Kabir Das (1398–1518)
was a 15th-century Indian
mystic poet
A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems ( oral or wri ...
and
saint. His writings influenced Hinduism's
Bhakti movement, and his verses are found in Sikhism's scripture
Guru Granth Sahib
The Guru Granth Sahib ( pa, ਗੁਰੂ ਗ੍ਰੰਥ ਸਾਹਿਬ, ) is the central holy religious scripture of Sikhism, regarded by Sikhs as the final, sovereign and Guru Maneyo Granth, eternal Guru following the lineage of the Sikh gur ...
, the
Satguru Granth Sahib of
Saint Garib Das, and Kabir Sagar.
Born in the city of
Varanasi
Varanasi (; ; also Banaras or Benares (; ), and Kashi.) is a city on the Ganges river in northern India that has a central place in the traditions of pilgrimage, death, and mourning in the Hindu world.
*
*
*
* The city has a syncretic t ...
in what is now
Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 1950 ...
, he is known for being critical of both organized religion and religions. He questioned what he regarded to be the meaningless and unethical practices of all religions, primarily what he considered to be the wrong practices in the Hindu and Muslim religions.
[ During his lifetime, he was threatened by both Hindus and Muslims for his views. When he died, several Hindus and the Muslims he had inspired claimed him as theirs.
Kabir suggested that "Truth" is with the person who is on the path of righteousness, considered everything, living and non living, as divine, and who is passively detached from the affairs of the world. To know the Truth, suggested Kabir, drop the "I", or the ego. Kabir's legacy survives and continues through the ]Kabir panth
Kabir Panth (Path of Kabir) is a Sant Mat denomination and philosophy based on the teachings of Kabir. It is based on devotion to him as one guru as a means to salvation. Its adherents are from many religious backgrounds as Kabir never advocated ...
("Path of Kabir"), a religious community that recognises him as its founder and is one of the Sant Mat
Sant Mat was a spiritual movement on the Indian subcontinent during the 13th–17th centuries CE. The name literally means "teachings of sants", i.e. mystic Hindu saints. Through association and seeking truth by following ''sants'' and their teac ...
sects. Its members are known as ''Kabir panthis''.
Early life and background
The years of Kabir's birth and death are unclear. Some historians favor 1398–1448 as the period Kabir lived, while others favor 1440–1518.[ Generally, Kabir is believed to have been born in 1398 (Samvat 1455),] on the full moon day of Jyeshtha month (according to the historical Hindu calendar Vikram Samvat
Vikram Samvat (IAST: ''Vikrama Samvat''; abbreviated VS) or Bikram Sambat B.S. and also known as the Vikrami calendar, is a Hindu calendar historically used in the Indian subcontinent. Vikram Samvat is generally 57 years ahead of Gregorian Calend ...
) at the time of Brahmamuharta. There is a considerable scholarly debate on the circumstances surrounding Kabir's birth. Many Followers of Kabir believe that Kabir came from ''Satloka'' by assuming the body of light, and incarnated on a lotus flower and claim that the rishi Ashtanand was the direct witness of this incident, who himself appeared on a lotus flower in the Lahartara Pond
Lahartara Pond is a historical pond associated with the appearance of Saint Kabir Saheb. According to a legend, Saint Kabir Saheb was found floating on a lotus flower in the pond. It is located in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh in India. In the past, it w ...
.
A few accounts mention that Kabir in the form of a child was found at Lahartara Lake by a Muslim weaver called Niru and his wife Nima who raised him as his parents.
Kabir is widely believed to have become one of the many disciples of the Bhakti poet-sant Swami Ramananda
Sri Ramanandacharya (IAST: Rāmānanda) was a 14th-century Vaishnava devotional poet saint, who lived in the Gangetic basin of northern India. The Hindu tradition recognizes him as the founder of the Ramanandi Sampradaya, the largest monastic ...
in Varanasi, known for devotional Vaishnavism
Vaishnavism ( sa, वैष्णवसम्प्रदायः, Vaiṣṇavasampradāyaḥ) is one of the major Hindu denominations along with Shaivism, Shaktism, and Smartism. It is also called Vishnuism since it considers Vishnu as the ...
