gh he kept up the social barrier between
them and the higher castes, and he firmly upheld the principle of the
Bhagavad-gita that it is by the performance of religious and social
duties of caste, and not by knowledge alone, that salvation is most
surely to be won. He established schools and monasteries, reorganised
the worship of the temples, usually in accordance with the Pancharatra
rules, and thus placed his church in a position of such strength in
Southern India that its only serious rival is the church of Siva.

Nimbarka, who probably flourished about the first half of the twelfth
century, preached for the cult of Krishna a doctrine combining monism
with dualism, which is followed by a small sect in Northern India.
Ananda-tirtha or Madhva, in the first three quarters of the thirteenth
century, propounded for the same church a theory of thorough dualism,
which has found many admirers, chiefly in the Dekkan. Vallabhacharya,
born in 1479, founded a school of Krishna-worshippers which claims a
"pure monism" without the aid of the theory of _maya_, or illusion,
which is a characteristic of Samkara's monism. This community has
become very influential, chiefly in Bombay Presidency; but in recent
times it has been under a cloud owing to the scandals arising from a
tendency to practise immoral orgies and from the claims of its
priesthood, as representing the god, to enjoy the persons and property
of their congregations.

Besides these and other schools which were founded on a basis of
Sanskrit scholastic philosophy, there have been many popular religious
movements, which from the first appealed directly to the heart of the
people in their own tongues.

The first place in which we see this current in movement is the
Maratha country. Here, about 1290, Jnanesvara or Jnanadeva, popularly
known as Jnanoba, composed his Jnanesvari, a paraphrase of the
Bhagavad-gita in about 10,000 Marathi verses, as well as a number of
hymns to Krishna and a poem on the worship of Siva. To the same period
belonged Namadeva, who was born at Pandharpur, according to some in
1270 and according to others about a century later. Then came
Ekanatha, who is said to have died in 1608, and composed some hymns
and Marathi verse-translations from the Bhagavata. The greatest of all
was Tukaram, who was born about 1608.[32] In the verses of these
poets the worship of Krishna is raised to a level of high
spirituality. Ramananda, who apparently lived between