Kannada literature
Kannada literature is the corpus of written forms of the Kannada language, a member of the Dravidian family spoken in the Indian state of Karnataka and written in the Kannada script. Attestations in literature span one and a half millennia, with some specific literary works surviving in rich manuscript traditions, extending from the 9th century to the present; the Kannada language is divided into three linguistic phases: Old and Modern. Although much of the literature prior to the 18th century was religious, some secular works were committed to writing. Starting with the Kavirajamarga, until the middle of the 12th century, literature in Kannada was exclusively composed by the Jains, who found eager patrons in the Chalukya, Rashtrakuta and the Yadava kings. Although the Kavirajamarga, authored during the reign of King Amoghavarsha, is the oldest extant literary work in the language, it has been accepted by modern scholars that prose and grammatical traditions must have existed earlier; the Veerashaiva movement of the 12th century created new literature which flourished alongside the Jain works.
With the waning of Jain influence during the 14th-century Vijayanagara empire, a new Vaishnava literature grew in the 15th century. After the decline of the Vijayanagara empire in the 16th century, Kannada literature was supported by the various rulers, including the Wodeyars of the Kingdom of Mysore and the Nayakas of Keladi. In the 19th century, some literary forms, such as the prose narrative, the novel, the short story, were borrowed from English literature. Modern Kannada literature is now known and recognised: during the last half century, Kannada language authors have received eight Jnanpith awards, 62 Sahitya Akademi awards and 9 Sahitya Akademi Fellowships in India. In the early period and beginning of the medieval period, between the 9th and 13th centuries, writers were predominantly Jains and Lingayats. Jains were the earliest known cultivators of Kannada literature, which they dominated until the 12th century, although a few works by Lingayats from that period have survived. Jain authors wrote about other aspects of religion.
The Veerashaiva authors wrote about Shiva, his 25 forms, the expositions of Shaivism. Lingayat poets belonging to the vachana sahitya tradition advanced the philosophy of Basava from the 12th century. During the period between the 13th and 15th centuries, there was decline in Jain writings and an increase in the number of works from the Lingayat tradition. Thereafter and Vaishnava writers dominated Kannada literature. Vaishnava writers focused on the Hindu epics – the Ramayana, the Mahabharata and the Bhagavata – as well as Vedanta and other subjects from the Puranic traditions; the devotional songs of the Haridasa poets, performed to music, were first noted in the 15th century. Writings on secular subjects remained popular throughout this period. An important change during the Bhakti "devotion" period starting in the 12th century was the decline of court literature and the rise in popularity of shorter genres such as the vachana and kirthane, forms that were more accessible to the common man.
Writings eulogising kings and spiritual heroes waned, with a proportional increase in the use of local genres. Kannada literature moved closer to the spoken and sung folk traditions, with musicality being its hallmark, although some poets continued to use the ancient champu form of writing as late as the 17th century; the champu Sanskritic metre was the most popular written form from the 9th century onwards, although it started to fall into disuse in the 12th century. Other Sanskritic metres used were the ashtaka and the shataka. There were numerous translations and adaptations of Sanskrit writings into Kannada and, to a lesser extent, from Kannada into Sanskrit; the medieval period saw the development of literary metres indigenous to the Kannada language. These included one of the oldest native metres. There were rare interactions with Tamil literature, as well. Though religious literature was prominent, literary genres including romance, erotica, folk songs and parables, musical treatises and musical compositions were popular.
The topics of Kannada literature included grammar, prosody, chronicles, history and cuisine, as well as dictionaries and encyclopedias. According to critic Joseph T. Shipley, over fifty works on scientific subjects including medicine and astrology have been written in the Kannada language. Kannada literature of this period was written on palm leaves. However, more than 30,000 more durable inscriptions on stone and copper plates have survived to inform modern student
A. K. Ramanujan
Attipate Krishnaswami Ramanujan known as A. K. Ramanujan was an Indian poet and scholar of Indian literature who wrote in both English and Kannada. Ramanujan was a poet, scholar, a philologist, folklorist and playwright, his academic research ranged across five languages: English, Tamil and Sanskrit. He published works on both classical and modern variants of this literature and argued for giving local, non-standard dialects their due. Though he wrote and in a number of genres, Ramanujan's poems are remembered as enigmatic works of startling originality and moving artistry, he was awarded the Sahitya Akademi Award posthumously in 1999 for his collection of poems, The Selected Poems. Ramanujan was born in Mysore City on 16 March 1929, his father, Attipat Asuri Krishnaswami, an astronomer and professor of mathematics at Mysore University, was known for his interest in English and Sanskrit languages. His mother was a homemaker. Ramanujan has a brother, A. K. Srinivasan, a writer and a mathematician.
