Surdas says, it’s only now the mind can see –
now that so countless many days are lost and gone –
For who has ever recognized the brilliance of the sun
but by seeing it through eyes gone blind?^30Yet another poet of the fifteenth or sixteenth century was Ravida ̄s, an
outcaste leather worker, born in Bana ̄ras. While Ravida ̄s tended to be “anti-
establishment” in his orientation, he was not interested in social reform.
Rather, he valued his “low state” so he could attest to how far the divine
would stoop to meet a devotee. His bhaktiwas that for the divine which
transcended all forms (nirgun.a).^31 The form of the deity preferred by the
bhaktamay itself be a reflection of the times. The nirgun.a(formless) divine
is consistent not only with classical Hindu devotion but with Su ̄fı ̄ and Islamic
perceptions as well, whereas sagun.a bhakti(that directed to a specific form
of the divine, such as Ra ̄ma) attests to the god’s accessibility and concreteness
perhaps in contradistinction to more remote perceptions of God.
Tulsı ̄da ̄s(1532–1623), writing in the Avadhı ̄ dialect, was an important
contributor to the Hindı ̄ religious landscape. He was the author of the
Ra ̄mcharitma ̄nas(the lake of the story of Ra ̄ma), a Hindı ̄ version of the
Ra ̄ma ̄yan.a, as well as of several other works. It was Tulsı ̄da ̄s who was largely
responsible for popularizing the cult of Ra ̄ma in “Hindı ̄” idiom, and it was
after his time that pilgrimage sites for Ra ̄ma became more abundant in
upper Central India. Tulsı ̄da ̄s’ devotion was that of a servant for his master.^32
Mı ̄ra ̄baı ̄ (sixteenth century) has become an especially popular poetess
amongst women. She was apparently a Ra ̄jput princess who refused to
consummate her marriage to her royal husband because of her devotion to
Kr.s.n.a. She is also said to have defied the wishes of her in-laws in not worship-
ing Durga ̄ in favor of Kr.s.n.a. Tradition also claims she refused to immolate
herself on the funeral pyre of her husband when he was cremated.^33 In
short, she was depicted as the prototypical woman who transcended social
conventions in order to become the bride of Kr.s.n.a. The dialect of her
compositions was Ra ̄ jastha ̄nı ̄.
There were bhaktisingers in other parts of the subcontinent as well. For
example,Dadu of Rajasthan(1544–1603) was a mystic who espoused the
perception of the divine as nirgun.a, yet benevolent and gracious in a manner
consistent with both a vaidikavision and a Su ̄fı ̄ one. He was a contemporary
of Akbar and the Su ̄fı ̄ eclectic mystic scholar Da ̄ra ̄ Shikohwho may have
influenced Dadu. In the south, a new wave of bhaktiwas beginning in Tamil,
thanks in large measure to the musical poetry of Arun.akiri(early fifteenth
century?). Arun.akiri was a master of poetic medium – alliteration, meter,
assonance, etc. His deity, Murukan
̄
, was extolled for his “military prowess”
as if to suggest political instability needed the ministrations of a strong leader
148 Developments in the Late Medieval Period