Nimbark Sampraday is one of the four well known Sagun bhakti sampradayas, with its main seat at Salemabad in Rajasthan. The Sampraday was established by Parsuramdevji, the disciple of Harivyasdevacarya. He is said to be a Gurjar Gaud Brahmin of village Thikariya. Some poems of Parasuramdevji are Samjhani, Hindolo, Vipramtisi, padas and sakhis. Parasuramdevji had flourished from 1520 to 1600.
The poetry of Parasuramdevji consists of 2225 sakhis (dohas), 15 Carit and 13 Lila poems respectively in kavitt, savaiya and doha-caupai metres and about 600 padas. The sakhis are on 250 miscellaneous topics called Jodau, such as Pardesi Pritam ko, Virah Agani ko, Virhani ko, Hari Bhagati Hin ko.
Being the Acarya of the Nimbark Sampraday, Parsuramdevji was a devotee of the Sagun bhakti. The Carit and Lila poems are narrative and describe various incidents relating to the famous bhaktas, lilas of Incarnations, and exaltation of God. The Carit poems such as Das Avatar, Raghunath, Srikrishna, and Prahlad and Lila poems such as Amar Bodh, Nam Nidhi, Sanc Nisedh, Nij Rup, Nirwan and Hari Lila are his major narrative poems. Besides his sakhis, many padas dealing with the Nirgun bhakti are equally important. The main note of the sakhis is virah and love of God. The sakhis and the padas record his mystic experiences. The padas, besides other topics, also deal with the Sagun and Nirgun bhakti. Straight-forward self-communication and the spirit of surrender are notable in his stray verses. In his poems the heroic and redeemer aspects of Lord Rama and Lord Krishna are prominent, which is the main tendency of the Rajasthani Historical and Heroic poetry.
All the aspects of Navadha and five types of Bhakti, including the Nirgun type of Kanta bhakti and mysticism are depicted in the padas of Parsuramdevji. The Nikunj bhakti and upasana of Sahcari-Bhav are the accepted forms of upasana in this Sampraday. This is deemed to be a strict secret. It is important that Parasuramdevji has kept this sort of upasana as quite personal; it has not been indicated in his poems. Some of his expressions are so profound that they have become popular sayings in Rajasthan. His language is simple Rajasthani with a sprinkling of Braj here and there. His poetry is an example of synthesis, harmony and co-existence in the cultural and religious fields. His padas and Lila poems are meant to be sung in various musical modes. The Lila poems are a sort of Akhyan Kavya.
Tatwavetta is said to be the disciple of Parsuramdevji. His main seat was at Jaitaran. There he founded the Gopal Dwara, where a collection of his poems called Tatvettaji ki Vani is said to have been preserved in the manuscript form. The chappayas are in praise of God, the Incarnations and of famous mythological figures such as Narad, Janak, etc. The Vani mainly deals with perception and precepts. The language is Rajasthani mixed with Braj.
Thus it can be concluded saying that Nimbark Sampraday was mostly concerned with mythological figures and their exaltation.
