KABIR

 Context:

BHAKTI MOVEMENT, THE NIRGUNI TRADITION, AND KABIR

• The movement was characterized by popular poet-saints who sang devotional songs to God in vernacular languages, with many preaching for abolishing the Varna system and some kind of Hindu Muslim unity.
• One school within the Bhakti movement was the Nirguni tradition and Sant Kabir was a prominent member of it. In this tradition, God was understood to be a universal and formless being.
• Many of the saints of the Bhakti movement came from the ranks of the lower to middle artisanal classes.
• Kabir was a" low caste" weaver Raidas was a leather worker and Dadu was a cotton carder.
• Their radical dissent against orthodoxy and rejection of caste made these poet-saints extremely popular among the masses and their ideology of egalitarianism spread across India.

KABIR AND HIS COMPOSITIONS

• Kabir's composition can be classified into three literary forms-dohas (short two-liners), Brahmanas (rhymed 4 liners), sung compositions of varying length, known as Padas (verses), and sandals(words)
• Kabir's works had a great influence on Bhakti Movement –Kabir Granthawali, Anurag Sagar, Bijak, and Sakhi Granth

KABIR AND HIS LIFE

• He was from a community Julaha caste a group that had recently converted to Islam.
• He learned the art of weaving, likely studied meditative and devotional practices under the guidance of a Hindu guru, and grew to become an eminent teacher and poet singer.
• Kabir’s beliefs were deeply radical and he was known for his intense and outspoken voice which he used to attack the dominant religion and entrenched caste systems of the time.
• He composed his verses orally and is generally assumed to be illiterate.
• He is also believed to be (but not on strong historical grounds) a disciple of the famous guru Ramananda, a 14 th century Vaishnava poet-saint. Kabir knew that the saint would visit a Certain ghat in Varanasi before the break of dawn.

HOW DID KABIR CRITIQUE RELIGION AND CASTE

• Kabir is portrayed as a figure that synthesized Islam and Hinduism in modern times. In many of the popular bhajans associated with him today, his strong dissent towards religions is somewhat muted, according to religious studies scholar David Lorenzen. While he did borrow elements from different traditions, he very forcefully proclaimed his independence from them.
• He did not only target the rituals and practices of both Hinduism and Islam but also dismissed the sacred authority of their religious books, the Vedas and the Quran.Kabir did use the name Rama.
• Instead of God being an external entity that resided in temples or mosques, Kabir argued that God existed inside everyone.
• Kabir’s revolt against the caste system also sought to do away with the complex rituals and ceremonies performed by the Brahmins. Like the other prominent saints of his time, he argued that it was only through bhakti, intense love, or devotion to God that one could attain salvation.
• In many of his verses, Kabir proclaimed that people of all castes have the right to salvation through the bhakti tradition.
• He sought to eradicate caste distinctions and attempted to create an egalitarian society, by stressing the notion that a Bhakt (devotee) was neither a Brahmin nor an untouchable just a Bhakt.

WHAT IS KABIR PANTH

• Kabir's humble origins and his radical message of egalitarianism fostered a community of his followers called the Kabir Panth.
• Kabir Panth is a sect in northern and central India, many of its members are from the Dalit community. Historians estimate that it was established in India between 1600 and 1650, one or two centuries after his death.
• The Bijak contains works attributed to Kabir and is argued by historians to have been written in the 17 century.

HOW ARE INDENTURED LABOURS AND KABIR PANTH LINKED

KABIR AND GURU GRANTH SAHIB

• Several Kabir verses and songs form a vital part of the Guru Granth Sahib. Compiled in 1604, the text is the oldest written collection of Kabir’s work
• The fifth Sikh guru, Arjan Dev collected a major part of Kabir's work

KABIR AND HIS DEATH

According to legend, Kabir’s Hindu and Muslim followers got ready to battle, but before they could strike someone removed the shroud to find a stack of flowers that replaced his corpse. The two communities then divided the flowers and buried or burned them according to their rituals.