with a strong bent to monist Advaita
''Advaita Vedanta'' (; sa, अद्वैत वेदान्त, ) is a Hindu sādhanā, a path of spiritual discipline and experience, and the oldest extant tradition of the orthodox Hindu school Vedānta. The term ''Advaita'' (l ...
philosophy teaching that God was inside every person, everything. Early texts about his life place him with Vaishnava tradition of Hinduism as well as the Sufi tradition of Islam. According to Irfan Habib, the two manuscript versions of the Persian text ''Dabistan-i-Mazahib'' are the earliest known texts with biographical information about Kabir. The '' Dabistan-i-Mazahib'' states Kabir is a "Bairagi" (Vaishnava yogi) and states he is a disciple of Ramanand (the text refers to him repeatedly as "Gang").
Kabir's family is believed to have lived in the locality of Kabir Chaura in Varanasi (Banaras). ''Kabīr maṭha'' (), a ''maṭha'' located in the back alleys of Kabir Chaura, celebrates his life and times. Accompanying the property is a house named ''Nīrūṭīlā'' () which houses Niru and Nima graves.
Poetry
Kabir's poems were in vernacular Hindi
Hindi ( Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been ...
, borrowing from various dialects including Braj
Braj, also known as Vraj, Vraja, Brij or Brijbhoomi, is a region in India on both sides of the Yamuna river with its centre at Mathura- Vrindavan in Uttar Pradesh state encompassing the area which also includes Palwal and Ballabhgarh in Harya ...
, Bhojpuri and Awadhi
Awadhi (; ), also known as Audhi (), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in northern India and Nepal. It is primarily spoken in the Awadh region of present-day Uttar Pradesh, India. The name ''Awadh'' is connected to Ayodhya, the ancient city ...
. They cover various aspects of life and call for a loving devotion for God. Kabir composed his verses with simple Hindi words. Most of his work was concerned with devotion, mysticism and discipline.
Kabir and his followers named his verbally composed poems of wisdom as "bāņīs" (utterances). These include songs and couplets, called variously '' dohe'', ''śalokā'' (Sanskrit: ślokā), or ''sākhī'' (Sanskrit: sākṣī). The latter term means "witness", implying the poems to be evidence of the Truth.
Literary works with compositions attributed to Kabir include ''Kabir Bijak'', ''Kabir Parachai'', ''Sakhi Granth'', ''Adi Granth'' (Sikh), and ''Kabir Granthawali'' (Rajasthan). However, except for Adi Granth, significantly different versions of these texts exist and it is unclear which one is more original; for example, ''Kabir Bijak'' exists in two major recensions. The most in depth scholarly analysis of various versions and translations are credited to Charlotte Vaudeville, the 20th century French scholar on Kabir.
There are 82 works attributed to Kabir as mentioned in Kabir and the Kabir panth by Westcott. Shyamsundar das himself brought to light two remarkable manuscripts which he published in 1928. One of these manuscripts carried the date 1504 and the other 1824. It was certainly an important finding.
Kabir's poems were verbally composed in the 15th century and transmitted ''viva voce
''Viva voce'' is a Latin phrase literally meaning "with living voice" but most often translated as "by word of mouth."
It may refer to:
*Word of mouth
*A voice vote in a deliberative assembly
*An oral exam
**Thesis defence, in academia
*Spoken evi ...
'' through the 17th century. ''Kabir Bijak'' was compiled and written down for the first time in the 17th century. Scholars state that this form of transmission, over geography and across generations bred change, interpolation and corruption of the poems. Furthermore, whole songs were creatively fabricated and new couplets inserted by unknown authors and attributed to Kabir, not because of dishonesty but out of respect for him and the creative exuberance of anonymous oral tradition found in Indian literary works. Scholars have sought to establish poetry that truly came from Kabir and its historicity
Historicity is the historical actuality of persons and events, meaning the quality of being part of history instead of being a historical myth, legend, or fiction. The historicity of a claim about the past is its factual status. Historicity denot ...
value.
Authenticity
Numerous poems are attributed to Kabir, but scholars now doubt the authenticity of many songs credited to him.
Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore (; bn, রবীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer and painter. He resh ...
