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Yet, curiously, he was later revered as a mahasiddha, a siddha of siddhas and a Great Brahmana.Ībhinavgupta (950-1016) was a Shavaite sage and considered an earthly incarnation of the fearsome Bhairava. “If nudity can earn liberation, then dogs and foxes are most eligible,” he preached.

His teachings were even considered irreverent and subversive. Sarahapada (100-200 CE) was a maverick mystic philosopher who made fun of monks for their practice of renunciation, questioned Vedic authority and challenged the dominant narratives of his time. Indeed, some of this might sound blasphemous in today’s India. It included not only Hindu, Buddhist, Jain and Sikh ideas but also Christian and Islamic one. Rather, Rao says, Indian thought needed to be understood in plural terms. So much so that one cannot pinpoint and assert any one idea as ‘Indian philosophy’.

And some of the best known mystics attempted to bridge the divide between Hinduism and Islam. He was critical of religious orthodoxy and authoritarianism and chided Hindus and Muslims alike.Ĭontrary to what is widely believed, India’s spiritual story is not all about Brahmanical beliefs, debates and disputes about Sanskrit literature, Upanishads and the Gita or even the caste system.Īccording to author Mukunda Rao, the spiritual strivings that were non-Vedic in origin and character outnumbered Vedic forms. But going by his evergreen poems, it appears he had an intimate knowledge and understanding of Hindu thought and mythology too. He was born to or adopted by a Muslim family of weavers and so he was well acquainted with Islam. ‘India’s Greatest Minds: Spiritual Masters, Philosophers, Reformers,’ Mukunda Rao, Hachette India, 2022.Īnother saint who attracted both Muslims and Hindus was Kabir (1398-1448/55).