Sant Ravidas
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Ravidas, the saint
His rise
D.R.Bhagat , Santan Mein Ravidas Sant Hain "Daily Excelsior" 10/2/2017
India is a land of great saints. The period from 1200-1700AD was a period of Bhakti movement in India when many great saints appeared on this land especially in Northern and Central India who devoted their life for the cause of humanity and preaching the oneness of God. During the medieval period in India, the Hindu religion had become the property of a few orthodox Brahmins who used it to misguide the simple and illiterate people for maintaining their hegemony. The social and religious order was in distress as they were preaching caste and dogmas. The saints worked as a messenger of God and made the people to understand the true meaning of religion and spread the message of God. Among these saints, Guru Ravidas occupied a special place. Being born in a caste which was treated as a low caste, he had to face humiliation in the hands of so called religious preachers of high castes at that time. Guru Ravidas was born 640 years back in a village Seer Goverdhan Pur near Varanasi on the day of Magh Purnima in 1377 AD as a son of Baba Santokh Das and Mata Kalsa Devi.
Ravidas as a child used to listen sermons from holy people in the company of his mother. He had therefore developed spiritual thoughts at a very little age of 7. He always kept himself busy in the company of saints and did not have a time to attend any household work. His parents became worried to see their son being detached from the worldly affairs. To keep him busy in the family affairs, they got him married with Mata Lona at very young age. But there was no change in his behavior. He kept himself busy in the company of holy persons. His spiritual Guru was Ramanand. As per Bhagata Mal written by Nabha Das, he was one among the 12 famous disciples of Ramanand including Kabir.
Guru Ravidas had no lust for material wealth. Once a Sadhu came to his hut. He had a Paras in his hands. He told Ravidas Ji that if you touch any of your tools with this Paras, it will become gold and offered him the same. Guru Ravidas refused to take it but on his insistence, Guru Ravidas asked the Sadhu to keep it anywhere in the hut. The Sadhu placed the Paras at a point in the hut. After about one year, the same Sadhu again came to Ravidas thinking that the Guru might have become rich by using the Paras but he was surprised to see him in the same condition. He asked Guru Ravidas about the Paras and the reason why he has not used it. He replied that you can have it from where you kept it. About not using the same Ravidas said,
“Paras mani mohe ratu na bhave, jag janjar na thora, keh Ravidas taj sabh trishna,Ram naam chit jora”
He said that the name of God is the only truth which can transform even a sinner to a saint. He remained busy in Bhakti and always served the poor and holy people. He started giving discourses to the people and the crowd of people to listen him increased day by day. His fame spread in every corner of Varanasi and around. The ruler of the state Raja Peepa also came to know about this great saint and he decided to see Guru Ravidas. One day when he went there, Guru Ravidas was busy in repairing the shoes. He asked for the blessings of the Guru who gave some water from his leather wetting kund and asked him to drink this nectar. Raja was not willing to drink this water which was taken from the leather wetting kund in front of him. So pretending that he has drunk this water he secretly threw it inside his shirt. When the king went home, he sent his clothes to washer man for washing. When the daughter of the washer man was washing the clothes, she saw a spot on the shirt of the king which was developed by the kund water thrown by the king inside his shirt. In order to remove the spot, the girl sucked that spot by her mouth. It is said that immediately after that the washer man’s daughter started talking saintly.
The word spread in the town and everybody was eager to see this girl. The king also visited the girl and was surprised to see her talking like a saint. He asked her about this saintly knowledge. She told the king that while washing his clothes, she sucked the spot on his shirt and immediately after that her thoughts were purified. The king understood his folly and once again came to Ravidas. He prayed him to give that nectar again. Guru Ravidas told him that the nectar could only be given once. Now I will give you the Naam and by reciting it and performing Bhagti, you can also become a saint. This king became a staunch disciple of Guru Ravidas and is remembered as a saint.
The orthodox Brahmans of Kashi were jealous of increasing popularity of Ravidas. They complained the king that Ravidas being born in a low caste is giving discourses to people which is not allowed in Shastras. The king called Ravidas in his court. The complainant Brahmins also came there to keep their case. After some discussion, the king decided to examine the truth of both the sides. For this, he called for a deity and placed it between Ravidas and Brahmins. He said that whosoever from you brings this deity towards their/his side without touching it shall be treated as having a true faith. The Brahmins first tried to attract the deity by reciting mantras but they failed to move it. Then Guru Ravidas looking at the deity uttered these words. ” Aisi jin karyo maharaj, door mahin tum baithe dekho bigrat hai yun kaaj”. At this the deity started moving from its place and came in the lap of Guru Ravidas.