Ramanujan was educated at Marimallappa's High School, at the Maharaja College of Mysore. In college, Ramanujan majored in science in his freshman year, but his father, who thought him'not mathematically minded', persuaded him to change his major from science to English. Ramanujan became a Fellow of Deccan College, Pune in 1958–59 and a Fulbright Scholar at Indiana University in 1959–62, he was educated in English at the University of Mysore and received his PhD in Linguistics from Indiana University. Ramanujan worked as a lecturer of English at Belgaum. In 1962, he joined the University of Chicago as an assistant professor, he was affiliated with the university throughout his career. He taught at other US universities as well, including Harvard University, University of Wisconsin, University of Michigan, University of California at Berkeley, Carleton College. At the University of Chicago, Ramanujan was instrumental in shaping the South Asian Studies program, he worked in the departments of South Asian Languages and Civilizations and with the Committee on Social Thought.
In 1976, the Government of India awarded him the Padma Shri, in 1983, he was given the MacArthur Prize Fellowship. In 1983, he was appointed the William E. Colvin Professor in the Departments of South Asian Languages and Civilizations, of Linguistics, in the Committee on Social Thought at the University of Chicago, the same year, he received a MacArthur Fellowship; as an Indo-American writer Ramanujan had the experience of the native as well as of the foreign milieu. His poems such as the "Conventions of Despair" reflected his views on the cultures and conventions of the east and the west, he was awarded Sahitya Akademi Award in 1999 for his Collected Poems. A. K. Ramanujan died in Chicago, on 13 July 1993 as result of adverse reaction to anaesthesia during preparation for surgery. A. K. Ramanujan's theoretical and aesthetic contributions span several disciplinary areas. In his cultural essays such as "Is There an Indian Way of Thinking?", he explains cultural ideologies and behavioral manifestations thereof in terms of an Indian psychology he calls "context-sensitive" thinking.
In his work in folklore studies, Ramanujan highlights the inter-textuality of the Indian oral and written literary tradition. His essay "Where Mirrors Are Windows: Toward an Anthology of Reflections", his commentaries in The Interior Landscape: Love Poems from a Classical Tamil Anthology and Folktales from India, Oral Tales from Twenty Indian Languages are good examples of his work in Indian folklore studies, his 1991 essay "Three Hundred Ramayanas: Five Examples and Three Thoughts on Translation" courted controversy over its inclusion in the B. A. in History syllabus of the University of Delhi in 2006. In this essay, he wrote of the existence of many versions of Ramayana and a few versions that portrayed Rama and Sita as siblings, which contradicts the popular versions of the Ramayana, such as those by Valmiki and Tulsidas; the comments written by A K Ramanujam were found to be derogatory by some Hindus and some of them decided to go to court for removal of the text from the Delhi University curriculum.
ABVP, a nationalist student organisation opposed its inclusion in the syllabus, saying it hurt the majority Hindu sentiment, who viewed Rama and Sita as incarnations of gods and who were husband and wife. They demanded the essay be removed from the syllabus. In 2008, the Delhi High Court directed Delhi University to convene a committee to decide on the essay's inclusion. A four-member committee subsequently gave its 3-1 verdict in favor of its inclusion in the syllabus; the academic council however, ignored the committee's recommendation and voted to scrap the essay from its syllabus in Oct 2011. This led to protests by many historians and intellectuals, accusing Delhi University of succumbing to the diktat of non-historians, his works include translations from Old Tamil and Old Kannada, such as: Translations and Studies of Literature The Interior Landscape: Love Poems from a Classical Tamil Anthology, 1967 Speaking of Siva, Penguin. 1973. ISBN 9780140442700; the Literatures of India. Edited with Edwin Gerow.
Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1974 Hymns for the Drowning, 1981 Poems of Love and War. New York: Columbia University Press, 1985 Folktales from India, Oral Tales from Twenty Indian Languages, 1991 Is There an Indian Way of Thinking? in India Through Hindu Categories, edited by McKim Marriott, 1990 When God Is a Customer: Telugu Courtesan Songs by Ksetrayya and Others (with Velcheru Narayan
Karnataka
Karnataka is a state in the south western region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Known as the State of Mysore, it was renamed Karnataka in 1973; the state corresponds to the Carnatic region. The capital and largest city is Bangalore. Karnataka is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, Goa to the northwest, Maharashtra to the north, Telangana to the northeast, Andhra Pradesh to the east, Tamil Nadu to the southeast, Kerala to the south; the state covers an area of 191,976 square kilometres, or 5.83 percent of the total geographical area of India. It is the sixth largest Indian state by area. With 61,130,704 inhabitants at the 2011 census, Karnataka is the eighth largest state by population, comprising 30 districts. Kannada, one of the classical languages of India, is the most spoken and official language of the state alongside Konkani, Tulu, Telugu, Malayalam and Beary. Karnataka contains some of the only villages in India where Sanskrit is spoken.
The two main river systems of the state are the Krishna and its tributaries, the Bhima, Vedavathi and Tungabhadra in North Karnataka Sharavathi in Shivamogga and the Kaveri and its tributaries, the Hemavati, Arkavati, Lakshmana Thirtha and Kabini, in the south. Most of these rivers flow out of Karnataka eastward. Though several etymologies have been suggested for the name Karnataka, the accepted one is that Karnataka is derived from the Kannada words karu and nādu, meaning "elevated land". Karu nadu may be read as karu, meaning "black" and nadu, meaning "region", as a reference to the black cotton soil found in the Bayalu Seeme region of the state; the British used the word Carnatic, sometimes Karnatak, to describe both sides of peninsular India, south of the Krishna. With an antiquity that dates to the paleolithic, Karnataka has been home to some of the most powerful empires of ancient and medieval India; the philosophers and musical bards patronised by these empires launched socio-religious and literary movements which have endured to the present day.
Karnataka has contributed to both forms of Indian classical music, the Carnatic and Hindustani traditions. The economy of Karnataka is the third-largest state economy in India with ₹15.88 lakh crore in gross domestic product and a per capita GDP of ₹174,000. Karnataka's pre-history goes back to a paleolithic hand-axe culture evidenced by discoveries of, among other things, hand axes and cleavers in the region. Evidence of neolithic and megalithic cultures have been found in the state. Gold discovered in Harappa was found to be imported from mines in Karnataka, prompting scholars to hypothesise about contacts between ancient Karnataka and the Indus Valley Civilisation ca. 3300 BCE. Prior to the third century BCE, most of Karnataka formed part of the Nanda Empire before coming under the Mauryan empire of Emperor Ashoka. Four centuries of Satavahana rule followed; the decline of Satavahana power led to the rise of the earliest native kingdoms, the Kadambas and the Western Gangas, marking the region's emergence as an independent political entity.
The Kadamba Dynasty, founded by Mayurasharma, had its capital at Banavasi. These were the first kingdoms to use Kannada in administration, as evidenced by the Halmidi inscription and a fifth-century copper coin discovered at Banavasi; these dynasties were followed by imperial Kannada empires such as the Badami Chalukyas, the Rashtrakuta Empire of Manyakheta and the Western Chalukya Empire, which ruled over large parts of the Deccan and had their capitals in what is now Karnataka. The Western Chalukyas patronised a unique style of architecture and Kannada literature which became a precursor to the Hoysala art of the 12th century. Parts of modern-day Southern Karnataka were occupied by the Chola Empire at the turn of the 11th century; the Cholas and the Hoysalas fought over the region in the early 12th century before it came under Hoysala rule. At the turn of the first millennium, the Hoysalas gained power in the region. Literature flourished during this time, which led to the emergence of distinctive Kannada literary metres, the construction of temples and sculptures adhering to the Vesara style of architecture.
