindu deity Krishna. He was either born in Pihani (Hardoi) or Amroha, in modern-day Uttar Pradesh, India. His original name was Saiyad Ibrahim and Raskhan was his takhallus (pen name) in Hindi. In his early years, he became a follower of Krishna, learned the bhakti marga. Ras Khan was  a disciple of Gosai Vithal Das and it was under his influence that he became a ...

Tulsidas was born in 1532 A.D  in the village of Rajapur in Banda District near Prayag, Allahabad. His father, Atma Ram Dubey was a well-known Saryupari Brahmin and his mother's name was Hulsi. When Tulsidas was born he did not cry and there were teeth in his mouth. Considering this a bad omen his mother sent him to her in laws place to be brought up and she died the next day.This child was lovingly brought up by a servant nam...

In Bengal  the Vaishnava Bhakti tradition  achieved popularity due to the efforts of Sri Chaitanya. Chaitanya was born in the town of Navadvipa in West Bengal, India. His father, Jagannath Mishra , was a Brahmin, belonging to the highest caste, or social class, in India. His mother was Sachi Devi. The couple had had eight daughters, all of whom died soon after they were born. The couple's ninth child, a son named Viswarup, ...

The time of Surdas's birth and death are uncertain and suggest that he lived over a hundred years, which make the facts even murkier. Some say he was born blind in  in Siri village near Delhi. Many others believe, Surdas was born in Braj, a holy place in the northern Indian district of Mathura, associated with the exploits of Lord Krishna. His family was too poor to take good care of him, which led the blind boy to leave home ...

Malik Muhammad Jayasi  was an Indian Sufi poet and pir and also a bhakta.  He wrote in the Awadhi language, and in the Persian Nastaʿlīq script. Much of the information about Jayasi comes from legends, and his date and place of birth are a matter of debate. As the nisba "Jayasi" suggests, he was associated with Jayas, an important Sufi centre of medieval India, in present-day Uttar Pradesh. However, there is debate abou...

In Assam it was Sankar deva, who introduced the concept of Bhakti in the Brahmaputa valley as in Cooch- Bihar. Shankardeva's Neo- Vaishnavite movement was the first organized attempt in Assam at breaking down the age old bondage to the restrictions of caste, superstitions, ignorance, poverty and uncleanliness through the medium of Bhakti. Known as the land of Kirta- Mlecchas, the society of North East consisted of various trib...

The Bhakti movement in Gujarat is a significant part of India’s devotional and cultural history. It was marked by the contributions of saints like Narsinh Mehta and Gangasati, who played a pivotal role in the development of Gujarati Bhakti poetry. Their works emphasized devotion to God beyond the traditional caste system and promoted the use of the vernacular language, making spirituality accessible to all. Bhakti movement in Guja...

Chokhamela was a Hindu saint in Maharashtra, India in the 14th century. He belonged to the Mahar caste,, which was considered that time one of the low castes in India. He was born at Mehuna Raja, a village in Deulgaon Raja Taluka of Buldhana district. He lived at Mangalvedha in Maharashtra. Chokhamela is the only untouchable among Maharashtra’s (male) Bhakti thinkers, and spent most of his life doing the peculiarly menial wor...

Nund Rishi or Shaikh Nūr al-Dīn Nūrānī, revered and remembered by most Kashmiris as the ‘Alamdār (flag-bearer) of Kashmir, is one of the most significant figures in the history of religion and literature in Kashmir. Nund Rishi, as Nur-ud-Din is also called, was born in 1378 AD to a tribe of shepherds in what is today the Kulgam district of south Kashmir. He travelled to different parts of Kashmir as his Rishi movement, with its em...

The main trends in bhakti in Maharashtra took the form of a number of sant traditions that developed between 13th to 17th centuries. More emphasis was given to Guru and satsang, the company of the good, as a path to self-realization. Verses were composed in abhang form based on an old folk song form called Ovi. There  were five main sampradaya or Sant tradition in Maharashtra. The Mahanubhav Sampradaya, The Nath tradition , ...

Dadu Dayal is one of the most important mystic-reformers in 16th-century Rajasthan. "Dadu" means brother, and "Dayal" means "the compassionate one".There is a lot of controversy about Dadu Dayal. Some regard him as a Brahmin and others as a shoe maker. He was probably born around 1544 A.D.in Ahmedabad  and it is generally believed that he was a follower of Kabir as he mentions Kabir many times in his p...

Purandara Dasa a Bhakti poet was a composer, singer and a Haridasa philosopher from present-day Karnataka, India. He was a follower of Madhvacharya's Dvaita philosophy. Purandara Dasa was a wealthy merchant of gold, silver and other miscellaneous jewellery who gave away all his material riches to become a Haridasa (literally meaning a servant of Vishnu or Krishna). Purandar Das is to Karnataka what Tukaram was to Maharasthtra,...

Vallabhacharya also played an important role in strengthening the philosophical base of Sri Vaisnavism. He was a Telangana Brahmin whose family had settled in Banaras. He traveled incessantly preaching, debating, the latter was an established form of settling disputes among members of rival religious sects.  It was primarily due to the efforts of Vallabahacharya and Jiv Goswami  and their disciples that an active center of Krisna w...

Rai Das also known as Ravi Das probably lived in 15th century but not much is known about him. Tradition hold it that he was a tanner by profession and hence occupied a very low position in the caste hierarchy as the members of this caste handled dead animals. Ravidas was born in Varanasi as a member of an untouchable leather-working caste, and his poems and songs often revolve around his low social position. While objecting to the...

Nanak Dev Ji was one of the most popular Bhakti saints. He was born on 15th April, 1469 A.D., at Rai Bhoi Ki Talwandi, now known as Nankana Sahib, in Pakistan. He condemned idol-worship, pilgrimages, and the ill-treatment of women, etc. He believed that God was one and formless and preached brotherhood. Like the northeast, the northwestern part of the country also witnessed the influence of Bhakti tradition resulting in the emergen...

It was in 15th century that Kabir established a separate identity of the Nirgun stream of Bhakti, with the worship of a formless God as against the Sagun stream of Ram Bhakti and Krishna Bhakti . He was a disciple of Ramananda. Kabir can rightly be called the originator of the medieval school of Nirgun Bhakti of a formless God. The beginnings made by Kabir were carried further by Nank, Raidas and Dadu. Kabir's early life is sh...

It is generally accepted that Ramananda was born at Prayaga (present-day Allahabad) in an orthodox Kanyakubja Brahmin family in 13th cen.  His father was Punyasadana, Bhurikarma or Devala, and mother was Sushila. He had a unique childhood. The family Purohit, Varanasi Awasthi, advised the parents to pay special attention to the child. They were cautioned not to take him out of the house till he was three years old. He should a...