Who among the following Bhakti saints did not belong to Nirguna School of Bhakti?

Correct — D, Chaitanya. The Nirguna stream worships a divine without form or attributes, rejects images and temple ritual, and is generally indifferent to caste distinctions in worship; Kabir, Guru Nanak and Dadu Dayal all belong to it. Chaitanya does not. His devotion was to Krishna as a personal deity with a name, a form and a history, expressed through congregational singing, dance and the ecstatic kirtan processions of Nabadwip and Puri, and the Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition he founded made image worship central. Saguna bhakti is the label for that stream, and Chaitanya is one of its clearest examples.

• (a)Kabir — The best-known Nirguna voice. His verses reject both temple and mosque and speak of a formless divine reached without intermediaries.
• (b)Nanak — Guru Nanak taught worship of a formless creator, rejected image worship and ritual, and set up congregational practice around the remembrance of the divine name.
• (c)Dadu — Dadu Dayal of Gujarat and Rajasthan led the Dadu Panth, squarely within the Nirguna tradition and often grouped with Kabir and Nanak.

Bhakti divides on the question of what is worshipped. Saguna bhakti addresses a deity with attributes — Rama, Krishna, or a form of the Goddess — and finds its expression in image worship, temple ritual and narrative poetry. Nirguna bhakti addresses a divine without attributes and tends to be sceptical of both image and priest. The two streams shared much else, including the use of regional languages and the involvement of people outside the twice-born castes.

The item is a straight sorting exercise. Three names go into one column and one into the other, and any of the three well-known Nirguna saints can be used as an anchor. Chaitanya stands out because his practice is unmistakably devotional towards a named deity — the kirtan tradition he began in Bengal is inseparable from the name and form of Krishna, which is exactly what Nirguna worship sets aside.

• Nirguna bhakti worships a divine without form or attributes; Kabir, Nanak, Dadu and Ravidas belong to it.
• Saguna bhakti worships a deity with attributes; Chaitanya, Tulsidas, Surdas and Mirabai belong to it.
• Chaitanya, born at Nabadwip in 1486, founded the Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition and spent his later years at Puri.
• Congregational kirtan is the practice most closely associated with him.
• Ravidas, a Nirguna saint, is often grouped with Kabir; the Ashta-chhapa poets of Braj belong instead to the Saguna side.

• Assuming that every bhakti saint who wrote in a regional language rejected image worship.
• Grouping Chaitanya with the Nirguna saints because his movement also cut across caste.

A sorting item with three names from one stream and a single outlier.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Which of these Bhakti saints belongs to the Saguna stream?

  • (a)Kabir
  • (b)Tulsidas
  • (c)Dadu Dayal
  • (d)Ravidas

  Answer(b) Tulsidas — his Ramcharitmanas is devotion to Rama as a deity with name and form.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Chaitanya is most closely associated with the worship of

  • (a)Shiva
  • (b)Krishna
  • (c)The formless divine
  • (d)Surya

  Answer(b) Krishna — the Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition he founded centres on Krishna bhakti and congregational kirtan.