History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v7.c91.200

v7.c91.200

The invasions and gradual conquest of India by Moslem invaders from the Northwest threw down a challenge to Hindus from 11th century A.D. onwards. It was met in various ways. The first was the composition of comprehensive digests of smṛtis of which the earliest extant one is the Kṛtyakalpataru of Lakṣmīdhara (about 1110-1130 A.D.) in the North and Hemādri in the Deccan (third quarter of 13th century). The second and the most important way was on the spiritual front. From the 13th to the 17th century there was a great revival of spirituality on an unprecedented scale which produced saints and mystics in all parts of India such as Jñāneśvara, Nāmadeva, Rāmānanda, Kabir,¹⁵⁸² Caitanya, Dādu (in Rajasthan), Nānak, Vallabhācārya, Ekanātha, Tukārām, Rāmadāsa (and many others of lesser fame) who all agreed on fundamentals viz. unity of God, the need of self-purification, com-demnation of the pride of caste and of formalities of worship, and surrender to the Deity for salvation. The third was the creation of such independent kingdoms as that of Vijayanagara (1330–1565 A. D.), of Mahārāṣtra (under Shivaji and the Peshwas) and of the Sikhs in Punjab. This last cannot be dealt with way in this work The doctrine of bhakti had a great appeal to all sections of the Hindu community and its propagation by the Purāṇas went a long away in weaning away Hindus from Buddhism. Not only so, Mahāyāna Buddhism took over the doctrine of bhakti and works like the 'Questions of Milinda' and the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka¹⁵⁸³ contain passages which agree closely with the Gītā. The Gītā exhibits a wonderful spirit of tolerance and accommodation, not found in the scriptures of other religions which were founded by great prophets. It says¹⁵⁸⁴ 'even those, who are devotees of other deities and worship them with faith, (indirectly) worship me only but with a non-śāstric (or irregular) procedure.' The Bhāgavata-purāṇa elaborates the same idea; 'O Adorable One! others worship you alone in the form of Śiva while following the path promulgated by Śiva and propounded in different ways by several *ācāryas*, all worship you who are Lord and who comprehend in yourself all gods; those also who are devotees of other deities and appear to have different ideas do in the end reach you, just as all rivers rising in mountains and flooded by rains enter the ocean from all sides'. The Śāntiparva¹⁵⁸⁵ also contains a similar idea 'Those who worship Brahmā, Śiva or other deities and whose conduct (or practice) is intelligent will (ultimately) come to me, who am the Highest'. This doctrine has its germs in the Ṛgveda¹⁵⁸⁶ itself where it is said 'the One Reality the sages speak of under various names; they call it Agni, Yama, Mātariśvan (wind-god)'. This work cannot afford, for reasons of space, to go into the several bhakti schools such as those of Rāmānuja, Madhva (who postulated five eternal *bhedas*), Caitanya and Vallabha (that gave rise to an erotico-mystical brand of bhakti) and others.