Everybody present there was surprised.The king begged pardon from the Guru and arranged a big procession in his honuor. It is said that Guru Ravidas was blessed with the spiritual powers by birth. He once gave life to one of his friends who was the son of his teacher Shardanand who died suddenly. Mirabai, the queen of Mewar was impressed by the teachings of Guru Ravidas and became his disciple which is evident from her writing,”Meera ne Govind milya ji Guru milya Ravidas .”Another queen of Mewar Rani Jhali was also her disciple. The spiritual philosophy of Guru Ravidas was as simple as his life.He believed in Nirgun Bhagti like Nanak and Kabir. He said that we cannot find God by false rituals like having a bath in Ganga, going to the jungles for bhakti, performing puja by various rituals. He said, “Man change, kathoti mein Ganga” He said that God is inside our body and it is omnipresent. Our soul is a part of God. We can find Him by purifying our heart.
It cannot be found by visiting temples, visiting Kailash Parbat or Kaba. In one of his Shlokas he said, “Kaba aur Kailash mein, jo ku dhundhan jahi Ravidas pyara Ram to baithe man mahin”. He vehemently opposed the caste system in the society. He said that man is known by his Karma and not by his caste. In one of his couplets he writes, “Janam jaat na puchhiye, ka jaat aur paat Ravidas poot sabh prabh ke, kou nahin jaat kujaat”
His devotional songs and verses made a lasting impact on the Bhakti movement. Recognizing him as a great saint, Guru Arjun Dev Ji while compiling the holy Guru Granth Sahib has incorporated 41 hymns from the Bani of Guru Ravidas. He is one among the 15 Indian saints other than the Sikh Gurus whose literary work has been included in the holy Sikh scripture. His contemporary and the saints after him like Kabir, Mirabai, Tukka Ram, Paltu and Dadu were impressed by Ravidas Ji and they have referred it in their own Banis. Kabir in praise of Ravidas said,
” SANTAN MEIN RAVI DAS SANT HAIN ”
A brief biography
Sushmita Choudhury, February 17, 2022: The Times of India
Born into the “Chamar” caste, one of the Dalit castes whose traditional occupation used to be leather works and tanning, Raidas, Rohidas, Ruhidas, or Ravidas, was a mystic poet philosopher who spoke out against the caste system.
Believed to be a disciple of Ramananda of the Vaishnava Hindu tradition, he repeatedly challenged the caste system by donning the attire and symbols of the Brahmins — which is how he is depicted in iconography — but his chosen profession was that of a cobbler.
“Guru Ravidas was probably the first one after Gautam Buddha who dared to revolt against the inhuman system of social exclusion and untouchability practised for ages in India. However, what made him different was his method of revolt,” reads a research paper by academician Ronki Ram titled “Guru Ravidass: Prophet of Dalit Liberation”.
He adopted Bhakti as a mode of expression of his social revolt since it was hitherto considered a privilege reserved for the upper castes. And for such intransigence, he repeatedly drew the wrath of the Brahmins.
According to one story, he was once dragged to the court of a king for wearing the janeu (sacred thread), but he made a stand for non-discrimination by pulling out four such threads from his chest — made of gold, silver, copper and cotton to signify the four yugs (epochs) of Hinduism.
His point was that such self-declared symbols of superiority are meaningless since everybody is created equal.
A Dalit icon
Over time, Ravidas’s egalitarian social philosophy and emphasis on dignity of labour not only drew a cult following among the Dalits, but also won him many disciples among the upper castes, including Meera Bai, the famous Bhakti saint, the queen of Chittor, Jhali Bai, and several rulers and princes of the time. Legend has it that even the Mughal emperor Babur was a fan.
Though he spent most of his life in Varanasi, he also amassed a huge number of followers in other states, especially Punjab, in the course of his travels and pilgrimages. In fact, his great popularity in Punjab stems from the fact that he penned 41 verses in the Guru Granth Sahib, the sacred scripture of Sikhism that is considered as their “living guru”.
According to experts, his stature grew further when the Ad Dharm movement — which sprung up in the 1920s to fight against “untouchability” — made him its patron saint. Let’s not forget that Dalits account for 32% of Punjab’s population.
The birth of a new religion
Seven centuries after his death, a religion based on Ravidas’s teachings was announced.
On January 31, 2010, Jalandhar-based Dera Sachkhand Ballan — the most influential dera (congregation) of Ravidassia/Adi-dharmi community in Punjab’s Doaba region — announced the birth of a separate religion, "Ravidassia", at Seer Gowardhanpur in Varanasi, Ravidas’s birthplace.
This attempt to chalk out a new identity completely independent of Sikhism stemmed from the assassination of Sant Ramanand, a leader of the dera, by Sikh extremists in 2009, an attack that also gravely injured the dera’s current head, Sant Niranjan Dass.
The Ravidassia religion boasts its own holy book "Amrit Bani Satugruu Ravidass Ji” — instead of the Guru Granth Sahib — and its own religious flag with "Har written on it. Citing these reasons, in 2020 the dera sent memorandums to the President, PM and Census Commissioner seeking a separate religious column and a unique code for Ravidassia religion, in the upcoming population census.
Political clout
Today, the Ravidassias rank among the most prominent Dalit communities in Punjab, and have a sizeable presence in UP. Their numbers are so large that the Election Commission was compelled to defer the date of the Punjab assembly elections from February 14 to February 20 to enable Guru Ravidas’s followers to visit Varanasi on the occasion of Ravidas Jayanti.
