Abstract
Over the last two centuries, several links have been suggested between early ascetic traditions and the bhakti movements of India. Buddhism purportedly gave India its first idea of a benevolent supernatural being, looking down in love and compassion at all humans, ready to help them on the path of liberation. This concept of Bodhisattva is supposed to have inspired the later piety of bhakti (Basham 2004, 332). Even more questionable ideas were formulated in attempts to connect Buddhism and Jainism with “the rise of a new theistic system”, such as “the needful personal element in the shape of their founders” (Bhandarkar 1913, 2–3). From these and other speculations, one idea became very influential among the Indian and Western scholars alike. The ascetics of ancient India have been depicted as egalitarian and anti-caste and the later bhakti traditions have been projected as their heirs, who carried on a “millennial-long” conflict with Brahmanism.
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Notes
- 1.
Let me mention the often overlooked evidence that supports this conclusion: There have been Buddhist and Jain brahmanas since the time of founding gurus till today (India, Bali).
- 2.
Tradition of stories which describe how a person from one varna became a member of another goes back to stories in Upanishads. One of the most quoted is the story how Satyakama Jabala, a son of maiden and an unknown man, was accepted as a brahmana because of his complete truthfullness.
- 3.
“The varna-model has produced wrong and distorted image of caste. It is necessary for the sociologist to free himself from the hold of the varna-model if he wishes to understand the caste system” (Srinivas 1962, 66).
- 4.
In order to appreciate several connected and important arguments, it is necessary to read at least the Introduction and chapters one to eight of Balagangadhara (2005, 1–288).
- 5.
- 6.
It is noteworthy that the interpretation of brahmanas as a priestly ruling class was repeatedly challenged by European experiences of brahmanas who did all kinds of occupations, and who were among the poorest groups in some regions. This strange fact was noted by different Orientalists, but they explained it away by different strategies.
- 7.
Sanskrit term rasa is used in some bhakti traditions as generic category for a number of emotional and aesthetical experiences. It is like a concert of main and subordinated emotions, with all kinds of their subtle shades that makes the relationship between a bhakta and his beloved god very intense and dynamic.
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Fárek, M. (2017). Were Shramana and Bhakti Movements Against the Caste System?. In: Fárek, M., Jalki, D., Pathan, S., Shah, P. (eds) Western Foundations of the Caste System. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-38761-1_5
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