BHAKTI

(from Sanskrit bhaj, to allot, to revere), in Hinduism, a devotional movement emphasizing the intense emotional attachment and love of a devotee toward his personal god. Bhakti assumes a dualistic relationship between the devotee and god, in contrast to the monistic ideal of Advaita Vedanta philosophy. The way of bhakti (bhakti-marga) is contrasted with other means of achieving salvation, such as knowledge (jnana-marga), ritual and good works (karma-marga), and ascetic disciplines of the body; it is claimed by its supporters to be a superior way, as well as one open to all, irrespective of the sex, class, or caste status into which they were born. Though each of the major divinities of HinduismVishnu, Siva, and Saktihas its own devotional cults, the bhakti movement most characteristically developed around darshan Vishnu, principally in his two earthly incarnations as Rama and Krishna. An emotional attraction toward a personal god began to be expressed in the early centuries of the Christian Era. It was an attitude furthered by the Indian epicsthe Mahabharata and the Ramayanaand by the Puranas, encyclopaedic texts that recount legends of the various incarnations and appearances of the deities, their genealogies, and devotional practices accorded them. These practices included the recitation of God's name, singing of hymns in praise of him, wearing his emblem, undertaking pilgrimages to sacred places associated with him, and serving him in a variety of ways. The devotional fervour of the 7th10th-century hymnists of South India, the Alvars and the Nayanars, also traveled north, until in time bhakti became an extremely widespread and popular form of Hindu religious life, inspiring a substantial quantity of superb religious poetry and art. During the medieval period (12th to mid-18th century), the various possible relationships of the worshiper to Godbased on the analogy of human sentiments, such as that felt by a servant toward his master, friend toward a friend, parent toward a child, child toward a parent, and woman toward her belovedwere explored in separate schools. In Bengal the 15th16th-century mystic Caitanya stressed the passionate yearning of a woman for her beloved, while his contemporary Vallabha delighted in the exploits of Krishna as the divine child, as well as Krishna as the divine lover. Tulsidas' retelling of the Rama legend in the Ramcaritmanas focused on the sentiment of friendship and loyalty. The synthesis in the medieval period of bhakti ideas with Sufi (mystical) elements from Islam can be discovered in the writings of poet-saints such as Kabir, devotees of a God whom they were unwilling and unable to delimit by sectarian description.