From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Bhakti movements are Hindu religious movements in which the main spiritual practice is the fostering of loving devotion to God, called bhakti. They originated in the South of India before Christ. Some of them are Shaiva. Others Vaishnava.
The first bhakti movement was started by Karaikkal-ammaiyar. She wrote poems in Tamil about her love for Shiva and probably lived in around the 6th century BC.
A great bhakti tradition in India is the Kali Bhakta tradition of the 17th to 19th century, richly demonstrated in the writings of Ramprasad Sen and the person of Shri Ramakrishna.
One of the bhakti movements in the Gaudiya Vaishnava sect of Hinduism that is well known in the USA and Europe is ISKCON/Hare Krishnas.