The expansion of the Hoysala Empire brought minor parts of modern Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu under its rule. In the early 14th century and Bukka Raya established the Vijayanagara empire with its capital, Hosapattana, on the banks of the Tungabhadra River in the modern Bellary district; the empire rose as a bulwark against Muslim advances into South India, which it controlled for over two centuries. In 1565, Karnataka and the rest of South India experienced a major geopolitical shift when the Vijayanagara empire fell to a confederation of Islamic sultanates in the Battle of Talikota; the Bijapur Sultanate, which had risen after the demise of the Bahmani Sultanate of Bidar, soon took control of the Deccan. The Bahmani and Bijapur rulers encouraged Urdu and Persian literature and Indo-Saracenic architecture, the Gol Gumbaz being one of the high points of this style. During the sixteenth century, Konkani Hindus migrated to Karnataka from Salcette, while during the seventeenth and eighteenth century, Goan Catholics migrated to North Canara and South Canara from Bardes, Goa, as a result of food shortages and heavy taxation imposed by the Portuguese.
In the period that followed
Siddheshwar
Shivyogi Siddarameswara or Siddheshwar or Siddarama was one among the five acharya of the Lingayat faith. Siddheshwar was a great contributor to Lingayat religion, he was a great mystic and a Kannada poet, a part of Basavanna's Lingayat revolution during the 12th century. His philosophy was one of service to mankind, the path of karmayoga. Siddarama was instrumental in saving the vachana literature from destruction. Siddharama claimed to have written 68,000 vachanas out. Along with Basava, Allama Prabhu, Devara Dasimayya and Channabasava, Siddharama is regarded as the most acknowledged and respected poets. Vachanakaras wrote under Kannada literature from the mystic period, he shares the world view of other vachana poets in his rejection of blind conventions of caste and sex discrimination and emphasis on realization through personal experience. He too borrows Metaphors from diverse spheres of everyday life. Apart from vachanas,he has written several devotional works in tripadi. Writing three-line verse, used from the 7th century.
Siddarama was the son of the first Social Spiritual guru. As part of Sharana revolution in the 12th century, he encouraged inter-caste marriages, he undertook many irrigation projects for the common good. He saw divinity in every existence of the world. Lord Shiva called himself Mallinath from Shrishail; the place where Mallinath met Siddharam is known as'Gurubhet', now in front of the Collector's Bungalow in Solapur, Maharashtra. This Jangam requested Siddharama to serve him hot fried tender Jowar. Next he demanded curd-rice. Siddharama asked his mother for curd-rice. On his return to the fields, he searched for him, shouting, "Mallayya, Mallayya" did not find him. There he inquired the Kawadi Jangams, they promised to show him Mallayya. His quest for Mallayya made. At Shrishail he was shown the Mallikarjuna Jyotirlinga, but this linga of black stone did not please him, he inquired every object and every people about the whereabouts of Mallayya running over the length and breadth of Shrishail. Siddharama began to weep.
His tears were collected in a tank in the ground. When Siddeshwar reached the brink of a deep valley called'Rudrakada' and peeping down he yelled out "Mallayya, Mallayya!, but he did not appear. As Siddharama was about to jump in the valley. Lord Mallikarjun caught hold of him by his hands, he visualized Mallayya telling him to return to Sonnalige and work towards making it the second Srishailam. The Lord pacified him and offered'Vajrakundal' and'Yoga Danda' which possesses the potential to fulfill all wishes; the Lord Mallinath asked Siddharam to return to Sonnalgie to end grief on earth. The Lord Mallinath assured him that he himself would appear in the form of Shivalinga in Sonnalgie. Shivayogi Siddharama returned to Sonnalgie. Shivayogi Siddharama consecrated 68 lingas by the holy hands of Jagadguru Kapilasiddha Panditardhya, within the Panch Crosh of Sonnalgie making Sonnalgie a "Kshetra". Siddarama involved himself in public works, he built temples. He encouraged people to conduct mass weddings, do other works, which would benefit mankind.
