Sant Poetry

Sant Poetry or the devotional peoms from Rajasthan consists of poems concerning Sagun and Nirgun types of Bhakti. Emergence and preponderance of Sant poetry and Akhyan poetry are the main features of the Medieval Period. Rajasthani is as rich in the Sant poetry as it is in the folk literature. The main characteristic of Sant poetry is that it deals with the Nirgun bhakti which inclines towards the Sagun bhakti also indicating at times the Yogsadhana or using the yoga terminology, particularly popular in the Nath-Sadhana.

Background of Sant Poetry

• Namdev (1270-1350) and his Hindi poetry. Namdev was the forerunner of Sant poetry with the types of Hindi poems which he had written during his life time.

• Swami Ramanand (1299-1410) and the Bhakti Sadhana of his disciples.

• The Naths, their yog-sadhana and literature.

• The popular customs and traditions relating to religious, cultural and philosophical currents drawn mainly from the Upanishads, Purans, the Ramayana, the Mahabharata, Prasthan-Trayi, Smrtis and Sankar Vedant.

• The then existing social and historical conditions including the reaction to the advent of Islam.

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.