Alvars, a group of twelve devotional
(bhakti) poet-saints who lived in south-
ern India between the seventh and tenth
centuries. Singing their hymns in the
Tamil language, the vernacular tongue
of their times, the Alvars propounded a
bhakti that was marked by passionate
devotion to God and characterized by a
profound emotional attachment
between deity and devotee. Along with
their Shaiva counterparts, the
Nayanars, the Alvars spearheaded the
revitalization of Hindu religion vis-à-vis
the Buddhists and the Jains, and in the
process, transformed the tradition as the
devotional wave they had begun moved
northward. The period between the
twelfth and sixteenth centuries saw the
development of various Vaishnava com-
munities, often stemming from a partic-
ular charismatic religious figure.
This process began in southern
India, where the philosopher Ramanuja
(11th c.) founded the Shrivaishnava
community, while the philosopher
Madhva(1197–1276) founded the com-
munity that bears his name. The next
great center was in Maharashtra, par-
ticularly in the Varkari Panth, which
was centered on the temple of Vithoba
in Pandharpur; some of this commu-
nity’s greatest figures were Jnaneshvar
(1275–1296?), Namdev (1270–1350),
Chokamela (d. 1338), Eknath (1533–
1599), and Tukaram(1598–1650). The
Maharashtra region also saw the rise of
the Mahanubhavsect, from the thir-
teenth century. At Purion India’s east-
ern coast one finds the worship of
Jagannath, a tribal deity assimilated
into the pantheon as a form of
Krishna. This was well established by
the twelfth century, as the poet
Jayadeva’s Gitagovinda clearly shows.
Finally, in northern India one finds sev-
eral vibrant religious groups. A very early
figure is the twelfth-century philosopher
Nimbarka, whose Nimbarkicommunity
bears his name; several centuries later
came Vishnuswami, about whom little
is known. The greatest explosion of
northern Indian devotionalism came
in the sixteenth century, with the
philosopher Vallabhacharya founding
the Pushti Marg, the Bengali saint
Chaitanya founding the Gaudiya
Vaishnava community, and the poet-
saint Harivamsh(d. 1552) founding the
Radhavallabh community. All these
were based in the Brajregion that is
Krishna’s mythic home, and all of them
worshiped Krishna: The Pushti Marg
and the Gaudiya Vaishnavas considered
him to be the supreme divinity, whereas
the Nimbarkis and the Radhavallabh
community worshiped him in conjunc-
tion with his consort Radha, whom they
considered Krishna’s wife and equal. It is
also in northern India that the worship
of Rama has its deepest roots, as exem-
plified in the songs of the poet-saint
Tulsidas (1532–1623?). Many of these
schools with long histories are still vital
in modern times.
The final Vaishnava community that
must be addressed is comprised of
ascetics. Vaishnava asceticismis a more
recent development than that of the
Shaivas (though dates are uncertain),
and it is largely located in the northern
part of India (the Shaivas are spread
throughout the country). Vaishnava
ascetics are known as Bairagis(“dispas-
sionate”) and are primarily organized
into four sampradays(religious sects
distinguished by unique bodies of
teachings), each connected with a major
Vaishnava figure. By far the most power-
ful is the Shri Sampraday of the
Ramanandi ascetics, which traces its
spiritual lineage through the poet-saint
Ramananda to the southern Indian
philosopher Ramanuja, whom they
claim was Ramananda’s guru. The
Sanaka Sampraday of the Nimbarki
ascetics traces its spiritual lineage to the
philosopher Nimbarka. The Rudra
Sampradayof the Vishnuswami ascetics
traces its lineage through the philoso-
pher Vallabhacharya to an earlier figure,
Vishnuswami. Finally, the Brahma
Sampraday, an ascetic subset of the
Gaudiya Vaishnava ascetics, traces its
spiritual line through the Bengali saint
Chaitanya to the southern Indian
philosopher Madhva.Vaishnava