's English translation and compilation ''One Hundred Poems of Kabir'' was first published in 1915, and has been a classic reprinted and widely circulated particularly in the West. Scholars believe only six of its hundred poems are authentic, and they have questioned whether Tagore introduced then prevalent theological perspectives onto Kabir, as he translated poems in early 20th century that he presumed to be of Kabir's. The unauthentic poems nevertheless belong to the Bhakti movement in medieval India, and may have been composed by admirers of Kabir who lived later.
Philosophy
According to Linda Hess, "Some modern commentators have tried to present Kabir as a synthesizer of Hinduism and Islam; but the picture is a false one. While drawing on various traditions as he saw fit, Kabir emphatically declared his independence from both the major religions of his countrymen, vigorously attacked what he considered the follies of these religions, and tried to kindle the fire of a similar autonomy and courage in those who claimed to be his disciples. He adopted their terminology and concepts, but vigorously criticized them both. He questioned the need for any holy book, as stated in Kabir Granthavali as follows:
Many scholars interpret Kabir's philosophy to be questioning the need for religion, rather than attempting to propose either Hindu–Muslim unity or an independent synthesis of a new religious tradition. Kabir rejected the hypocrisy and misguided rituals evident in various religious practices of his day, including those in Islam and Hinduism.
In ''Bijak'', Kabir mocks the practice of praying to avatars such as Buddha of Buddhism, by asserting "don't call the master Buddha, he didn't put down devils". Kabir urged people to look within and consider all human beings as manifestation of God's living forms:
Charlotte Vaudeville states that the philosophy of Kabir and other sants
Sants is a neighbourhood in the southern part of Barcelona. It belongs to the district of Sants-Montjuïc and is bordered by the districts of Eixample to the northeast, Les Corts to the northwest, and by the municipality of l'Hospitalet de Llobr ...
of the Bhakti movement is the seeking of the Absolute. The notion of this Absolute is ''nirguna'' which, writes Vaudeville, is same as "the Upanishad
The Upanishads (; sa, उपनिषद् ) are late Vedic Sanskrit texts that supplied the basis of later Hindu philosophy.Wendy Doniger (1990), ''Textual Sources for the Study of Hinduism'', 1st Edition, University of Chicago Press, , ...
ic concept of the Brahman-Atman and the monistic Advaita
''Advaita Vedanta'' (; sa, अद्वैत वेदान्त, ) is a Hindu sādhanā, a path of spiritual discipline and experience, and the oldest extant tradition of the orthodox Hindu school Vedānta. The term ''Advaita'' (l ...
interpretation of the Vedantic tradition, which denies any distinction between the soul ithin a human beingand God, and urges man to recognize within himself his true divine nature". Vaudeville notes that this philosophy of Kabir and other Bhakti sants is self-contradictory, because if God is within, then that would be a call to abolish all external bhakti. This inconsistency in Kabir's teaching may have been differentiating "union with God" from the concept of "merging into God, or Oneness in all beings". Alternatively, states Vaudeville, the ''saguna'' prema-bhakti (tender devotion) may have been prepositioned as the journey towards self-realization of the ''nirguna'' Brahman, a universality beyond monotheism.
David N. Lorenzen and Adrián Muñoz trace these ideas of God in Kabir's philosophy as ''nirguna Brahman'' to those in Adi Shankara
Adi Shankara ("first Shankara," to distinguish him from other Shankaras)(8th cent. CE), also called Adi Shankaracharya ( sa, आदि शङ्कर, आदि शङ्कराचार्य, Ādi Śaṅkarācāryaḥ, lit=First Shanka ...
's theories on Advaita Vedanta
''Advaita Vedanta'' (; sa, अद्वैत वेदान्त, ) is a Hindu sādhanā, a path of spiritual discipline and experience, and the oldest extant tradition of the orthodox Hindu school Vedānta. The term ''Advaita'' ( ...
school of Hinduism, albeit with some differences.
Influence of Islam
Lorenzen in his review of Kabir's philosophy and poetry writes, "the extent to which Kabir borrowed elements from Islam is controversial. Many recent scholars have argued that he simply rejected Islam and took almost all his ideas and beliefs from the Hindu tradition. Contemporary Kabir Panth sadhus make roughly the same argument. Most of the vocabulary used in his songs and verses are borrowed directly from the Hindu tradition.
