Impact of the Bhakti Saints on the Dalit Movement

The bhakti saints and poets like Kabir and Tukaram had also criticised Brahmanism, but their protest was of a very different order. Tukaram, for instance, exhorted his followers to reject the idea that salvation lay in reading holy books, fulfilling caste obligations, and making gifts to Brahmans. He preached that it was not caste superiority that made a man holy but simply love of God with a pure heart and such a man can belong to any caste, and can even be an untouchable. Though Phule was acquainted with the bhakti reformers but his protest was of a very different order. First, Phule’s protest was more secular and rational. 

The bhakti saints never confronted and refuted religious values that emphasised the caste hierarchy and the religious pre-eminence of the Brahmans. They never directly questioned or openly challenged the need for and position of the Brahmans as ritual performing mediators between Hindus and their Gods. Second, while the saints essentially provided individual solace to low caste believers, Phule for the first time tried to transcend individual appeals and mobilise the low caste community at large. Finally, unlike the saint-poets, Phule invoked the concept of public interest in opposing existing Hindu beliefs and institutions. For Phule the idea of the good of the community as a whole took precedence over religion.