The Making of Religious culture
The Making of Religious culture > Ask Alfie
Hi
Who was Dharma Thakur?
1. Early Bengali literature may be divided into two categories – one indebted to Sanskrit and the other independent of it. 2. The first includes translations of the Sanskrit epics, the Mangal Kavyas (literally auspicious poems, dealing with local deities) and bhakti literature such as the biographies of Chaitanya Deva, the leader of the Vaishnava bhakti movement.
3. The second includes Nath literature. The Naths were ascetics who engaged in a variety of yogic practices whose literature includes the song, Maynamati. It is about a queen, encouraged her son Gopichandra to adapt the path of asceticism in the face of a variety of obstacles. Their stories also revolve around the worship of Dharma Thakur who is a popular regional deity, often worshipped in the form of a stone or a piece of wood. 4. The texts belonging to the first category are easier to date, as several manuscripts have been found indicating that they were composed between the late 15th and mid-18th centuries. Those belonging to the second category circulated orally and cannot be precisely dated. They were particularly popular in eastern Bengal, where the influence of Brahmanas was relatively weak.
3. The second includes Nath literature. The Naths were ascetics who engaged in a variety of yogic practices whose literature includes the song, Maynamati. It is about a queen, encouraged her son Gopichandra to adapt the path of asceticism in the face of a variety of obstacles. Their stories also revolve around the worship of Dharma Thakur who is a popular regional deity, often worshipped in the form of a stone or a piece of wood. 4. The texts belonging to the first category are easier to date, as several manuscripts have been found indicating that they were composed between the late 15th and mid-18th centuries. Those belonging to the second category circulated orally and cannot be precisely dated. They were particularly popular in eastern Bengal, where the influence of Brahmanas was relatively weak.
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Who was Maynamati?
Who was Maynamati?
