Path of Devotion

Music has invariably been the vehicle of expression for all the Saint poets of India. It could influence people with its deep emotional and melodic appeal. Bhakti marga - the path of devotion for the adherent to be in tune with the infinite or supreme deity became sine que non of all mystic experience.

The origin of Bhaktimarga can be traced back to the epics Mahabharata and Ramayana. Dr. Radhakrishnan aptly writes : "We see in the epics the gradual modification of the old vedic religion into modern Hinduism. The Sakta, the Pasupatha or the Saiva and Pancharatra (vaishnava) systems, which belong to the Agama class and therefore non-vedic, enter into the Hindu Religion. We have also image worship in temples, pilgrimages to sacred places gradually introduced'.

From Haridwar to Rameswaram on the banks of rivers, confluences and hilltops were raised many a temple for Rama, along with thousands of shrines dedicated to Lord Vishnu and His other incarnations.

The Saivite saints called Nayanmars sang in praise of Lord Siva in the early centuries of the christian era, while the Alwars rapturously sang the glory of Sriman Narayana. Vaishnavism became a spiritual force to reakon with after the advent of Sri Ramanujacharya whose concept of bhakti was more popular in approach and more catholic in practice.

Just as the Bhagavatapuranam had its impact on the lyrical excellence and devotional songs of the Alwars of south India, Brahma vaivarta purana exercised far reaching influence on the worshippers and bards of Radha and Krishna respectively representing Mother nature and father the universal God Almighty in eastern India. These saints were led by Jayadeva, the Adi guru and the auther of 'Gita Govinda' belonging to Orissa (12th century) followed by Chandidas of Bengal, Vidyapati of Mithila (15th century) and Chaitanya of Bengal (15th century).

In the same period, the vedantic philosophy of ancient India and the path of bhakti found its echo in the Sufi philosophy through lyrics of some muslim saints of Persian origin who appeared in the northern and western parts of India, leading congregations of large masses of common people singing spiritual songs, called qawalis composed by saints like Khwaja Nijamuddin Auliya of Delhi with his disciple Amir khusro, the court poet of the khalji sultanate at Delhi. Large masses of common people belonging to both the major communities, Hindu and muslim among others were attracted and gathered in the Dargas of these saints on the rest of the same 'Bhakti' wave in the 14th and 15th centuries. The lute of oneness of all humanity and oneness of the universal God was heard sonorously through the lilting lyrics of saints like Swami Ramanand, Kabir, guru Nanak and Anand Chidgan.

The most popular thoughts of the period as preached by those saints can be found embedded in the following couplets.

Bhaj man Ram, Rahim !

Bhaj man Krishna Karim ! ....... (Kabir)

Among the saintly bards of north India in the 16th century, Vallabhacharya of Andhra origin illuminated the country between Brindawan and Dwaraka with his Sanskrit lyrics replete with devotion to Lord Krishna and paved the way for the group of poets called 'Ashtachap' which included among others Surdas of Braj bhoomi and Meerabai of Rajasthan. They composed hundreds of lyrics extolling the divine glory of Lord Krishna. Goswami Tulsidas of Braj bhoomi wrote lyrics in praise of Sri Ramachandra besides his magnum opus ballad in Bhojpuri, the "Ramacharitmanas".

Lifting the song from the form of popular pastime, Annamacharya (15th century), a devotee of Lord Venkateswara of Tirupati made it worthy of presentation for the entertainment of both the elite and common people, both in the royal courts, temple courtyards as well as in countryside. There are more than thirty thousand lyrics in Telugu and Sanskrit to his credit. He was acclaimed as the 'sankirtanacharya', having originated the system of worshipping Lord through songs of praise and dance whether at home or at the temple, either by an individual devotee or a congregation.

Annamacharya and his successors, all lyrical poets upto three to four generations, were patronised by the rulers of Vijayanagara empire. With the fall of the Vijayanagara empire in 1565 the contribution of the successors of Annamacharya to the tradition of Sankirtana sampradaya suffered a setback.

Just before a century after this break, in 1650 to be precise, Kancherla Gopanna, a young revenue officer in the employ of Qutub Shahi sultans of Golkonda kingdom came to be acclaimed as an ardent devotee of Sri Rama, the presiding deity of Bhadrachalam and a unique composer of devotional lyrics and reviver of the tradition of Bhakti goshthi.

Although Ramadasu was a popular poet, and lyricist, he was basically an absolute devotee of the Lord, in his incarnation as Srirama. He was born in the 17th century which was noted as the golden Age of song and Drama in South India specially in Deccan. It was also during this period two other great saint composers Narayana theertha, an ascetic and Kshetrayya, a romantic lyricist lived. Thyagaraja composed his Divyanama Sankritanas, and utsava sampradaya kirtanas having the literary structure and traditional musical structure of kirtanas of Ramadasu as a role model. He also had the highest regard for the former for his absolute devotion.