Integration of cults

History glossary

Topic: Bhakti and Sufi Traditions · NCERT: Class 12, Ch 2 "Bhakti-Sufi Traditions"

Meaning

Integration of cults was a two-way process. Brahmanas spread their ideas to new groups through the Puranas (religious texts in simple Sanskrit verse). At the same time, they took in local gods and beliefs and reworked them into the Sanskrit tradition. It matters because it explains how worship in India, from about the 8th century, became a mosaic: many cults, gods and ways of worship side by side, all loosely tied to a few all-India gods.

Explanation

Background: why integration was needed

  • By c. 8th century, worship in India was not one single religion. Many cults (groups worshipping a particular god) existed side by side.
  • Vedic religion was closed to many people:
  • its language was old and hard

  • women and Shudras were not allowed to learn the Vedas.

  • Brahmanas needed a way to reach these people. They also needed to make room for the gods people already worshipped.

Process 1: Brahmanical ideas move outwards through the Puranas

  • The Puranas used simple Sanskrit verse, not the difficult language of the Vedas.
  • The Puranas themselves say they are meant for women and Shudras.

  • As a result, religion reached far more people than Vedic sacrifice ever had.

  • Sacred geography of the Puranas: local gods and local stories were linked to all-India cults. These cults centred on:

  • temples
  • mathas (monasteries where teachers and students lived and taught)

  • pilgrimage routes.

  • Several bhakti saints were Shudras. This shows the new devotion was open to people the Vedic system had shut out.

Process 2: local cults absorbed into the Brahmanical tradition

  • Brahmanas accepted local beliefs and gave them a Sanskrit form.
  • Jagannatha at Puri (Orissa) is the classic example:
  • He began as a local deity. His image is made of wood by local tribal specialists.
  • By the 12th century he was recognised as a form of Vishnu.
  • The image is made of neem wood. It is remade every twelve or nineteen years in a ceremony called Navakalevara ("naba" = new, "kalebara" = body) [2].
  • Navakalevara has two parts. Bahir-Banayaga happens outside the temple: a suitable neem tree is found and carried back in the Daru Jatra (procession of the wood). Antar-Banayaga happens inside the temple [2].

  • Jagannatha is worshipped as Daru Brahma, meaning the divine spirit living inside a wooden image. No other major Indian deity is worshipped this way [2].

  • Local goddesses became "wives" of the major gods:

  • They were often worshipped as just a stone smeared with ochre (red-brown earth colour), with no temple and no Sanskrit text.
  • They were made the wives of the principal male deities.
  • They were then equated with Lakshmi (wife of Vishnu) or Parvati (wife of Shiva).
  • The local shrine survived. Only the goddess's name and story changed.

Results: a mosaic, not a single religion

  • Old Vedic gods were pushed to the side. Agni, Indra and Soma become marginal in Puranic texts and temple sculpture.
  • But the Vedas were still respected as authoritative. People kept the old authority while setting aside the old gods.
  • The mixing was not peaceful. It came with conflict:
  • Vedic traditionalists condemned worship that went beyond sacrifice and mantra.
  • Vaishnavas (devotees of Vishnu) and Shaivas (devotees of Shiva) each claimed their own god was supreme.

  • Relations with Buddhists and Jainas were tense, and sometimes openly hostile.

  • This is why "Hinduism" of this period is best understood as many traditions, not one.

Time, place and evidence

  • Period: from about the 8th century onwards. This is the background to the bhakti-Sufi era (c. 8th–18th centuries).
  • Key site: the Jagannatha temple at Puri, Orissa. Jagannatha was accepted as a form of Vishnu by the 12th century.
  • Key thinker: Robert Redfield, a sociologist who studied peasant societies. He described this process as an exchange between the "great" tradition (Sanskritic, Puranic, all-India) and the "little" tradition (local, village-level).

  • Scholars are uncomfortable with these words, so they keep them in quotation marks. "Great" and "little" wrongly suggest that one is better than the other.

  • How we know:

  • Puranic texts: their simple verse, their stated audience of women and Shudras, and their sacred geography.
  • Temple sculpture, which shows the Vedic gods becoming marginal.
  • Living ritual at Puri: the Navakalevara ceremony, still performed with tribal specialists. IGNCA (a Government of India cultural body) has documented it under the theme "Sacred Heritage of Jagannath: Tribal and Regional Cultural Interface" [2].

Don't confuse with

  • "Great" and "little" traditions: this is Robert Redfield's framework for describing the process. Integration of cults is the process itself.
  • Tantric worship: Tantrics ignored the authority of the Vedas and set caste aside inside the ritual. Integration of cults was carried out by Brahmanas, who kept the Vedas as authoritative.
  • Bhakti movement: bhakti was devotion led by saints, several of them Shudras. Integration of cults is the earlier background process through which local gods entered the Puranic fold.
  • Navakalevara vs Daru Jatra: Navakalevara is the whole ceremony of remaking Jagannatha's wooden image every 12 or 19 years. Daru Jatra is only the procession that brings the neem wood to the temple, which is part of Bahir-Banayaga [2].

Prelims Hooks

  • Robert Redfield: sociologist who used the terms "great" and "little" traditions, based on his study of peasant societies.
  • Jagannatha, Puri (Orissa): a local deity whose wooden image is made by tribal specialists. He was recognised as a form of Vishnu by the 12th century.
  • The Puri images are made of neem wood and remade every 12 or 19 years in Navakalevara. Jagannatha is worshipped as Daru Brahma [2].
  • Local goddesses (often a stone smeared with ochre) were absorbed as wives of major gods and equated with Lakshmi or Parvati.
  • The Puranas were written in simple Sanskrit verse for women and Shudras, who were barred from the Vedas.
  • Trap: Agni, Indra and Soma became marginal in Puranic texts and sculpture, but the Vedas remained authoritative. They were not rejected.

Mains Points

  • Integration ran both ways.
  • Downwards: Puranic ideas reached women and Shudras through simple Sanskrit verse, temples, mathas and pilgrimage routes.
  • Upwards: local deities were drawn into the Sanskrit tradition.

  • Jagannatha shows both directions at one shrine. He was a tribal wooden deity, became a form of Vishnu by the 12th century, and is still carved with tribal specialists during Navakalevara [2].

  • The "great"/"little" framework is useful but contested. Redfield's terms capture the exchange between Sanskritic and local religion. However, the labels suggest a ranking that scholars reject. A good answer uses the terms and then points out this problem.

  • Integration came with conflict. Even as local cults were absorbed:
  • Vedic traditionalists attacked worship beyond sacrifice.
  • Vaishnavas and Shaivas each claimed supremacy.
  • Relations with Buddhism and Jainism stayed tense.
  • This is the setting in which the bhakti saints, several of them Shudras, later made their appeal.

Related concepts

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Sources

  1. 1Class 12, Ch 2 "Bhakti-Sufi Traditions" (primary)
  2. 2Navakalevara: The New Embodiment / Sacred Heritage of Jagannath: Tribal and Regional Cultural Interfaceignca.gov.in · tier 1