The Ramanandis

Ramananda eventually founded the ‘Srisampradaya’ and his 12 disciples founded sub-sects called ‘dvara’. The umbrella sect of Ramanandis thumbed its nose at orthodoxy by accepting women and members of all castes and religions. Their core principle was love for “Sitaram”, reflecting Srivaishnavism, where Sri stands for Mahalakshmi.

Ramananda’s disciples led the reformist Bhakti phase in North India: Kabir the weaver, Meerabai the princess, Tulsidas the priest (whose Ramcharitmanas changed the face of Hinduism forever in the Ganga basin), Malukdas the basket-maker and Nabhaji the merchant’s son, all of whose bhajans are still recorded on CD and taught in graduate programs of music at universities.

Now look at the outreach. Kabir, who founded the ‘Santmat’ or tradition of teachers who reconcile sagun (avatar) and nirgun (formless God) bhakti and uphold the salvatory concepts of Satnam and Sadguru, is known to have inspired Guru Nanak. Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth Sikh guru, who died in Nanded in 1708, initiated a runaway Peshwa. He thus re-linked an older Bhakti chain that began with Oriya poet Jayadev, author of the Gita Govinda (whose writ runs from Meghalaya to Kerala in 16 languages). This chain, I’m told, included both Sant Sadna, an early 14th century butcher of Sindh and Sant Namdeo, the calico printer who is one of the five great saints of Maharashtra. In a wild loop, the late ‘Aftab-e-Mausiqi’ (Sun of Music) Ustad Faiyyaz Khan of the Agra gharana was of descent from Malukdas, while the powerful Radhasoami sect is in spiritual lineage from both Guru Nanak and Tulsidas. Given that only a religious solution might work for Ayodhya, why can’t our “intellectuals” tell us these important nuances?