Hinduism could not completely absorb Islam but was in turn influenced by it in two ways. On the one hand, the proselytizing zeal of Islam strengthened conservatism in the orthodox circles of the Hindus, who, with a view to fortifying their position against spread of the Islamic faith, increased the stringency of the caste rules and formulated a number of rules in the Smriti works. The most famous writers of this class were Madhava of Vijayanagar, whose commentary on a Parasara Smriti work entitled Kalanirnaya was written between A.D. 1335-1360; Visvesvara, author of Madanaparijata, a Smriti work written for King Madanapala (A.D. 1360-1370); the famous commentator of Manu, Kulluka, a Bengali author belonging to the Benares school by domicile; and Ragbunandan of Bengal, a contemporary of Chaitanya. On the other hand, some of the democratic principles of Islam made their way into the social and religious systems of the Hindus, and led to the rise of liberal movements under some saintly preachers. With some differences in details, all these reformers were exponents of the liberal Bhakti cult, the message of which they sought to carry before the unlettered masses. They preached the fundamental equity of all religions and the unity of Godhead, held that the dignity of man depended on his actions and not on his birth, protested against excessive ritualism and formalities of religion and domination of the priests, and emphasised simple devotion and faith as the means of salvation for one and all.
Among them, Ramananda occupies the first place in point of time, though it should be noted that there are differences of opinion regarding the dates of his birth and death. Born at Allahabad in a Kanyakubja Brahmana family, Ramananda travelled through the holy places of Northern India. He was a worshipper of Rama and preached the doctrine of Bhakti in Hindi, to members of all classes and both sexes. Thus, of his twelve principal disciples, one was a barber, another a cobbler and the third a Muhammadan weaver.
Another famous Vaishnava saint was Vallabhacharya, an exponent of the Krishna cult. He was born near Benares in A.D. 1479 of a Telugu Brahmana family, when the latter had come there on pilgrimage. He showed signs of genius in his early life. After finishing his education he went to the court of Krishnadeva Raya of Vijayanagar, where he defeated some Saiva pandits in public discussion. He advocated renunciation of the world and “insisted on the complete identity of both soul and world with the Supreme spirit”. His monism was known as Suddha-advaita or “Pure Non-Duality”. But abuses later on appeared among the followers of Vallabhacharya and, as Monier-Williams writes, “Vallabhacharyaism became in its degenerate form the Epicureanism of the East”.
The greatest and most popular of the Vaishnava saints was Chaitanya (1485-1533). Born in a learned Brahmana family of Nadia, in Bengal in A.D. 1485, Chaitanya displayed a wonderful literary acumen in his early life and his soul soon aspired to rise above the fetters of this world. He renounced it at the age of twenty-four and spent the rest of his life in preaching his message of love and devotion –eighteen years in Orissa, and six years in the Deccan, Brindavan, Gaur and other places. He is regarded by his followers as an incarnation of Vishnu. The essence of Chaitanyaism has been thus expressed by Krishnadas Kaviraj, the author of Chaitanyacharitamrita, the famous biography of Chaitanya: “if a creature adores Krishna and serves his Guru, he is released from the meshes of illusion and attains to Krishna’s feet”, and “leaving these (i.e. temptations) and the religious systems based on caste, (the true Vaishnava) helplessly takes refuge with Krishna”. Thus he was opposed to priestly ritualism and preached faith in Hari. He believed that through love and devotion, and song and dance, a state of ecstasy could be produced in which the personal presence of God would be realized. His gospel was meant for all, irrespective of caste and creed, and some of his disciples were drawn from the lower strata of Hindu society and from among Muslims. The influence of Chaitanya’s teachings on the masses of the people has been wide and profound.
In Maharashtra the religion of devotion was preached by Namadeva ; and among his followers a few were Muslim converts to Hinduism. Namadeva, who belonged to a caste of tailors or calico-printers, flourished probably during the first half of the fifteenth century. With his faith in the unity of Godhead, he did not set much store by idol-worship and external observances of religion. He believed that salvation could be attained only through love of God. Thus he said:
“Love for him who filleth my heart shall never be sundered,
Nama has applied his heart to the true Name.
As the love between a child and his mother,
So is my soul imbued in the God.”
Kabir made the most earnest efforts to foster a spirit of harmony between Hinduism and Islam. His life is shrouded in a good deal of obscurity, and the dates of his birth and death are uncertain. He flourished either towards the close of the fourteenth century or in the first quarter of the fifteenth century. A legend tells us that he was born of a Brahmana widow, who left him on the side of a tank in Benares, and was then found and brought up by a Muhammadan weaver and his wife. He is represented by tradition to have been ‘ a disciple of Ramananda. Though, as Dr. Carpenter puts it, “the whole background of Kabir’s thought is Hindu”, he was also influenced to a great extent by Sufi saints and poets with whom he came in contact. Thus he preached a religion of love, which would promote unity amongst all classes and creeds. To him ” Hindu and Turk were pots of same clay: Allah and Rama were but different names”. He wrote:
“It is needless to ask of a saint the caste to which he belongs;
The barber has sought God, the washerman and the carpenter-
Even Raidas was a seeker after God
The Rishi Swapacha was a tanner by caste
Hindus and Moslems alike have achieved that End
where remains no mark of distinction.”
Kabir did not believe in the efficacy of ritual, or external formalities, either of Hinduism or of Islam; to him the true means of salvation was Bhajan or devotional worship, together with the freedom of the soul from all sham, insincerity, hypocrisy and cruelty.
“It is not by fasting and repeating prayers and the creed
That one goeth to heaven;
The inner veil of the temple of Mecca
Is in man’s heart, if the truth be known.
Make thy mind thy Kaaba, thy body its enclosing temple,
Conscience its prime teacher; Sacrifice wrath, doubt, and malice;
Make patience thine utterance of the five prayers.
The Hindus and the Mussalmans have the same Lord.”
Another great preacher of the time was Nanak, the founder of Sikhism and the reviver of the pure monotheistic doctrine of the Upanishads. He was born in a Khatri family of Talwandi (modern Nankana), about thirty-five miles to the south-west of the city of Lahore, in A.D. 1469, and spent his whole life in preaching his gospel of universal toleration, based on all that was good in Hinduism and Islam. As a matter of fact,his mission was to put an end to the conflict of religions. Like Kabir, he preached the unity of Godhead, condemned with vehemence the formalism of both Hinduism and Islam. Thus he wrote:
“Religion consisteth not in mere words;
He who looketh on all men as equal is religious.
Religion consisteth not in wandering to tombs or places of cremation, or sitting in attitudes of contemplation.
Religion consisteth not in wandering in foreign countries, or in bathing at places of pilgrimage.
Abide pure amidst the impurities of the world;
Thus shalt thou find the way to religion.”
While advocating a middle path between extreme asceticism and pleasure-seeking, Nanak exhorted his followers to discard hypocrisy, selfishness and falsehood. He proclaimed:
Make continence thy furnace, resignation thy goldsmith,
Understanding thine anvil, divine knowledge thy tools,
The fear of God thy bellows, austerities thy fire,
Divine love thy crucible, and melt God’s name therein.
In such a true mint the Word shall be coined.
This is the practice of those on whom God looked with an eye of favour.”
Nanak’s religion being a proselytizing one, several Muslims were converted to it, and it gathered momentum under his successors.