Editing Bhakti movement (section)

===Initial development in Tamil lands===
[[file:Kalamegaperumal1 (2).jpg|thumb|[[Nammalvar]] (c. 798 CE), one of the Tamil [[Alvars]] and author of the ''[[Tiruvaymoli]]'' and the ''[[Tiruviruttam]]'']]

[[File:Thiruthalinathar Shiva temple, Tiruppathur Tamil Nadu - 04.jpg|thumb|Nayanars gallery at the Thiruthalinathar Shiva temple, Tiruppathur, a [[Shaiva Siddhanta]] temple. One important foundation of the Shaiva Siddhantha tradition is the Shaiva bhakti of the Nayanars.]]
[[File:Andal-painting.jpg|thumb|Depiction of [[Andal]], a major poet of the Bhakti movement of [[Vaishnavism]]]]

The Bhakti movement originated in [[Tamilakam]] during the seventh to eighth century CE, and remained influential in [[South India]] for some time. In the second millennium, a second wave of bhakti spread northwards through [[Karnataka]] (c. 12th century) and gained wide acceptance in fifteenth-century [[Assam]],<ref>{{Cite book|last=Neog|first=Maheswar|title=Early History of the [[Vaishnavism|Vaishnava]] Faith and Movement in Assam: Śaṅkaradeva and His Times|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass Publishers|year=1980}}</ref> [[Bengal]] and [[North India|northern India]].{{sfnp|Schomer|McLeod|1987|p=1}}<ref name=":0">Brockington, J. L. (1996). ''The Sacred Thread: Hinduism in Its Continuity and Diversity'', p. 130. Edinburgh University Press.</ref>  

According to Brockington, the initial [[Tamils|Tamil]] Bhakti movement was characterized  by "a personal relationship between the deity and the devotee", and "fervent emotional experience in response to divine grace".<ref name=":0" /> The Bhakti movement in [[Tamil Nadu]] was composed of two main parallel groups: [[Shaivism|Shaivas]] (who also worshipped local deities like [[Shiva]] or his son [[Kartikeya|Murugan/Kartikeya]]) and [[Vaishnavism|Vaishnavas]] (who also worshipped local deities like [[Perumal (deity)|Tirumāl]]). The [[Vaishnavism|Vaishnava]] [[Alvars]] and Shaiva [[Nayanars]] and, who lived between 5th and 9th century CE.<ref name="Embree">{{cite book |last=Embree |first=Ainslie Thomas |title=Sources of Indian Tradition |author2=Stephen N. Hay |author3=William Theodore De Bary |publisher=Columbia University Press |year=1988 |isbn=978-0-231-06651-8 |page=342 |author-link=Ainslie Embree}}</ref> They promoted love of a personal God first and foremost which is also expressed by love of one's fellow human beings. They also wrote and sang hymns of praise to their God, and came from numerous social classes, even [[Shudra|shudras]].<ref>Brockington, J. L. (1996). ''The Sacred Thread: Hinduism in Its Continuity and Diversity'', pp. 130-33. Edinburgh University Press.</ref> These poet saints became the backbone of the [[Sri Vaishnavism|Sri Vaishnava]] and [[Shaiva Siddhanta]] traditions.<ref>Brockington, J. L. (1996). ''The Sacred Thread: Hinduism in Its Continuity and Diversity'', pp. 139-140. Edinburgh University Press.</ref>

The Alvars, which literally means "those immersed in God", were Vaishnava poet-saints who sang praises of Vishnu as they traveled from one place to another.<ref name=olson /> They established temple sites such as [[Srirangam]], and spread ideas about [[Vaishnavism]]. Various poems were compiled as Alvar Arulicheyalgal or [[Divya Prabhandham|Divya Prabandham]], developed into an influential scripture for the Vaishnavas. The ''[[Bhagavata Purana]]'''s references to the South Indian Alvar saints, along with its emphasis on ''bhakti'', have led many scholars to give it South Indian origins though some scholars question whether that evidence excludes the possibility that Bhakti movement had parallel developments in other parts of India.<ref>{{cite book| last=Sheridan| first=Daniel| title= The Advaitic Theism of the Bhagavata Purana |publisher=South Asia Books |location=Columbia, Mo |year=1986 |isbn=81-208-0179-2}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | first=J. A. B. |last=van Buitenen | author-link=J. A. B. van Buitenen | chapter=The Archaism of the Bhāgavata Purāṇa |title=Encyclopedia Indica | year = 1996| editor=S.S. Shashi | isbn=978-81-7041-859-7 | pages=28–45 }}</ref>

Like the Alvars, the Shaiva Nayanars were Bhakti poet saints. The ''[[Tirumurai]]'', a compilation of hymns on Shiva by sixty-three Nayanar poet-saints, developed into an influential scripture in Shaivism. The poets' itinerant lifestyle helped create temple and pilgrimage sites and spread spiritual ideas built around Shiva.<ref name=olson>{{cite book|last=Olson|first=Carl|title=The many colors of Hinduism: a thematic-historical introduction|publisher=[[Rutgers University Press]]|year=2007|page=231|isbn=978-0-8135-4068-9}}</ref> Early Tamil-Shiva Bhakti poets influenced Hindu texts that came to be revered all over India.{{sfnp|Pechilis Prentiss|2014|pages=17-18}}