Many people joined him in transforming Sonnalige. Allama Prabhu’s purpose is to make Siddharama worship Ishtalinga. Hence he proposed that Siddharama should accompany him to Kalyana, the home of Basavanna and Ishtalinga worship. At Anubhava Mantapa Allama, Chennabasavanna and others discussed the need for Istalinga. Siddarama accepted Chennabasavanna as his Guru. Chennabasavanna performed the Istalinga initiation for Siddarama. After his initiation, Siddarama made rapid progress along the path of Shivayoga, in course of time succeeded Chennabasavanna on Shunya Simhasana, or the pontificial throne. Siddarama participated in various discussions of the Anubhavamantapa; these discourses made him a Shiva yogi. He entrusted his work to Havinahala Kallaiah, he constructed a cave in the middle of a lake. There he practiced Shiva yoga. Shivayogi Siddharama consecrated 68 lingas by the holy hands of Jagadguru Kapilasiddha Panditardhya, within the Panch Crosh of Sonnalgie making Sonnalgie a "Kshetra". Siddarama involved himself in public works.
He built temples. He encouraged people to conduct mass weddings, do other works, which would benefit mankind. Many people joined him in transforming Sonnalige, he entrusted his work to Havinahala Kallaiah. He constructed a cave in the middle of a lake. There he practiced Shiva yoga until he entombed himself alive, his influence on several contemporaneous as well as subsequent Sharanas is evident from many sources. His tradition has come down continuously from his time to ours throughout South India. Gifts and charities made in his name by kings and other rulers are recorded in inscriptions, he was an ardent believer in Action. Though he was at first inclined towards visible works such as construction of tanks and temples, installation of Lingas, establishment of alms-housed etc. as calculated to lead him to Heaven, he came under Prabhu’s influence, to believe that such philanthropic works by themselves, any more than the possession of the third eye, the daily access to Kailasa and such
Hagiography
A hagiography is a biography of a saint or an ecclesiastical leader. The term hagiography may be used to refer to the biography of a saint or developed spiritual being in any of the world's spiritual traditions. Christian hagiographies focus on the lives, notably the miracles, ascribed to men and women canonized by the Roman Catholic church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Oriental Orthodox churches, the Church of the East. Other religious traditions such as Buddhism, Islam and Jainism create and maintain hagiographical texts concerning saints and other individuals believed to be imbued with sacred power. Hagiographic works those of the Middle Ages, can incorporate a record of institutional and local history, evidence of popular cults and traditions. However, when referring to modern, non-ecclesiastical works, the term hagiography is used as a pejorative reference to biographies and histories whose authors are perceived to be uncritical of or reverential to their subject. Hagiography constituted an important literary genre in the early Christian church, providing some informational history along with the more inspirational stories and legends.
A hagiographic account of an individual saint can consist of a biography, a description of the saint's deeds or miracles, an account of the saint's martyrdom, or be a combination of these. The genre of lives of the saints first came into being in the Roman Empire as legends about Christian martyrs were recorded; the dates of their deaths formed the basis of martyrologies. In the 4th century, there were three main types of catalogs of lives of the saints: annual calendar catalogue, or menaion, biographies of the saints to be read at sermons. In Western Europe hagiography was one of the more important vehicles for the study of inspirational history during the Middle Ages; the Golden Legend of Jacob de Voragine compiled a great deal of medieval hagiographic material, with a strong emphasis on miracle tales. Lives were written to promote the cult of local or national states, in particular to develop pilgrimages to visit relics; the bronze Gniezno Doors of Gniezno Cathedral in Poland are the only Romanesque doors in Europe to feature the life of a saint.
