Tag: bhakti movement

• Alavars: These are Tamil poet saints and were devoted to Vishnu and his avatar Krishna. They belong to Vaishnava sect.
  
• Nayanars: These were also Tamil poets devoted to lord Shiva.
  
• Sufis: This is an Islamic mysticism.
  
• Virashaivism:  This is a sect of Hinduism. It is predominantly found in the states of Karnataka, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh. Basavanna, a Kannada poet belonged to this sect and belief is that he founded this sect.
  

Nayanars are the worshipers of Shiva in Tamil Nadu.  Along with the Alvars, who are the worshipers of Vishnu, they participated in the Bhakti movement in the 6-8th century.

Chaitanya Mahaprabhu wrote a series of verses known as the Shikshashtakam, or "eight verses of instruction which are considered to contain the complete philosophy of Gaudiya Vaishnavism in condensed form. He requested six saints and theologians among his followers to systematize the Gaudiya Vaishnava theology in their own writings.

Dadu Dayal died in 1603 at the age of fifty-nine in Narayana city, near Jaipur in Rajasthan.

Saint Kabir believed in formless supreme God. He protested the rituals like idol worship, offering namaz, taking the holy dip in rivers etc. His teachings were in short poems which are collected in the Bijaka. He gave stress on the purity of soul. His followers are known as Kabirpnathi.

Shrimad Dasbodh is a classical 17th century Hindu Advaita Vedanta spiritual text. It was orally narrated by saint Samarth Ramdas, to his disciple Kalyan Swami.

Mirabai was a great saint and devotee of Lord Krishna, she was a Hindu poet of the Bhakti movement. She was born in 1498 in the Chaukari village in Merta, Rajasthan. Her father Ratan Singh was a descendant of Rao Rathor, the founder of Jodhpur

Bhojraj Singh was the eldest son of Rana Sanga, ruler of Mewar in western India. He is best known as the reputed husband of the bhakti poet-saint Meerabai.

Chokhamela was poet born in Maharashtra, India in the 14th century. He belonged to the Mahar caste, considered "untouchable" in India in that era. He was the first poet and saint from deprived class.

The Tirukkural or Thirukkural or shortly the Kural is a classic Tamil text consisting of 1,330 couplets or Kurals, dealing with the everyday virtues of an individual. It was written by Thiruvalluvar.