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{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2016}}
{{Use Indian English|date=May 2016}}
{{Hinduism small}}'''''Bhakti''''' ({{lang-sa|[[:wikt:भक्ति#Sanskrit|भक्ति]]}}) literally means "attachment, participation, fondness for, homage, faith, love, devotion, worship, purity".<ref name=monier>See [[Monier-Williams]], ''Sanskrit Dictionary'', 1899.</ref> It was originally used in [[Hinduism]], referring to devotion and love for a [[Ishvara|personal god]] or a representational god by a devotee.<ref name=encyclopediabrit>[https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/63933/bhakti Bhakti], ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' (2009)</ref><ref name=karen /> In ancient texts such as the ''[[Shvetashvatara Upanishad]]'', the term simply means participation, devotion and love for any endeavor, while in the ''[[Bhagavad Gita]]'', it connotes one of the possible paths of spirituality and towards [[moksha]], as in ''bhakti marga''.<ref>John Lochtefeld (2014), ''The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism'', Rosen Publishing (New York), {{ISBN|978-0823922871}}, pp. 98–100. Also see articles on bhaktimārga and jnanamārga.</ref>▼
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▲'''''Bhakti''''' ({{lang-sa|[[:wikt:भक्ति#Sanskrit|भक्ति]]}}) literally means "attachment, participation, fondness for, homage, faith, love, devotion, worship, purity".<ref name=monier>See [[Monier-Williams]], ''Sanskrit Dictionary'', 1899.</ref> It was originally used in [[Hinduism]], referring to devotion and love for a [[Ishvara|personal god]] or a representational god by a devotee.<ref name=encyclopediabrit>[https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/63933/bhakti Bhakti], ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' (2009)</ref><ref name=karen /> In ancient texts such as the ''[[Shvetashvatara Upanishad]]'', the term simply means participation, devotion and love for any endeavor, while in the ''[[Bhagavad Gita]]'', it connotes one of the possible paths of spirituality and towards [[moksha]], as in ''bhakti marga''.<ref>John Lochtefeld (2014), ''The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism'', Rosen Publishing (New York), {{ISBN|978-0823922871}}, pp. 98–100. Also see articles on bhaktimārga and jnanamārga.</ref>
 
Bhakti in Indian religions is "emotional devotionalism", particularly to a personal god or to spiritual ideas.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Hans G. Kippenberg|author2=Yme B. Kuiper|author3=Andy F. Sanders|title=Concepts of Person in Religion and Thought|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AdYfAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA295|year=1990|publisher=Walter de Gruyter|isbn=978-3-11-087437-2|page=295}}, Quote: "The foundations of emotional devotionalism (bhakti) were laid in south India in the second half of the first millennium of our era (...)".</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Indira Viswanathan Peterson|title=Poems to Siva: The Hymns of the Tamil Saints|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kQwABAAAQBAJ&pg=PA4|year= 2014|publisher= Princeton University Press|isbn=978-1-4008-6006-7|pages=4, footnote 4}}</ref> Thus, bhakti requires a relationship between the devotee and the deity.<ref name="nirgun">{{cite journal |last1=DeNapoli |first1=Antoinette |title=Earning God through the "One-Hundred Rupee Note": Nirguṇa Bhakti and Religious Experience among Hindu Renouncers in North India |journal=Religions |date=2018 |volume=9 |issue=12 |pages=408 |doi=10.3390/rel9120408 |language=en|doi-access=free }}</ref> The term also refers to a [[Bhakti movement|movement]], pioneered by [[Alvars]] and [[Nayanars]], that developed around the gods Vishnu ([[Vaishnavism]]), Shiva ([[Shaivism]]) and Devi ([[Shaktism]]) in the second half of the 1st millennium CE.<ref name=encyclopediabrit /><ref name=karen>Karen Pechelis (2011), "Bhakti Traditions", in ''The Continuum Companion to Hindu Studies'' (Editors: Jessica Frazier, Gavin Flood), Bloomsbury, {{ISBN|978-0826499660}}, pp. 107–121</ref><ref name="Rinehart">{{cite book|last=Rinehart|first=Robin|title=Contemporary Hinduism: Ritual, Culture, and Practice|publisher=ABC-CLIO|page=45|isbn=978-1-57607-905-8|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hMPYnfS_R90C&pg=PA45|year=2004}}</ref><ref name="Flood">{{cite book|last=Flood|first=Gavin|title=An Introduction to Hinduism|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|year=1996|pages=[https://archive.org/details/introductiontohi0000floo/page/131 131]|isbn=978-0-521-43878-0|url=https://archive.org/details/introductiontohi0000floo|url-access=registration}}</ref><ref name="Embree" /><ref>Jerry Bentley, ''Old World Encounters: Cross Cultural Contacts and Exchanges in Pre-Modern Times'' (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993), p. 120.</ref>
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== Terminology ==
{{Hinduism small}}
The Sanskrit word ''bhakti'' is derived from the verb root ''bhaj-'', which means "to worship, have recourse to, betake onself to" or ''bhañj-,'' which means "to break."<ref name="Cutler" /><ref name="Prentiss">{{cite book|last=Pechilis Prentiss|first=Karen|title=The Embodiment of Bhakti|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=US|year=1999|page=24|isbn=978-0-19-512813-0|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Vu95WgeUBfEC&pg=PA24}}</ref><ref name="Werner">{{cite book|last=Werner|first=Karel|title=Love Divine: studies in bhakti and devotional mysticism|publisher= Routledge|year= 1993|pages= 168|isbn= 978-0-7007-0235-0|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pYahlaJCLnYC&pg=PA168}}</ref><ref>John Bowker "Bhakti ." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions. Encyclopedia.com. 16 Oct. 2020 <<nowiki>https://www.encyclopedia.com</nowiki>>.</ref> The word also means "attachment, devotion to, fondness for, homage, faith or love, worship, piety to something as a spiritual, religious principle or means of salvation".<ref name=monier /><ref>[http://spokensanskrit.de/index.php?tinput=bhakti&direction=SE&script=HK&link=yes&beginning=0 bhakti] Sanskrit English Dictionary, University of Koeln, Germany</ref>
 