The saint’s political popularity probably began in 2008, when BSP chief Mayawati attended the Ravidas Jayanti celebrations — commemorating his birth — in Varanasi as the then chief minister. Since then, many have heeded the political siren song of this festival, but the recognition of the saint as a rallying point for Dalits came about over a decade later.
In 2019, the demolition of a Ravidas temple unauthorisedly constructed in Delhi prompted thousands of Dalits to take to the streets in protest. The government and courts were eventually forced to retrace their steps and rebuild the structure. The political class took note of this and a new messiah was born.
Congress leaders Priyanka and Rahul Gandhi paid obeisance to Guru Ravidas at his temple in Varanasi on the occasion of Ravidas Jayanti
Guru Ravidas also fits in neatly with the Sangh Parivar’s scheme to draw the Dalits back to the larger saffron fold — the R S S leadership sees the reverence for him as a bulwark against both conversion and radicalisation by Ambedkarites, some of whom are open about aligning with political Islamists.
Never mind the reason behind the homage, all the political pilgrimages to a saint advocating equality and harmony strikes a hopeful note in the election season, which is otherwise fraught with divisive, polarising speeches.
A frontal attack on untouchability
August 28, 2019: The Times of India
In Delhi recently, thousands of Dalits gathered from different parts of north India to protest a Supreme Court mandated demolition of a temple dedicated to Guru Ravidas, which was located on government land. The protests ended in violence. Ronki Ram, professor of political science, Panjab University, contextualises the Ravidas phenomenon to Avijit Ghosh:
Who was Sant Ravidas?
He is one of the most prominent spiritual harbingers of the medieval northern India bhakti movement, popularly known as ‘Uttari Bharat ki Sant Parampara’. He is revered by the ‘lower castes’ as Guru Ravidas. Though there is no consensus over the exact place and time of his birth, it is believed that he was born around AD 1433 at Seer Goverdhanpur, near present day Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, in ‘a low caste’ as he himself mentioned in some of the couplets of his bani (sacred poetry). His firm faith in Nirguna (single, formless) God, dignity of manual labour and compassion for all made him very popular among the ‘low castes’ in the states of Punjab (as Guru Ravidas), Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan (as Guru Raidas). His sacred bani (included in Sri Guru Granth Sahib) reflects his serene vision of the social and spiritual needs of the downtrodden, and underlined the urgency of their empowerment.
In Delhi’s Tughlaqabad area, the demolition of a Sant Ravidas temple attracted strong Dalit protests. What is his social and political significance among Dalits?
Sant Ravidas unleashed a frontal attack on the long tradition of social oppression and untouchability. He, therefore, is regarded as a messiah of the downtrodden. They revere him as devoutly as Hindus revere their Gods and Goddesses, and Sikhs their Gurus. They build temples/ deras in his memory, worship his image, recite/ sing his hymns, celebrate his anniversaries as auspicious events, repose faith in his spiritual power and raise slogans such as Ravidas Shakti Amar Rahe (May the spiritual power of Guru Ravidas live forever).
Guru Ravidas and his socio-religious teachings have become a major rallying point for the unity and struggle of the so-called low caste people in Punjab. They became conscious of their rights, and increasingly resolute in their demands for social justice, just as the venerated Guru Ravidas had himself raised his voice in protest against the prevailing oppressive social structures of a time when even to dream of social justice and dignity for the ‘low castes’ was considered blasphemy. It is apparent that this newly acquired collective caste consciousness and pride would not tolerate any disgrace on the legacy of their revered Guru, since this legacy is the very lynchpin of their identity.
The demolition of Sri Guru Ravidas temple at Tughlaqabad and the quick and sharp reaction it triggered in Punjab needs to be understood in the larger perspective of the emerging contours of distinct Dalit identity. Such intermittent conflicts have served to further concretise the distinct identity of Dalits, and made them ever more conscious of their rights as well as the historical denial of those rights over centuries, if not millennia.
Why and how has he become so integral to Dalit identity and assertion in recent years?
The adulation of Guru Ravidas by the so-called low castes, prompted the founders of the historic Ad Dharm movement in Punjab to adopt him as its icon figure. In fact, it was this movement that had sown the seeds of a distinct Ravidassia community in the state. The fact that Guru Ravidas came from one of the ‘lowest castes’ acted as a catalyst in the emergence of Dalit consciousness. Yet another important aspect of Guru Ravidas’s life that made him so integral to Dalit identity and assertion in recent years was his resolute belief in dignity, self-help and an egalitarian social order. Although in the past the so-called low status of Guru Ravidas may have presented a problem, a newfound pride of both collective and individual identity, particularly among the Ravidassia community, has arisen. And many Dalits who have benefitted from greater upward social mobility owing to their achievements in education, government jobs, business ventures, and even legislative bodies, exhibit pride in flagging their caste titles publicly. For instance, one often finds in the Doaba region of Punjab motorcycles and cars with stickers proudly proclaiming: SC boys (Scheduled Caste boys).
