01 JUNE 2024

MAINS DAILY QUESTIONS & MODEL ANSWERS:

Q1. What were the factors and forces behind the rise of Bhakti movement in India? Throw light of nature of Bhakti movement in south India.

GS I – Indian Culture

Introduction:

• Bhakti was accepted as a means to attain moksha along with jnana and karma. The Bhakti Movement originated in the seventh-century in Tamil, South India (now parts of Tamil Nadu and Kerala), and spread northwards. It swept over east and north India from the 15th century onwards, reached its peak between the 15th and 17th century CE. The Bhakti Saints moved against the austerities propagated by the Buddhist and Jain schools and professed that ultimate devotion to god was the means to salvation.

Factors that led to the Bhakti movement:

Political:

• It has been pointed out that as the popular bhakti movement could not take root in Northern India before the Turkish conquest because the socio-religious milieu was dominated by the Rajput-Brahman alliance which was hostile to any heterodox movement.
• The Turkish conquests brought the supremacy of this alliance to an end.
• The advent of Islam with the Turkish conquest also caused a setback to the power and prestige commanded by the Brahmans.
• Thus, the way was paved for the growth of non-conformist movements, with anti-caste and anti-Brahminical ideology.
• The Brahmans had always made the people believe that the images and idols in the temples were not just the symbols of God but were gods themselves who possessed divine power and who could be influenced by them (i.e. the Brahmans).
• The Turks deprived the Brahmans of their temple wealth and state patronage. Thus the Brahmans suffered Both materially and ideologically.
• The non-conformist sect of the nathpanthis was perhaps the first to gain from the declining power of the Rajput-Brahman alliance.
• This sect seems to have reached its peak in the beginning of the Sultanate period.
• The loss of power and influence by the Brahmans and the new political situation ultimately created conditions for the rise of the popular monotheistic movements and other bhakti movements in Northern India.

Socio-economic:

• It has been argued that the bhakti movements of medieval India represented sentiments of the common people against feudal oppression.
• According to this viewpoint, elements of revolutionary opposition to feudalism can be found in the poetry of the bhakti saints ranging from Kabir and Nanak to Chaitanya and Tulsidas.
• It is in this sense that sometimes the medieval bhakti movements are an as Indian counterpart of the Protestant Reformation in Europe.
• However, there is nothing in the poetry of the bhakti saints to suggest that they represented the class interests of the peasantry against the surplus-extracting feudal state.
• The Vaishnava bhakti saints broke away from orthodox Brahminical order only to the extent that they believed in bhakti and religious equality.
• Normally, they continued to subscribe to many basic principles of orthodox Brahmanism.
• The more radical monotheistic saints rejected orthodox Brahminical religion altogether but even they did not call for the overthrow of the state and the ruling class.
• For this reason, the bhakti movements cannot be regarded as Indian variant of European Protestant Reformation which was a far greater social upheaval linked to the decline of feudalism and the rise of capitalism.

Religious:

• Evils in the Hindu Society: Hindu society was full of many social anomalies like rigidity of caste system, irrelevant rituals and religious practices, blind faiths and social dogmas. Common men in general had developed an adverse attitude towards these social evils and were in need of a liberal form of religion where they could identify themselves with simple religious practices.
• Complexity of religion: The high philosophy of the Vedas and Upanishads were very complicated for the common people. They wanted a simple way of worship, simple religious practices and simple social customs. Alternative was Bhakti marga—a simple way of devotion to get salvation from worldly life.
• Role of Religious Reformers: The chief exponents of the movement were Shankara, Ramanuja, Kabir, Nanak, Shri Chaitanya, Mirabai, Ramananda, Namdev, Nimbarka, Madhava, Eknath, Surdas, Tulsidas, Tukaram, Vallabhacharya and Chandidas. They were the propounders of Bhakti movement and gave a call to the people to worship in the simplest possible way of devotion and love.
• Challenge from Rival Religion: the impact of the Muslim rule and Islam put dread in the heart of Hindu masses. The Hindus had suffered a lot under some of the fanatic rulers. They wanted some solace to heal their despairing hearts.
• Influence of Sufism: The Sufi saints of the Muslim community also inspired the movement. Some similar chords in the two evoked resonance.

Nature of Bhakti movement in south India:

• The Bhakti Movement was essentially founded in South India and later spread to the North during the late medieval period.
• This Movement itself is a historical-spiritual phenomenon that crystallized in South India during Late Antiquity.
• It was spearheaded by devotional mystics (later revered as Hindu saints) who extolled devotion and love to God as the chief means of spiritual perfection.
• The Bhakti movement in South India was spearheaded by the sixty-three Nayanars (Shaivite devotees) and the twelve Alvars (Vaishnavaite devotees), who disregarded the austerities preached by Jainism and Buddhism but instead preached personal devotion to God as a means of salvation.
• These saints, some of whom were also women, spoke and wrote in local languages like Tamil and Telugu and travelled widely to spread their message of love and devotion to everyone, irrespective of caste, colour and creed.
• The  South  Indian bhakti saints were  critical  of  Buddhists and Jains who enjoyed a privileged status at the courts of South Indian kings at that time.  They  won  over  many  adherents  of  Buddhism  and  Jainism  both  of  which  by now had become rigid and  formal religions.

