Bhagat is a term used in the Indian subcontinent to describe religious figures who have obtained high acclaim in their communities for their acts and devotion. It is also a term ascribed to one of the

clans A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship and descent. Even if lineage details are unknown, a clan may claim descent from a founding member or apical ancestor who serves as a symbol of the clan's unity. Many societie ...

in the

Mahar Mahar is one of the Indian caste found largely in the state of Maharashtra and neighbouring areas. Most of the Mahar community followed B. R. Ambedkar in converting to Buddhism in the middle of the 20th century. As of 2017 the Mahar caste w ...

caste, with their clan totem being a

King Cobra The king cobra (''Ophiophagus hannah'') is a species complex of snakes Endemism, endemic to Asia. With an average of and a record length of , it is the world's longest venomous snake and among the heaviest. Under the genus ''Ophiophagus'', i ...

. Furthermore, Bhagat is additionally a surname found among

Marathas The Maratha Empire, also referred to as the Maratha Confederacy, was an early modern India, early modern polity in the Indian subcontinent. It comprised the realms of the Peshwa and four major independent List of Maratha dynasties and states, Ma ...

, Bania communities and

Punjabi Brahmins Punjabi Brahmins may refer to these Brahmin communities of Punjab Punjab (; ; also romanised as Panjāb or Panj-Āb) is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia. It is located in the northwestern part of the Indian sub ...

Definition

''Bhagat'' is a Hindi and Punjabi word derived from the

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

word ''Bhagavat'', भगवत्, which means saint or devotee. It is known to be used as an epithet for Vishnu or Krishna. ''Bhagat'' is also a

Hindu Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...

Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

, and Jain surname, found in various communities throughout India. Though, it is most prevalent in the northern

states State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

of India.

Sikhism

Sikhism's central scriptural

book A book is a structured presentation of recorded information, primarily verbal and graphical, through a medium. Originally physical, electronic books and audiobooks are now existent. Physical books are objects that contain printed material, ...

Guru Granth Sahib The Guru Granth Sahib (, ) 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 religion. The Adi Granth (), its first rendition, w ...

, has teachings of 15 ''Bhagats'', along with '' bani'' of

Sikh Gurus The Sikh gurus (Punjabi language, Punjabi: ਸਿੱਖ ਗੁਰੂ; Hindi: सिख गुरु) are the spiritual masters of Sikhism, who established the religion over the course of about two and a half centuries, beginning in 1469. The year ...

, ''Bhats'' and ''Gursikhs''. Because Sikhism believes in one human creed (no one belongs to a higher or a lower social status or caste) and that accounts to adding ''Bani'' of various authors, a total of 36, in

irrespective of many belonging to religions other than Sikhism. Religious writings of those ''Bhagats'' were collected by

Guru Arjan Guru Arjan (Gurmukhi: ਗੁਰੂ ਅਰਜਨ, pronunciation: ; 15 April 1563 – 30 May 1606) was the fifth of the ten total Sikh Gurus. He compiled the first official edition of the Sikh scripture called the Adi Granth, which later expande ...

. Some of them lived before

Guru Nanak Gurū Nānak (15 April 1469 – 22 September 1539; Gurmukhi: ਗੁਰੂ ਨਾਨਕ; pronunciation: , ), also known as ('Father Nanak'), was an Indian spiritual teacher, mystic and poet, who is regarded as the founder of Sikhism and is t ...

, but came to have a

monotheistic Monotheism is the belief that one God is the only, or at least the dominant deity.F. L. Cross, Cross, F.L.; Livingstone, E.A., eds. (1974). "Monotheism". The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (2 ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. A ...

as opposed to a

polytheistic Polytheism is the belief in or worship of more than one Deity, god. According to Oxford Reference, it is not easy to count gods, and so not always obvious whether an apparently polytheistic religion, such as Chinese folk religions, is really so, ...

doctrine. Broadly speaking, therefore, a ''Bhagat'' is a holy person or a member of a community whose objectives involve leading humanity towards

God In monotheistic belief systems, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. In polytheistic belief systems, a god is "a spirit or being believed to have created, or for controlling some part of the un ...

and highlighting injustices in the world. Below is a list of the ''Bhagats'' who contributed towards Sri Guru Granth Sahib: * Bhagat Kabir * Bhagat Ravidas * Bhagat Farid * Bhagat Ramanand * Bhagat Beni * Bhagat Namdev * Bhagat Sadhana * Bhagat Bhikhan * Bhagat Parmanand * Bhagat Sain * Bhagat Dhanna * Bhagat Pipa * Bhagat Surdas * Bhagat Jaidev * Bhagat Trilochan

Notes

External links

* Titles and occupations in Hinduism {{Sikhism-stub

Definition

Sikhism

See also

Notes

External links