Bhakti (also spelled Bhakthi, Sanskrit: भक्ति) in Hinduism and Buddhism is religious devotion in the form of active involvement of a devotee in worship of the divine. Within monotheistic Hinduism, it is the love felt by the worshipper towards the personal God, a concept expressed in Hindu theology as Iṣṭa-devatā (also as Svayam Bhagavan in Gaudiya Vaishnavism).

Bhakthi can be used of either tradition of Hindu monotheism, Shaivaism or Vaishnavism. While bhakti as designating a religious path is already a central concept in the Bhagavad Gita, it rises to importance in the medieval history of Hinduism, where the Bhakti movement saw a rapid growth of bhakti beginning in Southern India with the Vaisnava Alvars (6th-9th century CE) and Saiva Nayanars (5th-10th century CE), who spread bhakti poetry and devotion throughout India by the 12th-18th century CE. The Bhagavata Purana is text associated with the Bhakti movement which elaborates the concept of bhakti as found in the Bhagavad Gita.

The Bhakti movement reached North India in the Delhi Sultanate and throughout the Mughal era contributed significantly to the characteristics of Hinduism as the religion of the general population under the rule of a Muslim elite. Its influence also spread to other religions during this period,^{[clarification needed]} and became an integral aspect of Hindu culture and society in the modern era.

Rama (Devanāgarī: राम ; Rāma,; Burmese: ရာမ Jàma̰ ; Javanese: Ramavijaya ; Khmer: ព្រះរាម Phreah Ream ; Lao: ພຣະຣາມ Phra Ram ; Malay: Megat Seri Rama; Maranao: Raja Bantugan; Tamil: ராமர் Ramar; Telugu: రామ Rama; Thai: พระราม Phra Ram) or full name Ramachandra is the seventh avatar of Vishnu in Hinduism, and a king of Ayodhya in Hindu scriptures. Rama was born in Suryavansha (Ikshvaku Vansh) later known as Raghuvansha after king Raghu. Based on Puranic genealogy, Rama is believed by Hindus to have lived in the second Yuga called Treta Yuga, before Krishna who was born towards the end of Dwapara Yuga. Rama is traditionally considered to have appeared in the last quarter of Treta Yuga.

Rama is one of the many popular figures and deities in Hinduism, specifically Vaishnavism and Vaishnava religious scriptures in South and Southeast Asia. In Ayodhya, the Indian city believed to be the birthplace of Rama, he is also worshipped as an infant or Rama Lalla. Most of the details of Rama's life come from the Ramayana, one of the two great epics of India. Born as the eldest son of Kausalya and Dasharatha, king of Ayodhya, Rama is referred to within Hinduism as Maryada Purushottama, literally the Perfect Man or Lord of Self-Control or Lord of Virtue. Rama is the husband of Sita, whom Hindus consider to be an Avatar of Lakshmi and the embodiment of perfect womanhood.

Manoj Kumar Tiwari (born 1 February 1971) is a singer, actor, television presenter and music director^{[clarification needed]} from Bihar, India. He has acted in the Bhojpuri genre of the Indian film industry and in 2005 was reported to be one of the two leading male stars of that genre.

Manoj Tiwari was born on 1 February 1971, one of the six children of Chandra Deo Tiwari and Lalita Devi. His birthplace was Atarwalia, a small village in Kaimur district of Bihar.

Prior to Tiwari's involvement in cinema, he had spent ten years working as a singer.

In 2003, he took a role in the film Sasura Bada Paise Wala. The BBC reported that the production costs of US$ 65,000 were turned into takings of US$ 3 million, while The Hindu reported a 35,000–40,000 lakh cost resulting in takings of 4.5 crore. Indian Express reported a figure of 6.5 crore as the takings. The Bihar Jharkhand Motion Picture Association saw this production as being a turning point for Bhojpuri cinema. He followed this with the successful films Daroga Babu I Love You and Bandhan Toote Na. Tiwari is reported to have said in 2005 that although the Bhojpuri genre had generally kept to its traditional storylines, "Gone are the double entendres, thin story lines and poor technical quality. Films have been slick and producers are willing to put in close to Rs 80 lakh in a film because the returns are not bad,"

Anuradha Paudwal is a popular playback singer in Bollywood in India. She has sung songs in Hindi, Marathi, Oriya, and Nepali.

She studied at Xavier's College in Mumbai. She was married to the late Arun Paudwal, who worked with music director S. D. Burman as his assistant. Her singing career started in 1973 with the movie, Abhimaan, (starring Amitabh Bachchan and Jaya Bachchan) in which she sang a Shloka (a Sanskrit verse). In the same year she also made her Marathi film debut with "Yashoda" (music by Datta Davjekar). In 1974, she brought out a record of Non-film Marathi songs or "bhav geeten" which became very popular.

In 1976, she got her break as a playback singer in Hindi films with Kalicharan (starring Shatrughan Sinha and Reena Roy). Her first solo was in the movie, Aap Beati, (starring Hema Malini and Shashi Kapoor). Laxmikant-Pyarelal were the music-composer duo for that movie. She also occasionally sang songs for composers Rajesh Roshan (Des Pardes), Jaidev (Dooriyan, Laila Majnu), Kalyanji Anandji (Kalaakar, Vidhaata), and Usha Khanna (Souten, Sajan Bina Suhagan).

Suresh Ishwar Wadkar (Marathi: सुरेश ईश्वर वाडकर, born 1954) is an Indian playback singer. He performs in both Hindi and Marathi films.He has sung songs in some Bhojpuri films and in Konkani.

Suresh Wadkar from Bhandari Caste , was born in Kolhapur at post. Dindnerli Tal. Karvir, India. At the age of 8, he began acquiring basic music education from Jialal Vasant. He soon impressed his guru with the quality of his voice. He began performing on the stage at a very early age.

Back in 1968, when Suresh Wadkar was barely 13, Acharya Jialal Vasant entrusted him with a student to initiate in Tabla. A year later, he was given the responsibility of a group of youngsters to teach vocal classical. Our system of education in music makes it mandatory to teach before you appear for your graduation in music through Prayag Sangit Samiti, because there “Prabhakar” certificate is equivalent to B. Ed. and it authorizes you to teach professionally. Guruji made every child studying for Senior Diploma, to sit in the class of 1st year with an experienced teacher and learn the process of “teaching”. Suresh successfully completed his “Prabhakar” and joined “Arya Vidya Mandir, Mumbai as a music teacher. A lot of famous “stars” of today had the opportunity to learn from him.