- Religious thinkers of India
India has been home to a large number of religious thinkers and spiritualists. A major reason for this has been the tolerant and liberalist traditions inbuilt in ancient Indian society. Another reason is the huge diversity of people found here. A majority of the religious thinkers have advocated themselves as reformers and not as prophets or founders of new religions.The most important religious figures include Buddha,
Mahavira andGuru Nanak Dev . Buddha and Guru Nanak were the founders of the Buddhist and Sikh religions, Mahavira, the last and 24th Jain Tirthankara was the reviver and reformer of the Jain religion propagated by previous 23 Tirthankaras.Buddhism
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Mahakasyapa - patriarch of the Buddhistsangha
*Nagarjuna -Mahayana philosopher, known forsunyata
*Asoka - royal patron
*Bodhidharma - 28th patriarch, founder ofZen , introducing Buddhism toChina and East AsiaHinduism
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Adi Shankaracharya
*Ramanujacharya
*Madhvacharya
*Vedanta Desika
*Manavala Mamuni
*Ayya Vaikundar –Initiator ofAyyavazhi ; Social reformer.
*Chaitanya Mahaprabhu
*Ram Mohan Roy –Initiator of theBrahmo Samaj movement, which aimed at developing a universal religion in the nineteenth century.
*Swami Dayananda –Founder of theArya Samaj , a version of Hinduism which is opposes the ideologies of polytheism, idolatry, iconolatry, animal sacrifice, ancestor worship, pilgrimage, priestcraft, the belief in avatars or incarnations of God, the hereditary caste system,untouchability and child marriage on the grounds that all these lack Vedic sanction.
*Swami Vivekananda –A disciple ofRamakrishna , he started theRamakrishna Mission , a monastic movement with great stress on humanitarian work.
*Sri Aurobindo –Yoga guru, who proposed yogictantra s to attain divine bliss.
*Sri Narayana Guru –Social reformer who worked for the upliftment of people from the lower caste inKerala .Other important figures include
Basava ,Rabindranath Tagore ,Mahatma Gandhi andVinayak Damodar Savarkar .Islam
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Moinuddin Chishti - He started theChishti Order in India.
*Fariduddin Ganjshakar - Another Sufi saint in the Chishti order whose teachings have also been included in Sikhism.
*Amir Khusro - A Sufi poet, and disciple ofNizamuddin Auliya , he is credited with being the founder of both Hindustani classical music and Qawwali(the devotional music of the Sufis).
*Ahmad Sirhindi - He was a prominent propagator of theNaqshbandi Sufi order in India.
*Sufi Salik Pore Quadiria - A Sufi saint in theQuadiria Order , in Asia . A propagator of continuous prayers and total surrender to the Creator.Other important figures include
Kabir ,Ali Hujwiri ,Akbar ,Mirza Ghulam Ahmad , andSyed Ahmed Khan .Other important thinkers
The
Sikh Gurus undoubtedly were very important in propounding the tenets of Sikhism. Thomas, one of the twelve disciples ofJesus , is believed to have preached and finally died in India.cite news
first = Akhel
last = Mathew
title = Row over Pope's remark on St Thomas
url = http://archive.gulfnews.com/articles/06/11/23/10084503.html
work = gulfnews.com
publisher = Al Nisr Publishing LLC
date =23 November 2006
accessdate = 2007-04-20 ] SaintFrancis Xavier also developed aJesuit missionary method that left a significant impression upon the missionary history of India.ee also
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Religion in India Notes
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