QUESTION 1
GS1
10 marks
Evaluate the nature of the Bhakti literature and its contribution to Indian culture.
WRITE IN
7 min
150 words
What the examiner wants
Evaluate what kind of literature the Bhakti movement produced and how far it changed Indian culture.
EvaluateWeigh what works and what does not, and say how far it succeeds.
Demand-wise check
- 1Nature: devotional, in regional languages, composed by saints from many castes and both genders, oral and musical≈30 words
- 2Contribution to language and literature: Tamil (Alvars, Nayanars), Kannada vachanas, Marathi abhangs, Hindi (Kabir, Tulsidas, Surdas), Bengali (Chaitanya tradition)≈30 words
- 3Contribution to society and culture: challenge to caste and ritual, women saints, music and performing arts, Hindu–Muslim synthesis (Kabir, Nanak)≈30 words
- 4Limits: caste hierarchy largely survived; some streams became new sects with their own orthodoxy≈30 words
Open in about 20 words and close in about 20.
Answer plan
Brief origin (South India, 6th–9th century)Nature of the literatureContributions (language, society, arts, religion)LimitsVerdict
Where marks usually go
- Writing a history of the Bhakti movement instead of evaluating its literature
- Listing saints without saying what their writing changed
Draw this
- Map of India with one saint and language per region
Value addition
- ExampleBasavanna's Kannada vachanas (12th century) attacked caste and temple ritual in plain prose-poetry; Akka Mahadevi shows women's voice in the same tradition.Virashaiva vachana literature
- ExampleKabir's dohas and Guru Nanak's hymns are included in the Guru Granth Sahib (compiled 1604), alongside Muslim Sufi Baba Farid: evidence of the movement's cross-faith reach.Guru Granth Sahib
Mapped topper copies
Reviewed public-source references related to this PYQ. Same-syllabus references are labelled separately.
- Ajay R Raj · AIR 109 · Page 5 ↗Reviewed PYQ reference
- Akansh Dhull · AIR 3 · Page 23 ↗Reviewed PYQ reference
- Monika Srivastava · AIR 16 · Page 3 ↗Same syllabus reference
- Ajay R Raj · AIR 109 · Page 3 ↗Same syllabus reference
Links open original public sources. MainsBuddy does not host these answer sheets.
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