Kabir
God has no form and belongs to no religion or caste; rituals and scriptures of Hindus and Muslims alike miss what is found within.
Placement
Weaver-poet of Benares: his songs mock the rituals and scriptures of both Hindus and Muslims and seek a formless God within, open to all castes.
Key ideas
- Nirguna bhakti
- Critique of ritual and caste
- God beyond Hindu and Muslim
Influence
Influenced 2
Rabindranath Tagore
influenced
Tagore translated One Hundred Poems of Kabir (1915, with Evelyn Underhill) from Kshitimohan Sen’s collection; many of the poems are of doubtful authenticity. R. Tagore (tr.), One Hundred Poems of Kabir (1915); C. Vaudeville, Kabir (1974)
Evidence: AI draft
Rabindranath Tagore › 1861–1941
B. R. Ambedkar
influenced ✓
Ambedkar named Kabir, with the Buddha and Phule, as one of his three teachers; he had grown up in a family devoted to Kabir’s teaching. B. R. Ambedkar, speech at Purandare Stadium, Bombay, 28 Oct. 1954; D. Keer, Dr. Ambedkar: Life and Mission (1954; 3rd ed. 1971)
Evidence: also in Wikidata · Wikidata
B. R. Ambedkar › 1891–1956
Position
Kabir’s couplets and songs proclaim a God without attributes or form (nirguna), whom he calls Ram, Hari or Allah and who is found within the heart through love, the divine name and the guidance of the true guru. With biting irony he mocked Brahmin and mullah alike, idols and mosques, pilgrimage, fasting and caste: before God all are equal. Which of the thousands of verses ascribed to him are authentic is often uncertain. His poems entered the Sikh scripture and inspired the Kabir Panth; Tagore translated a selection, partly of doubtful authenticity, and Ambedkar counted Kabir, with the Buddha and Phule, among his three teachers.
Life & context
Kabir grew up in a family of Muslim weavers (julaha) in Benares. His dates are uncertain: tradition gives 1398–1518, and modern estimates range from about 1398–1448 to 1440–1518. He probably could not read or write; his poems were sung and passed on orally. Legend makes him a disciple of the Hindu teacher Ramananda, which historians doubt, and has him die at Maghar, where Hindus and Muslims disputed his body.
Main works
- Bijak (scripture of the Kabir Panth, compiled after his death)
- Kabir Granthavali (collection transmitted in Rajasthan, manuscripts from c. 1600)
- Verses in the Sikh Adi Granth (compiled 1604)
- Songs of Kabir (English selection by Tagore, 1915)
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