Some scholars state that the sexual imagery in some of Kabir's poems reflect a mystic Sufi Islam influence, wherein Kabir inverts the traditional Sufi representation of a God-woman and devotee-man longing for a union, and instead uses the imagery of Lord-husband and devotee-bride. Other scholars, in contrast, state that it is unclear if Sufi ideas influenced Bhakti sants like Kabir or it was vice versa, suggesting that they probably co-developed through mutual interaction.
Kabir left Islam, states Ronald McGregor. Kabir, nevertheless, criticized practices such as killing and eating a cow by Muslims, in a manner Hindus criticized those practices:
Persecution and social impact
Kabir's couplets suggest he was persecuted for his views, while he was alive. He stated, for example,
Kabir response to persecution and slander was to welcome it. He called the slanderer a friend, expressed gratefulness for the slander, for it brought him closer to his god. Winand Callewaert translates a poem attributed to Kabir in the warrior-ascetic ''Dadupanthi'' tradition within Hinduism, as follows:
The legends about Kabir describe him as the underdog who nevertheless is victorious in trials by a Sultan, a Brahmin, a Qazi, a merchant, a god or a goddess. The ideological messages in the legends appealed to the poor and oppressed. According to David Lorenzen, legends about Kabir reflect a "protest against social discrimination and economic exploitation", they present the perspective of the poor and powerless, not the rich and powerful. However, many scholars doubt that these legends of persecution are authentic, point to the lack of any corroborating evidence, consider it unlikely that a Muslim Sultan would take orders from Hindu Brahmins or Kabir's own mother demanded that the Sultan punish Kabir, and question the historicity of the legends on Kabir.
Legacy
Kabir literature legacy was championed by two of his disciples, Bhāgodās and Dharmadās. Songs of Kabir
''Songs of Kabir'' is a 1915 book consisting of 100 poems of Kabir, the 15th-century Indian poet and mystic, translated from Hindi to English by Rabindranath Tagore. In this book Kabir has combined the philosophies of Sufism and Hinduism. The boo ...
were collected by Kshitimohan Sen from mendicants across India, these were then translated to English by Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore (; bn, রবীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer and painter. He resh ...
.
New English translations of Songs of Kabir is done by Arvind Krishna Mehrotra
Arvind Krishna Mehrotra (born 1947) is an Indian poet, anthologist, literary critic and translator.
Biography
Arvind Krishna Mehrotra was born in Lahore in 1947. He has published six collections of poetry in English and two of translati ...
. August Kleinzahler writes about this: "It is Mehrotra who has succeeded in capturing the ferocity and improvisational energy of Kabir’s poetry".
Kabir's legacy continues to be carried forward by the Kabir panth
Kabir Panth (Path of Kabir) is a Sant Mat denomination and philosophy based on the teachings of Kabir. It is based on devotion to him as one guru as a means to salvation. Its adherents are from many religious backgrounds as Kabir never advocated ...
("Path of Kabir"), a religious community that recognises him as its founder and is one of the Sant Mat
Sant Mat was a spiritual movement on the Indian subcontinent during the 13th–17th centuries CE. The name literally means "teachings of sants", i.e. mystic Hindu saints. Through association and seeking truth by following ''sants'' and their teac ...
sects. This community was founded centuries after Kabir died, in various parts of India, over the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Its members, known as ''Kabir panthis'', are estimated to be around 9.6 million. They are spread over north and central India, as well as dispersed with the Indian diaspora
Overseas Indians (IAST: ), officially Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) and Overseas Citizens of India (OCIs) are Indians who live outside of the Republic of India. According to the Government of India, ''Non-Resident Indians'' are citizens of Indi ...
across the world, up from 843,171 in the 1901 census.
There are two temples dedicated to Kabir located in Benares
Varanasi (; ; also Banaras or Benares (; ), and Kashi.) is a city on the Ganges river in northern India that has a central place in the traditions of pilgrimage, death, and mourning in the Hindu world.
*
*
*
* The city has a syncretic tra ...
. One of them is maintained by Hindus
Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...
