Background of Sant Poetry The poets who have enriched this tradition may be grouped into two categories: the originators, propounders and followers of different sampradayas, and those who were free from any traditional bond of religion or sampraday. Different Sant Sampradayas and their Poetry Many Sampradayas originated and flourished in Rajasthan during the Medieval Period. The Sampradayas whose, literary, cultural, or ideological contributions are of high significance were the Nath Sampradaya, the Rasik Sampradaya, the Visnoi Sampradaya, the Jasnathi Sampradaya, Niranjani Sampradaya, Nimbark Sampradaya, Dadu Sampradaya, Laldasi Sampradaya, Suk Sampradaya, Ram Snehi Sampradaya and a lot more. Nath Sampradaya was Goraknath and his followers in whole of Rajasthan in the 11th century. Goraknath organised and regulated all prominent yog-sampradayas, which later developed in the framework prepared by him. His main emphasis was on Hatha Yoga and Kaya-Siddhi or culture of the body. Rasik Sampradaya had been propounded by Agradasji in the Raiwasa and Jaipur region of Rajasthan. Agradas, however, established his separate Gaddi at Raiwasa near Sikar (Rajasthan). He was the propounder of the upasana of Madhur-Bhav in Ram-Bhakti and the Sampraday he originated is popularly called Rasik. Visnoi Sampradaya had begun mainly in the northern and south-western part of Rajasthan by Jambhoji. He was a brahmacari and had left home for ever at the age of 34 and had founded the Visnoi Sampraday in 1485, at Sambharathal, a high sandy hill near the present village Mukam in Nokha, Bikaner. This was the first Sant Sampraday of Northern India. Similarly many other Sampradayas like the Jasnathji, the Niranjani and many others originated in various parts of Rajasthan with different ideologies and philosophies. But a common string ran among the literary pieces of these sampradayas and together the poems composed by members of these sampradayas were known as Sant Poetry. |