Bhakti Saints from South India:

• Shankaracharya, a great thinker, distinguished philosopher   and leader of the Hindu revivalist movement of the 9th century, who gave a new orientation to Hinduism.
• He was born in Kaladi (kerala) and propounded the Advaita (Monism) philosophy and Nirgunabrahman (God without attributes)
• Ramanuja (1017-1137) who hailed from modern Andhra Pradesh. He was a great Vaishnava teacher.
• He popularised the cult of devotion to a personal God and emphasized that salvation can be achieved through the bhakti marga alone.
• He redefined the Vedanta philosophy by laying greater stress on devotional worship to a personal God who constituted the supreme reality.
• Vallabhacharya was another prominent Vaishnava saint from the south. He advocated a system of pure non-dualism. He glorified the intense love of Radha and Krishna.
• He advocated a universal religion that did not believe in distinctions of caste, creed, sex, or nationality. He insisted on the complete identity of both soul and world with the supreme spirit. Hiss philosophy was known as shuddhadvaita or pure nondualism.
• Madhvacharya, a Vaishnava saint from the south wrote as many as thirty-seven works on Vaishnavism.
• His works mostly deal with the bhakti cult based on the concept of dualism (dvaita) as distinct from the monistic philosophy of Shankaracharya.
• Basavanna or Lord Basaveshwara was an Indian 12th-century statesman, philosopher, a poet and Lingayats saint in the Shiva-focussed Bhakti movement and a social reformer in Karnataka.
• He was a philosopher and a social reformer, who fought against social evils of his time such as caste system and the ritual practices of Hinduism.
• His teachings were based on rational, progressive social thoughts. His teachings and philosophy transcend all boundaries and address the universal and eternal.
• Akkamahadevi:During the 12th century CE, Akkamahadevi, also known as Akka or Mahadevi, belonging to the southern region of Karnataka, established herself as an ardent devotee of Shiva whom she addressed as Chennamallikarjuna.

Conclusion:

• Bhakti cult was out-of-the-box thoughts on religion. It was mainly against the common religious views, and most importantly, it was strongly against the caste system. With such long-lasting impacts, the religious depression of the medieval society was set aside. The teachings acted as a healing balm to the suppressed classes. A deep-rooted change came about to lay the foundations of a liberal and composite Indian society.

Q2. Tribunals in India face a number of administrative constraints which add up to delays in disposal of cases and underutilisation of Indian tribunal system. Analyse.

GS II – Government Policies and Interventions

Introduction:

• Tribunal means a set or a bench upon which judge or judges sit and decide controversies between the parties and exercises judicial powers as distinguished from purely administrative functions. It is a quasi-judicial institution that is set up to deal with problems such as resolving administrative or tax-related disputes. Part XIV-A of the Constitution which consist of two articles 323A and 323B deals with these Tribunals  E.g.: National Green Tribunal, Central Administrative Tribunal etc

• The Chief Justice of India N V Ramana had termed the state of tribunals and the thousands of litigants waiting for justice “pitiable”.

Constraints faced by tribunals in India:

• The manner of appointment of its members, performance appraisal, career path for tribunal members, remuneration, terms of service, are all outside the oversight of the judiciary. This is the foremost problem with tribunalisation.
• In India, executive interference in the functioning of tribunals is often seen in matters of appointment and removal of tribunal members, as well as in provision of finances, infrastructure, personnel and other resources required for day-to-day functioning of the tribunals.
• Administrative tribunals, with their separate laws and procedures often made by themselves, puts a serious limitation upon the principles of Rule of Law.
• Most of the tribunals do not enjoy the same amount of independence of the Executive as do the Courts and the judges.
• Recently, the Chief Justice of India NV Ramana-led bench of the Supreme Court pulled up the central government for the rising number of vacancies in various law tribunals across the country. The bench asked the centre to “clear its stand” on the urgent need to fill these vacancies.
• The civil and criminal courts have a uniform pattern of administering justice. A uniform code of procedure in administrative adjudication is not there.
• Administrative tribunals are manned by administrators and technical heads who may not have the background of law or training of judicial work. At times they adopt summary procedures to deal with cases coming before them
• In Chandra Kumar case, SC held that the appeals to such tribunals lies before the court and hence defeats the whole purpose of reducing burden of the superior courts.
• Since the tribunals are mainly chaired by the retired judges who are appointed by the government, so the present judges in courts may favour government in certain matter to gain political patronage in appointment to such tribunals after retirement.
• Lack of adequate infrastructure to work smoothly and perform the functions originally envisioned for them. There is a lack of understanding of the staffing requirements in tribunals.

National tribunal commission – a way forward:

• The idea of an NTC was first mooted by the Supreme Court in L. Chandra Kumar v. Union of India (1997).
• NTC is envisaged to be an independent umbrella body to supervise the functioning of tribunals, appointment of and disciplinary proceedings against members, and to take care of administrative and infrastructural needs of the tribunals.
• NTC will support uniform administration across all tribunals. It could set performance standards for the efficiency of tribunals and their own administrative processes.
• Giving the NTC the authority to set members’ salaries, allowances, and other service conditions, subject to regulations, would help maintain tribunals’ independence.
• The NTC could pave the way for the separation of the administrative and judicial functions carried out by various tribunals.
• A ‘corporatised’ structure of NTC with a Board, a CEO and a Secretariat will allow it to scale up its services and provide requisite administrative support to all tribunals across the country.
• NTC could function as an independent recruitment body to develop and operationalise the procedure for disciplinary proceedings and appointment of tribunal members.
• An NTC will effectively be able to bring in uniformity in the appointment system meanwhile ensuring that it is independent and transparent.

Conclusion:

• The tribunalisation of justice was introduced to speed up the adjudication process, and they have been productive in their goal. The tribunals have carved out a distinct position in the Indian landscape by adjudicating several interesting issues. The independence of these tribunals was described as a fundamental feature of the Indian Constitution in the case of Rojer Mathew’s decision. This fundamental feature must be encapsulated and maintained in reality through the creation of the NTC, which will be solely responsible for choosing, monitoring, and removing appointees to make sure that the tribunals are occupied with men of honesty and great behaviour.