, while the other by Muslims. Both the temples practise similar forms of worship where his songs are sung daily. Other rituals of aarti and distributing prasad are similar to other Hindu temple
A Hindu temple, or ''mandir'' or ''koil'' in Indian languages, is a house, seat and body of divinity for Hindus. It is a structure designed to bring human beings and gods together through worship, sacrifice, and devotion.; Quote: "The Hin ...
s. The followers of Kabir are vegetarians and abstain from alcohol.
Kabir, Guru Nanak and the Guru Granth Sahib
Kabir's verses were incorporated into Adi Granth
The Guru Granth Sahib ( pa, ਗੁਰੂ ਗ੍ਰੰਥ ਸਾਹਿਬ, ) is the central holy religious scripture of Sikhism, regarded by Sikhs as the final, sovereign and eternal Guru following the lineage of the ten human gurus of the re ...
, the scripture of Sikhism
Sikhism (), also known as Sikhi ( pa, ਸਿੱਖੀ ', , from pa, ਸਿੱਖ, lit=disciple', 'seeker', or 'learner, translit=Sikh, label=none),''Sikhism'' (commonly known as ''Sikhī'') originated from the word ''Sikh'', which comes fro ...
, with verses attributed to Kabir constituting the largest non-Sikh contribution.
Some scholars state Kabir's ideas were one of the many influences on Guru Nanak
Gurū Nānak (15 April 1469 – 22 September 1539; Gurmukhi: ਗੁਰੂ ਨਾਨਕ; pronunciation: , ), also referred to as ('father Nānak'), was the founder of Sikhism and is the first of the ten Sikh Gurus. His birth is celebrated w ...
, who went on to found Sikhism in the fifteenth century. Other Sikh scholars disagree, stating there are differences between the views and practices of Kabir and Nanak.
Harpreet Singh, quoting Hew McLeod, states, "In its earliest stage Sikhism was clearly a movement within the Hindu tradition; Nanak was raised a Hindu and eventually belonged to the Sant tradition of northern India, a movement associated with the great poet and mystic Kabir." Surjit Singh Gandhi disagrees, and writes "Guru Nanak in his thought pattern as well as in action model was fundamentally different from Kabir and for that matter other radical Bhaktas or saints (saint has been erroneously used for such Bhaktas by Mcleod). Hence to consider Kabir as an influence on Guru Nanak is wrong, both historically and theologically".
McLeod places Nanak in the Sant tradition that included Kabir and states that their fundamental doctrines were reproduced by Nanak. JS Grewal contests this view and states that McLeod's approach is limiting in its scope because, "McLeod takes into account only concepts, ignores practices altogether, he concentrates on similarities and ignores all differences".
In popular culture
There are several allusions to Kabir's poetry in mainstream Indian film music. The title song of the Sufi fusion band Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by t ...
's album Jhini is an energetic rendering of Kabir's famous poem "The intricately woven blanket", with influences from Indian folk, Sufi traditions and progressive rock.
Neeraj Arya's Kabir Cafe marries Kabir's couplets with contemporary music adding elements of rock, carnatic, and folk. Popular renderings include Halke Gaadi Haanko, Chadariya Jhini and Chor Awega. Kabir Cafe claims that living their lives just as Kabir suggests has led to them experiencing some of these truths and it reflects in their performances.
Noted classical singer, late Kumar Gandharva, is widely recognized for his wonderful rendering of Kabir's poetry.
Documentary filmmaker Shabnam Virmani, from the Kabir Project, has produced a series of documentaries and books tracing Kabir's philosophy, music and poetry in present-day India and Pakistan. The documentaries feature Indian folk singers such as Prahlad Tipanya, Mukhtiyar Ali and the Pakistani Qawwal
Qawwali (Punjabi: (Shahmukhi), (Gurmukhi); Urdu: ( Nasta'liq); Hindi: क़व्वाली (Devanagari); Bengali: কাওয়ালি (Bengali)) is a form of Sufi Islamic devotional singing, originating from the Indian subcontinent ...
Fareed Ayaz
Ghulam Fariduddin Ayaz Al-Hussaini Qawwal (born in Hyderabad, India) is a Pakistani Sufi devotional singer. He belongs to the ''Qawwal Bachchon Ka Gharana'' of Delhi.
He and his relatives are the flag-bearers of that school of music ( gharan ...
. Kabir festival was organized in Mumbai
Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' fin ...
, India in 2017.
