Bhakti: devotion that could not be destroyed

Bhakti means personal, loving devotion to the divine, expressed in hymns in people's own languages. From the 7th century it grew in peninsular India; from the 14th century a strong wave spread across northern India, with Ramananda helping to link the southern and northern traditions. It stressed inclusion, equality, simplicity and everyday life. Eknath, for example, composed in Marathi and taught a path open to all, without needing any institution.

Bhakti took two broad forms: Nirguna bhakti, devotion to a formless divine, and Saguna bhakti, devotion to a divine with form and qualities. Its saints came from many social backgrounds.

A faith you can carry with you. When temples could not be built, or were being destroyed, devotees turned to worship that needs no building: nam kirtan, repeating the divine Name. Bhakti lived in local songs and satsang (gathering together), so it reached many people and was hard to suppress.

• Sankardev composed the Kirtana Ghosha, still central to Vaishnava traditions today.
• Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and Guru Nanak used community singing (sankirtan) to bring people together across social divides; Chaitanya once led public sankirtan in Bengal to protest when a Qazi restricted devotion.
• In Rajasthan, orders like the Dadu Panth and Niranjani Sampradaya gave stability; some kept warrior ascetics who protected trade routes and travelling saints and ran schools and medical help.
• The Ramayana and Mahabharata were retold in many regional languages. Tulsidas wrote the Ramcharitmanas in Awadhi, bringing Rama's story into ordinary homes.

Women saints rose to prominence too, from many backgrounds. Atukuri Molla, a potter's daughter from Andhra Pradesh, wrote the Molla Ramayanam in Telugu and recited it at Krishnadevaraya's court. Akka Mahadevi (Karnataka) and Lal Ded (Kashmir), both devotees of Shiva, gave up worldly comforts; Bahinabai of Maharashtra worshipped Vithoba while caring for her family. Lal Ded said it is easy to learn the scriptures but hard to live them.

Devotees came from many faiths: Raskhan wrote in Braj (Prem Vatika); Rahim, a Mughal commander, wrote Braj poems of devotion to Krishna; Bibi Lachimar, of Turkish origin, was a devotee of Vishnu. Kings also prayed to goddesses as protectors in war: Shivaji is believed to have received a sword from Tulja Bhavani.

Sufism, as the book describes it, was a mystical side of Islam with a more liberal outlook, which grew in India with the arrival of the Turks. It spread through orders (silsilahs): the Chishti and Suhrawardi under the Sultanate, the Qadiriyya and Naqshbandiya under the Mughals. Its khanqahs (hospices) and shrines became centres of popular religious life; Sufis used Indian languages such as Hindavi and Bengali, and some took up yogic practices.

Sulh-i-kul ('peace with all') became Mughal state policy in the later part of Akbar's reign. The book notes it had political aims - to win the support of powers other than Muslims - and that Akbar also distanced himself from some orthodox groups and showed reverence to the Sun.