North Indian Traditions from Thirteenth Century
While the four Vais.n.ava schools of Veda ̄nta were building or achieving their
systems, other traditions of Vais.n.avism developed from the thirteenth century
onwards in the Deccan and northern India. They crystallized around the pious
personalities, and sometimes around the devotional works of poet-saints. Their
origin and chronology often remains uncertain. Our knowledge of these tradi-
tions depends on mostly biased and anachronistic documentation. Several of
these movements were closely associated with the then developing literature in
New Indo-Aryan (NIA) languages. Two other traditions, those of Vallabha and
Caitanya, which began in the late fifteenth century, expressed their doctrinal
views and their devotion both in Sanskrit and in NIA languages.
Traditions associated with New Indo-Aryan literatures
The devotional fervor which nourished the traditions of NIA expression was
in fact not so much Vais.n.avite properly speaking as Ra ̄maite and Kr.s.n.aite, that
is, directed to Ra ̄ma and Kr.s.n.a which are however aspects of Vis.n.u. The prac-
tices and concepts which they valued and which since have long existed in
Hinduism and Buddhism converged to some extent with several similar mystic
techniques and notions of Islam and Sufism: ecstatic forms of worship, collec-
tive singing (bhajanandkı ̄rtan), repetition of holy names (and devotion to them),
notion of divine love, etc. Other means of release were devotion to the “Good
preceptor” (satguru) who is God in human form, and the “company of the good”
(satsan.g), that is, of the poet-saints, but more generally of pious devotees. The
social ideology of these traditions is difficult to circumscribe. They initially
rejected caste barriers and were indifferent or even hostile to Brahmanic learn-
ing and to ritualism. They have sometimes been presented as revolutionary cur-
rents but they did not specifically denounce social structures (except perhaps
Maha ̄nubha ̄vas, who isolated themselves from mainstream Hinduism), nor did
they seem to have raised strong opposition from the Brahmanical side. The
figures around whom these traditions developed were often of a humble social
origin, yet their following belonged to all strata of society including Brahmins.
Though not professing formal renunciation, they often insisted on nonviolence
(ahim.sa ̄), strict vegetarianism, and sexual restraint. Similar tendencies arose in
south Indian S ́aiva milieux, as illustrated by Basava (thirteenth century) who
wrote in Kannad.a and Ve ̄mana (fifteenth century) who wrote in Telugu. Some
North Indian Vais.n.ava traditions which developed from the late fifteenth century
frequently around a guruand left a literature in NIA languages, remain rather
obscure. for example, the Caranada ̄sı ̄s (whose tradition Caranada ̄sa founded at
Delhi around 1730) who worshipped god in the form of Ra ̄dha ̄ and Kr.s.n.a, and
the Ra ̄masnehı ̄s, a tradition founded in the eighteenth century which spread
history of vais.n.ava traditions 255