The life of Saint Adalbert of Prague, buried in the cathedral, is shown in 18 scenes based on a lost illuminated copy of one of his Lives. The Bollandist Society continues the study, academic assembly and publication of materials relating to the lives of Christian saints. Many of the important hagiographical texts composed in medieval England were written in the vernacular dialect Anglo-Norman. With the introduction of Latin literature into England in the 7th and 8th centuries the genre of the life of the saint grew popular; when one contrasts it to the popular heroic poem, such as Beowulf, one finds that they share certain common features. In Beowulf, the titular character battles against Grendel and his mother, while the saint, such as Athanasius' Anthony or the character of Guthlac, battles against figures no less substantial in a spiritual sense. Both genres focus on the hero-warrior figure, but with the distinction that the saint is of a spiritual sort. Imitation of the life of Christ was the benchmark against which saints were measured, imitation of the lives of saints was the benchmark against which the general population measured itself.
In Anglo-Saxon and medieval England, hagiography became a literary genre par excellence for the teaching of a illiterate audience. Hagiography provided priests and theologians with classical handbooks in a form that allowed them the rhetorical tools necessary to present their faith through the example of the saints' lives. Of all the English hagiographers no one was more prolific nor so aware of the importance of the genre as Abbot Ælfric of Eynsham, his work Lives of the Saints contains set of sermons on saints' days observed by the English Church. The text comprises two prefaces, one in Latin and one in Old English, 39 lives beginning on December 25 with the nativity of Christ and ending with three texts to which no saints' days are attached; the text spans the entire year and describes the lives of many saints, both English and continental, hearkens back to some of the earliest saints of the early church. There are two known instances; these are the Cornish-language works Beunans Meriasek and Beunans Ke, about the lives of Saints Meriasek and Kea, respectively.
Other examples of hagiographies from England include: the Chronicle by Hugh Candidus the Secgan Manuscript the list of John Leyland the book Life by Saint Cadog Ireland is notable in its rich hagiographical tradition, for the large amount of material, produced during the Middle Ages. Irish hagiographers wrote in Latin while some of the saint's lives were written in the hagiographer's native vernacular Irish. Of particular note are the lives of St. Patrick, St. Columba /Colm and St. Brigit/Brigid—Ireland's three patron saints. Additionally, several Irish calendars relating to the feastd
Hospet
Hosapete known as Hospet, is a city in Ballari District in central Karnataka, India. It is located on 12 km from Hampi. Hampi is a World Heritage site containing the ruins of the medieval city of Vijayanagara, the former capital of the Vijayanagara Empire. Hosapete city was built in 1520 AD by Krishna Deva Raya, one of the prominent rulers of Vijayanagara, he built the city in honour of his mother Naagalaambika. The city was named Naagalapura; the area between Hampi and Hosapete is still called Naagalapura. This was the main entrance to the city of Vijayanagara for travellers coming from the west coast; the current MLA for this area is Anand Singh. The government approved a request to rename the city in October 2014, Hospet was renamed "Hosapete" on 1 November 2014. Hosapete is well connected to several important cities in India. Ballari is located 60 km away. Hosapete Junction railway station lies on Hubballi-Guntakal railway line; the nearest airport from the city is jindal vidyanagar airport 30km away from Hosapete which serves flights to and from Bangalore and Hyderabad everyday.
Bangalore is 330 km away. In addition, the city has a well-developed market area. Hosapete is a well-known tourist destination due to its proximity to Hampi and Tungabhadra Dam. Hosapete is noted for its iron ore mining and steel plants. According to the 2011 census, the total population of Hospet was 206,159; the town has an average literacy rate of 80%, with male literacy at 85% and female literacy at 67%. In Hospet, 12% of the population is under 6 years of age
Bhakti movement
The Bhakti movement refers to the theistic devotional trend that emerged in medieval Hinduism and revolutionised in Sikhism. It originated in eighth-century south India, spread northwards, it swept over east and north India from the 15th century onwards, reaching its zenith between the 15th and 17th century CE. The Bhakti movement regionally developed around different gods and goddesses, some sub-sects were Vaishnavism, Shaivism and Smartism. Bhakti movement preached using the local languages; the movement was inspired by many poet-saints, who championed a wide range of philosophical positions ranging from theistic dualism of Dvaita to absolute monism of Advaita Vedanta. The movement has traditionally been considered as an influential social reformation in Hinduism, provided an individual-focused alternative path to spirituality regardless of one's caste of birth or gender. Postmodern scholars question this traditional view and whether the Bhakti movement was a reform or rebellion of any kind.