The album No Stranger Here by Shubha Mudgal, Ursula Rucker
Ursula Rucker is an American spoken word recording artist. Rucker is known for a diverse repertoire, and for using techniques that catch her listeners' attention.
Biography
Rucker was born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where she wa ...
draws heavily from Kabir's poetry. Kabir's poetry has appeared prominently in filmmaker Anand Gandhi
Anand Gandhi (born Anand Modi, 26 September 1980) is an Indian filmmaker, entrepreneur, media producer, innovator and systems researcher. He is also the founder/CEO of the Mumbai-based new media studio and systems think tank Memesys Culture Lab ...
's films Right Here Right Now (2003) and Continuum. Pakistani Sufi singer Abida Parveen
Abida Parveen ( Urdu, sd, ; born 20 February 1954) is a Pakistani singer, composer and musician of Sufi music. She is also a painter and entrepreneur. Parveen is one of the highest paid singers in Pakistan. Her singing and music has earned ...
has sung Kabir in a full album.
Criticism
Kabir has been criticised for his depiction of women. Nikky-Guninder Kaur Singh states, "Kabir's opinion of women is contemptuous and derogatory". Wendy Doniger
Wendy Doniger O'Flaherty (born November 20, 1940) is an American Indologist whose professional career has spanned five decades. A scholar of Sanskrit and Indian textual traditions, her major works include, 'The Hindus: an alternative history'; ' ...
concludes Kabir had a misogynist
Misogyny () is hatred of, contempt for, or prejudice against women. It is a form of sexism that is used to keep women at a lower social status than men, thus maintaining the societal roles of patriarchy. Misogyny has been widely practiced f ...
bias. Schomer states that for Kabir, woman is "kali nagini (a black cobra), kunda naraka ka (the pit of hell), juthani jagata ki (the refuse of the world)". According to Kabir, a woman prevents man's spiritual progress.
In contrast to Singh's interpretation of Kabir's gender views, Dass interprets ''Rag Asa'' section of Adi Granth as Kabir asking a young married woman to stop veiling her face, and not to adopt such social habits. Dass adds that Kabir's poetry can be interpreted in two ways, one literally where the woman refers to human female, another allegorically where woman is symbolism for his own soul and ''Rama'' is the Lord-husband.
See also
*Films about Kabir:
**'' Bhakta Kabir'', a 1942 Indian film
** ''Mahatma Kabir'' (film), a 1947 Indian Kannada-language film
**'' Mahathma Kabir'', a 1962 Indian Kannada film
* Surdas
Surdas (IAST: Sūr, Devanagari: सूर) was a 16th-century blind Hindu devotional poet and singer, who was known for his works written in praise of Krishna, the supreme lord. He was a Vaishnava devotee of Lord Krishna, and he was also a ...
* Andal
* Kālidāsa
* Tulsidas
Tulsidas (; born Rambola Dubey; also known as Goswami Tulsidas; c.1511pp. 23–34.–1623) was a Ramanandi Vaishnava Hindu saint and poet, renowned for his devotion to the deity Rama. He wrote several popular works in Sanskrit and Awadhi, but ...
* Poets of India
References
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Further reading
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* Dharwadker, Vinay (2003), ''Kabir: Weaver's Songs.'' Penguin Classics,
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* Vaudeville, Charlotte (1957), Kabîr Granthâvalî : (Doha), (French); English: Kabir, Vol. 1, Oxford University Press, ,
* Vaudeville, Charlotte (1993), ''A Weaver Named Kabir: Selected Verses with a Biographical and Historical Introduction'', Oxford University Press,
External links
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The Bijak of Kabir
Ahmad Shah Translation of the Entire Text (1917)
* The Ocean of Love Anurag Sagar of Kabir
{{Authority control
Sikh Bhagats
1440 births
1518 deaths
15th-century Indian philosophers
Founders of religions
Hindi-language poets
16th-century Indian philosophers
Indian male poets
Mystic poets
People from Sant Kabir Nagar district
Vaishnava saints
Sant Mat gurus
Bhakti movement
Indian Hindu saints
Writers from Varanasi
15th-century Indian poets
16th-century Indian poets
Poets from Uttar Pradesh
Scholars from Varanasi
Sufi poets
Religious pluralism