The Ramanandis

This is not about upholding agendas but about our right to know. Thus, when Swami Nritya Gopal, who succeeded Swami Paramahans as head of th...

This is not about upholding agendas but about our right to know. Thus, when Swami Nritya Gopal, who succeeded Swami Paramahans as head of the Ramanandi sect in Ayodhya, says, 8220;Hindus and Muslims will build the temple together8221;, it may not necessarily be a 8220;Hindu extremist8221; remark. Over five centuries of composite Bhakti culture back it. The mahant heads one of the largest sampradayas, the Ramanandis. Their history has ramifications that leave you breathless. Ramananda 1360?-1470 of Prayag, was a devotee of the 12th century Srivaishnava philosopher Ramanuja of Sriperumbudur, conceiver of 8216;vishishtadvaita8217; philosophy. Among his followers in South India are the Iyengars. Sri Ramanuja was the first to coin the term 8216;Harijan8217; later picked up by Bapu.

After his studies in South India, Ramananda settled in Kashi. Kabir lay on the steps of the ghat that Ramananda descended daily to the Ganga. Unseeingly, he trod on Kabir and said 8220;Ram Ram8221;, which Kabir took as his initiation before he undertook reconciling Islam and 8216;Hinduism8217;.

Ramananda eventually founded the 8216;Srisampradaya8217; and his 12 disciples founded sub-sects called 8216;dvara8217;. 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 8220;Sitaram8221;, reflecting Srivaishnavism, where Sri stands for Mahalakshmi.

Ramananda8217;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 merchant8217;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 8216;Santmat8217; 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, I8217;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 8216;Aftab-e-Mausiqi8217; 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 can8217;t our 8220;intellectuals8221; tell us these important nuances?