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The term ''Bhakti'' refers to one of several alternate spiritual paths to [[moksha]] (spiritual freedom, liberation, salvation) in Hinduism,<ref name=johnmartin /> and it is referred to as ''bhakti marga'' or ''bhakti yoga''.<ref name="Klostermaier">{{cite book|last=Klostermaier|first=Klaus|author-link=Klaus Klostermaier|title=A survey of Hinduism|publisher=SUNY Press|year=1989|pages=210–212|isbn=978-0-88706-807-2}}</ref><ref>Karen Pechelis (2014), The Embodiment of Bhakti, Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|978-0195351903}}, pages 14-15, 37-38</ref> The other paths are ''Jnana marga'' (path of knowledge), ''Karma marga'' (path of works), ''Rāja marga'' (path of contemplation and meditation).<ref name=johnmartin>John Martin Sahajananda (2014), Fully Human Fully Divine, Partridge India, {{ISBN|978-1482819557}}, page 60</ref><ref>KN Tiwari (2009), Comparative Religion, Motilal Banarsidass, {{ISBN|978-8120802933}}, page 31</ref>
 
The term ''bhakti'' has been usually translated as "devotion" in [[Orientalism|Orientalist]] literature.<ref>Karen Pechilis Prentiss (2014), The Embodiment of Bhakti, Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|978-0195351903}}, pages 15-24</ref> The colonial era authors variously described ''Bhakti'' as a form of mysticism or "primitive" religious devotion of lay people with monotheistic parallels.<ref name=paulcarus>Paul Carus, {{Google books|96sLAAAAIAAJ|The Monist|PA514}}, pages 514-515</ref><ref>DG Mandelbaum (1966), Transcendental and Pragmatic Aspects of Religion, American Anthropologist, 68(5), pages 1174–1191</ref><ref>DC Scott (1980), Hindu and Christian Bhakti: A Common Human Response to the Sacred, Indian Journal of Theology, 29(1), pages 12-32</ref> However, modern scholars state "devotion" is a misleading and incomplete translation of ''bhakti''.<ref name=karen2324 /><ref name="Gale">{{cite book|title=Gale Encyclopedia of Religion|pages=856–857|editor=Lindsay Jones|publisher=Thompson Gale|year=2005|volume=2|isbn=978-0-02-865735-6}}</ref> Many contemporary scholars have questioned this terminology, and most now trace the term ''bhakti'' as one of the several spiritual perspectives that emerged from reflections on the Vedic context and Hindu way of life. Bhakti in Indian religions is not a ritualistic devotion to a God or to religion, but participation in a path that includes behavior, ethics, mores and spirituality.<ref name=karen2324 /> It involves, among other things, refining one's state of mind, knowing God, participating in God, and internalizing God.<ref name=karen2324 /> Increasingly, instead of "devotion", the term "participation" is appearing in scholarly literature as a gloss for the term ''bhakti''.<ref name=karen2324>Karen Pechilis Prentiss (2014), The Embodiment of Bhakti, Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|978-0195351903}}, pages 23-24</ref><ref name="Gale" />{{love sidebar|cultural}}
 
