Miniatures are small-sized paintings generally done in water colour on cloth or paper. The earliest miniatures were on palm leaves or wood.
These painters illustrated manuscripts containing historical accounts and poetry. The Mughal Emperors patronised these highly skilled painters

Baba Guru Nanak had a large number of followers. They belonged to a number of castes but traders, agriculturists, artisans and craftsmen predominated.

Ordinary people preserved the memory of Mirabai because
1.Though she was a Rajput princess married into the royal family of Mewar. But she had no interest of worldly affairs. Mirabai was devoted to Krishna and composed innumerable bhajans expressing her intense devotion.
2. Her devotion to her deity was supreme. She lived a simple life with ordinary people.
3. Her songs also openly challenged the norms of the 'upper' caste and became popular with the masses in Rajasthan and Gujarat.

The major teachings of Guru Nanak were
1.Guru Nanak emphasised the importance of the worship of one God. He insisted that caste, creed or gender was irrelevant for attaining liberation.
2.He also used the term nam, dan and isnan for the essence of his teachings, which actually meant right worship, welfare of others and purity of conduct.
3.He gave importance to right belief and worship, honest living and helping others.
4.He promoted the idea of equality.

The Narhpanthis, Siddhas and Yogis believed in the renunciation of the world. For them, the path of salvation lay in meditating on the formless ultimate realiry. They stressed on intense training of the mind and body through yogasanas, breathing exercises and meditation.

The given picture depicts the figure from Gita, the holy text of Hinduism. In the picture, the Lord Krishna is looking back to convince Arjuna, the one of five Pandavas to go ahead, fight for truth. Lord Krishna is explaining the philosophy of 'KARMA' (Duty) to Arjuna that is do your duty, under all circumstances and leave the rest on God.

A New wave of Bhakti movement erupted during the 13th century. This was an age when Islam, Brahmanical Hinduism, Sufism, various strands of Bhakti, the Nath panthis, Siddhas and yogis influenced one another.
The main reason was that the ordinary strata of the society such as craftspersons, peasants, traders, etc showed their interest in listening to these new saints. The notable saints like Kabir and Baba Guru Nanak did not approve the orthodox religions. Tulsidas and Surdas accepted existing beliefs and practices but wanted to make these accessible to all. Tulsidas conceived of God in theform of Rama who wrote Ramacharitmanas in praise of him.
Surdas was an ordent devotee of Krishna. His compositions compiled in the Sursagara, Sursarawali and Sahitya Lahari, express his devotion. Shankaradeva of Assam emphasised devotion to Vishnu and composed poems and plays in Assamese. Besides, Surdas, Dadu Dayal, Ravidas and Mirabai are worth mentioning about their role in Bhakti movement.

(i) Guru Nanak, (ii) Mirabai, Narsi Mehta (iii) Surdas (iv) Shankaradeva (v) Eknath, Tukaram, Namdev