Bhakti as a religious concept means devotional surrender to a supreme god for attaining salvation. Though texts such as the Bhagavad Gita talk about the path of bhakti (bhakti-marga), the movement gained force only in the mid-first millennium of the Common Era in the southern country. Led by the Saiva Nayanmars and Vaishnava Azhwars and supported by ruling kings, it made south India the home of religious renaissance from the 7th to the 10th century. From the 14th century the bhakti cult became widespread in the whole of India.
1. Background: Religion in Early India
- Religion in India developed by interacting with various traditions. Vedic religion, which came with the Aryan-speaking peoples, absorbed many elements from the Indus civilization.
- Mother goddess worship had its origins in Harappa.
- The prime Vedic gods were Indra, Varuna, Agni, etc.; the worship of Siva and Vishnu developed only later.
- In the mid-first millennium B.C., Buddhism and Jainism (apart from other heterodox religions such as Ajivika) emerged in the Indo-Gangetic valley and challenged orthodox Vedic practices.