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Rolling Pumpkin

Sectarian Rivalry in Art and Literature

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Down to A.D. 550 Buddhism and Jainism dominated the helm of affairs in the South. The Alvars and Nayanmar, heralds of a renaissance in religious matters, systematically propagated the cults of'Visnu and Siva. The Bhagavata movement of the North was the root of this neo-scenario. By about A.D. 700 the march of heterodox cal sects was checked. The bhakti-based sects, having set their foot strongly, started abusing mutually in an effort to muster mass following. The disputes were mostly in the form of philosophical arguments, barring exceptional cases of violent clashes. Definitely there was no armed belligerency as it took place in' the West (e.g., the Crusades and 100 Years War). Nor did they follow the jihads of Arab-Turkish iconoclasts who destroyed temples and erected minars. The 1 Saiva-Vaisnava joined by Sak.la and others, clashes were of the cold war type and had a tremendous impact on the iconographical developments of the medieval period. The grim effects of sectarianism may be discerned in the plastic and pictoral arts of which a number of samples are enumerated- and illustrated. These are backed by the literature of the age, especially the hagiological works and hymns of the bhakti savants.

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