Chapter 17 Major Religions

Reference Notes

Sikhism

Guru Nanak Founder of Sikhism, First Guru of Sikhs

Dev

Guru Angad Collected all hymns Of Guru Nanak Ji in Gurumukhi script.

Guru Ram Dug the holy tank at Amritsar. The city of Amritsar takes its name
Das from it.

Guru Arjun Constructed Gurudwara Harminder Sahib in the centre of the tank.
Dev It is also known as the Golden Temple.

Guru Har Constructed the Akal Takht or Throne of God near the Golden
Gobind Temple.

Guru Teg Involved in fighting against the oppression by the Mughals.

Bahadur He inculcated courage among the Sikhs to fight against the
atrocities of the Mughal rulers.

Guru Gobind Created Khalsa Panth at Anandpur popularly known as Takht Shri
Singh Keshgarh Sahib on the day of Baisakhi in 1699 C.E.

Founder:- Guru Nanak Dev, First Guru of Sikhs.

Born in:- 1469 and enjoyed the company of saints and sufis since childhood.
Holy book/scripture:- Adi Granth or Shri Guru Granth Sahib. The holy
scripture is the source of divine kirtan for the Sikhs.

Teachings of Guru Nanak Dev:-

• To be one with God, one should be egoless and denounce lust for
worldly pleasures.
• He believed in Nirankar Brahma or God.
• For him, Rama and Rahim were the same.
 • Believed in selfless and honest service of humanity.
• Preached through kirtans, self composed ‘Bani’ and also songs of other
saints.
• Established Sangat and Pangat.
• Passed away in 1539 CE at Kartarpur.

• Sikhism is based on the Guru-Shishya tradition. The holy scripture Shri

Guru Granth Sahib is their ‘Guru’.
• The hymns are known as Gurbani or Shabad.

• Sangat is the religious gathering where everyone recites the name without any
discrimination on the basis of caste, creed, colour etc.
• Pangat is eating langar by sitting together in a row without any discrimination
on the basis of caste, creed, race, etc or of rich or poor.

A True Sikh (Shishya)

➢ Believes in one God.
➢ Has complete faith in ten Gurus.
➢ Follows Shri Guru Granth Sahib
➢ Acts according to the message of Gurbani
➢ Should be baptised by taking ‘Amrit’.

Bhakti Movement

• Bhakti means complete submission and devotion to God.

• Roots of Bhakti Movement can be traced back to the Vedic Period.
• Began in the medieval period.
• Started in the southern part of India----Tamil region in the 7th and 8th
century.

Bhakti Saints
• Believed in the worship to God. God is formless-Nirakar, omnipresent
and omnipotent.
• Denounced idol worship.
• Preached devotion and loving relationship between devotee and the God
to attain Moksha.
• Used local languages to preach their message.
• Discarded rituals and sacrifices to create Oneness with God.
• Bhakti saints opposed the caste system, superstitions and narrow
mindedness.
• The Alvars (Vaishnavities- Followers of Lord Vishnu) and the Nayanars
(Shaivities- Followers of Lord Shiva) condemned rigidities of casteism
and taught the lessons of love, devotion and equality.

Ramananda

• Ramananda took the ideas of Bhakti to North.

• Worshipped Shri Ram with complete devotion and love.
• Kabir and Ravidas belonging to different caste were his disciples.
• Kabir and Nanak strongly preached Hindu Muslim unity.

Kabir- One of India's most quoted poet and mystic

• Many legends are prevalent about the birth, life and death of Kabir.
• It is believed that he was actually the son of a Brahmin widow who
abandoned him and that he was found by a Muslim weaver named Niru
who adopted the boy and taught him the skill of weaving. He was never
formally educated. According to a legend, the only word that he learned
to write was ‘Rama’.
Popular Bhakti Saints

• The worship of Rama was made popular by Tulsidas in north.

• Ardent devotees of Krishna-
➢ Chaitanya Mahaprabhu in Bengal, Odisha.
➢ Mira in Rajasthan
➢ Narsimha Mehta in Gujarat
➢ Surdas in Uttar Pradesh
They worshipped Krishna with love, devotional songs and dance.
Caste or creed was totally set aside.

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