David Lorenzen states that ''bhakti'' is an important term in Sikhism and Hinduism.<ref name=davidlorenzen>David Lorenzen (1995),
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=== Bhakti movement ===
{{Main|Bhakti movement}}
[[File:Sri nammalvar,subbiah kumara valai.jpg|thumb|Sculpture of [[Nammalvar]], a prominent Alvar saint]]
The ''[[Bhakti Movement]]'' was a rapid growth of bhakti, first starting in the later part of 1st millennium CE, from [[Tamil Nadu]] in Southernsouthern India with the SaivaShaiva [[Nayanars]]<ref name="Embree">{{cite book|last=Embree|first=Ainslie Thomas | author-link=Ainslie Embree|author2=Stephen N. Hay |author3=William Theodore De Bary |title=Sources of Indian Tradition|publisher=Columbia University Press|year=1988|pages=342|isbn=978-0-231-06651-8|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=An5mD6KMiSIC&pg=PA342}}</ref> and the VaisnavaVaishnava [[Alvars]]. Their ideas and practices inspired bhakti poetry and devotion throughout India over the 12th-18th century CE.<ref name="Flood" /><ref name="Embree" /> The Alvars ("those immersed in God") were Vaishnava poet-saints who wandered from temple to temple, singing the praises of Vishnu. They establishedhailed templethe sites ([[SrirangamDivya Desam|divine abodes]] isof one)Vishnu and converted many people to [[Vaishnavism]].<ref name="Embree" />
 
[[File:Meerabai (crop).jpg|thumb|left|[[Meera]] (1498-1546) was one of the most significant poet-saints in the [[Vaishnava]] bhakti movement.<ref name=smpandey>SM Pandey (1965), [https://www.jstor.org/stable/1061803 Mīrābāī and Her Contributions to the Bhakti Movement], History of Religions, Vol. 5, No. 1, pages 54-73</ref>]]
Like the Alvars, the [[Shaivism|SaivaShaiva]] Nayanar poets were influential. The ''[[Tirumurai]]'', a compilation of hymns by sixty-three Nayanar poets, is still of great importance in South India. Hymns by three of the most prominent poets, [[Appar]] (7th century CE), [[Campantar]] (7th century) and [[Sundarar]] (9th century), were compiled into the ''[[Tevaram]]'', the first volumes of the ''Tirumurai''. The poets' itinerant lifestyle helped create temple and pilgrimage sites and spread devotion to Shiva.<ref>{{cite book|last=Olson|first=Carl|title=The many colors of Hinduism: a thematic-historical introduction|publisher=[[Rutgers University Press]]|year=2007|pages=231|isbn=978-0-8135-4068-9|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RVWKClYq4TUC&pg=PA231}}</ref> Early Tamil-SivaShiva bhakti poets are quoted the [[Black Yajurveda|Krishna Yajurveda]].<ref>Karen Pechilis Prentiss (2014), The Embodiment of Bhakti, Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|978-0195351903}}, pages 17-18</ref> The AlwarsAlvars and Nayanars were instrumental in propagating the Bhakti tradition. The [[Bhagavata Purana]]'s references to the South Indian Alvar saints, along with its emphasis on ''bhakti'', have led many scholars to give it South Indian origins, though some scholars question whether this evidence excludes the possibility that ''bhakti'' movement had parallel developments in other parts of India.<ref>{{cite book| last=Sheridan| first=Daniel| title= The Advaitic Theism of the Bhagavata Purana |publisher=South Asia Books |location=Columbia, Mo |year=1986 |isbn=978-81-208-0179-0 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qrtYYTjYFY8C}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | last=van Buitenen | first=J. A. B | chapter=The Archaism of the Bhāgavata Purāṇa |title=Encyclopedia Indica | year = 1996| editor=S.S Shashi | isbn=978-81-7041-859-7 | pages=28–45 | chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U-sC1GkwH7sC&pg=PA28 | publisher=Anmol Publications PVT. LTD.}}</ref>
 
Scholars state that the ''bhakti'' movement focused on the gods Vishnu, Shiva, Shakti and other deities, that developed and spread in India, was in response to the arrival of [[Islam]] in India about 8th century CE,<ref>Note: The earliest arrival dates are contested by scholars. They range from 7th to 9th century, with Muslim traders settling in coastal regions of Indian peninsula, to Muslims seeking asylum in Tamil Nadu, to raids in northwest India by [[Muhammad bin Qasim]]. See: Annemarie Schimmel (1997), Islam in the Indian subcontinent, Brill Academic, {{ISBN|978-9004061170}}, pages 3-7; Andre Wink (2004), Al-Hind: the Making of the Indo-Islamic World, Brill Academic Publishers, {{ISBN|90-04-09249-8}}</ref> and subsequent [[Religious violence in India|religious violence]].<ref name=encyclopediabrit /><ref name=karen /><ref name=johnhawley /> This view is contested by other scholars.<ref name=johnhawley>John Stratton Hawley (2015), A Storm of Songs: India and the Idea of the Bhakti Movement, Harvard University Press, {{ISBN|978-0674187467}}, pages 39-61</ref>
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