They suggest Bhakti movement was a revival and recontextualisation of ancient Vedic traditions. Scriptures of the Bhakti movement include Bhagavata Purana and Padma Purana; the Sanskrit word bhakti is derived from the root bhaj, which means "divide, partake, participate, to belong to". The word means "attachment, devotion to, fondness for, faith or love, piety to something as a spiritual, religious principle or means of salvation"; the meaning of the term Bhakti is different than Kama. Kama connotes emotional connection, sometimes with erotic love. Bhakti, in contrast, is spiritual, a love and devotion to religious concepts or principles, that engages both emotion and intellection. Karen Pechelis states that the word Bhakti should not be understood as uncritical emotion, but as committed engagement. Bhakti movement in Hinduism refers to ideas and engagement that emerged in the medieval era on love and devotion to religious concepts built around one or more gods and goddesses. Bhakti movement preached against the caste system using the local languages so that the message reached the masses.
One who practices bhakti is called a bhakta. Ancient Indian texts, dated to be from the 1st millennium BCE, such as the Shvetashvatara Upanishad, the Katha Upanishad and the Bhagavad Gita mention Bhakti; the last of three epilogue verses of the Shvetashvatara Upanishad, 6.23, uses the word Bhakti as follows, This verse is notable for the use of the word Bhakti, has been cited as among the earliest mentions of "the love of God". Scholars have debated whether this phrase is authentic or insertion into the Upanishad, whether the terms "Bhakti" and "God" meant the same in this ancient text as they do in the medieval and modern era Bhakti traditions found in India. Max Muller states that the word Bhakti appears only in one last verse of the epilogue, could have been a insertion and may not be theistic as the word was used in much Sandilya Sutras. Grierson as well as Carus note that the first epilogue verse 6.21 is notable for its use of the word Deva Prasada, but add that Deva in the epilogue of the Shvetashvatara Upanishad refers to "pantheistic Brahman" and the closing credit to sage Shvetashvatara in verse 6.21 can mean "gift or grace of his Soul".
Doris Srinivasan states that the Upanishad is a treatise on theism, but it creatively embeds a variety of divine images, an inclusive language that allows "three Vedic definitions for personal deity". The Upanishad includes verses wherein God can be identified with the Supreme in Vedanta monistic theosophy, verses that support dualistic view of Samkhya doctrines, as well as the synthetic novelty of triple Brahman where a triune exists as the divine soul, individual soul and nature. Tsuchida writes that the Upanishad syncretically combines monistic ideas in Upanishad and self-development ideas in Yoga with personification of Shiva-Rudra deity. Hiriyanna interprets the text to be introducing "personal theism" in the form of Shiva Bhakti, with a shift to monotheism but in henotheistic context where the individual is encouraged to discover his own definition and sense of God; the Bhagavad Gita, a post-Vedic scripture composed in 5th to 2nd century BCE, introduces bhakti marga as one of three ways to spiritual freedom and release, the other two being karma marga and jnana marga.
In verses 6.31 through 6.47 of the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna as an avatar of deity Vishnu, describes bhakti yoga and loving devotion, as one of the several paths to the highest spiritual attainments. Shandilya and Narada are credited with two Bhakti texts, the Shandilya Bhakti Sutra and Narada Bhakti Sutra; the Bhakti movement originated in South India during the seventh to eighth century CE, spread northwards from Tamil Nadu through Karnataka and gained wide acceptance in fifteenth-century Bengal and northern India. The movement started with the Saiva Nayanars and the Vaisnava Alvars, who lived between 5th and 9th century AD, their efforts helped spread bhakti poetry and ideas throughout India by the 12th–18th century CE. The Alvars, which means "those immersed in God", were Vaishnava poet-saints who sang praises of Vishnu as they travelled from one place to another, they established temple sites such as Srirangam, spread ideas about Vaishnavism. Their poems, compiled as Alwar Arulicheyalgal or Divya Prabhandham, developed into an influential scripture for the Vaishnavas.
The Bhagavata Purana's references to the South Indian Alvar saints
