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In medieval India many religious motivated resistance-movements raised within the Hindu society, opposing the social, religious and political situation
of their country.
The Hindu society of those times experienced a pressure from two sides. On one side there was a foreign rule, starting with the conquest of the
north-indian province Sind by Ya'qub-ibn-Lais in 712 AD and spreading from then on continuously throughout the whole country. Another evil was given by the rigidity of the Hindu caste-system (varna, jati).
The Moslem rulers put a heavy burden on the hindu society. They suppressed the people on all levels: they destroyed their temples and idols, they
forced them either to adopt the Islam creed or to live under miserable conditions, they put a tax-system on the society in exchange for the right of military protection and in general treated them as a second-class
society.
The Hindu caste - system divided the society in four main groups (brahmans, kshatriyas, vaisyas, sudras), putting the brahmana-priests on top of
society, followed by the kshatriyas and vaisyas (military, upper class of merchants) and separating these groups strictly from the lower class of sudras and the classes on the bottom of society. This social system
regulated the social intercourse and social behaviour between all groups (interdining, hospitality, marriage and the like). The people of the lower strata of society had practically no social rights and no chance to
change their status.
The reform-movements of medieval times followed a very similar concept: The loving and devotional worship of a personal god (bhakti), a fact that made
the movement popular as 'bhakti-movement', as well as a social-critical attitude. The individual bhakti-schools worshipped in most cases different gods.
One of the most famous reform-movements was initiated by Sri-krsna-caitanya (1486-1533 AD), a bengal brahman and ecstatic mystic. Sri-krsna-caitanya,
who became famous under the short-form of his name Caitanya, was a follower of the Vaishnava-school (which worshipped the god Vishnu and his different forms). Like many of his contemporaries, he travelled many years
through the whole country, carrying his message to all people, who were willing listening to him. The main concern of his preaching was the religious freedom of every individual, equality of mankind before god and a
common worship. He envisioned a religious community, transcending caste and family-ties, simply joined together through the loving devotion towards the god Krsna and his consort Radha. The centre of the worship of
this heavenly couple was the devotional singing of their names (sankirtana), a ritual practice, containing music and dance as important elements and showing often the presence of ecstasy. This religious practice,
which was performed in the houses of the devotees, but in order of publicity, very often was held also in public, became very popular and increased their members continuously. The community was open to everyone, not
distinguishing between sex and social status and had many social by-products, which are to be seen until the present time in India.
Other famous contemporarys of Caitanya were Kabir, Guru Nank, Mira Bai, Tukaram, Nam Dev, Eknath and the like.
Today one can find a continuation of the Caitanya-movement in the ISKCON (International Society of Krsna Consciousness, better known as the
'Hare-Krsna--Movement'), a religious association, which counts many thousands members throughout the whole world, having its main support in USA.
Bibliography:
Eidlitz, Walther: Sri-Krsna-Caitanya: His Life and Doctrine, Stockholm, 1968.
Gonda, Jan: Die Religionen Indiens, 2 Bände,Stuttgart, 1960.
Krsnadasa Kaviraj: Caitanya-Caritamrta, 20 Bände, The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust, New York.
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