To read about the contribution of Bhakti Saints in detail, Visit: His dharma was based on the four components of deva (god), naam (prayers), bhakats (devotees), and guru (teacher).His teaching focused on prayer and chanting (naam) instead of idol worship.

Sankardeva propagated a form of Bhakti called eka-sharana-naam-dhrama, and espoused a society based on equality and fraternity, free from caste differences, orthodox Brahmanical rituals and sacrifices.Preaching through local or regional languages and travelling from place to place for spreading the religious message.Need of a guru for guidance advocated by some.No distinction of different castes, higher or low.Emphasized on fundamental unity of all religions.Did not linked themselves with any particular religious creed.Open- mindedness about deciding religious matters.Rejection of idol worship by many saints.Condemnation of rituals, ceremonies and blind faith.Bhakti, intense love and devotion, the only way to salvation.Unity of God or one God though known by different names.Emergence of Great Reformers: Hindu liberals like Rmanuja, ChaitanyaMahaprabhu, Kabir, etc emphasized aspects like equality irrespective of caste, creed, and colour, virtues of kindness of heart and mind, devotion to one God (monotheism), freedom from all kinds of ritualism and preaching in the language of the common people.Rival religions like Islam: The Islamic principles of one God, equality and fraternity of mankind and complete surrender to God appealed to the liberal Hindus.

severe economic disparity due to casteism, untouchability etc.

irrelevant rituals and religious practices,.

Reasons behind rise of Bhakti Movement in a nutshell

It was at this juncture, that Bhakti Movement began in the Tamil that had gradually spread to the rest of India.

The poor and downtrodden people became victims of these ghastly practices.

Various malpractices were committed in the name of religion, which vitiated the social structure included animal and human sacrifices, magical rites, spels, casteism etc.

In the 7 th-8 th century AD the social fabric of India was torn by all round degradation and cultural distortion and corruption permeated all section of the society, right from the ruling class to the priestly class.

Bhakti arose in South India in the 7th to 10th centuries in poems that the Alvars(Vaishnavite) and the Nayanars (Shaivites) composed in Tamil to the gods Vishnu and Shiva, respectively.

Bhakti in Sanskrit, means “attachment, fondness, homage, faith, love, devotion, worship and is usually used to denote devotion to and love for a personal god.

The Bhakti movement, was a cultural, social and religious revolution.

Bakthi tamil magazine