o. ,..

:_

i

•

or

•

,

,

,

. ,

1S 00 S au ~

ast mar e ow.

e returne on or e ore t e ate

...

_ ••• _.. =_ • 9 •

VOL. I

J3Y

OHAN SINGH

M. £t\ • (Cal .•

__ aT. ~ n: -Litt. (l~b.

'l"'HE UNIVERSITY 01·' THE PANJA13 ORIENTAL COLLEGE, LAHORE

The study of religious books in the light of historical criticism has shown that statements found in them may be such that they can be more statisfactorily accounted for by the exigencies, changes or demands of religious thought than by the supposition of the actual occurrence of the incidents in the statements.

Dr. N. N . Law. Studies 'in Lnd ian. History and Cultu re.

Pandit, Hero. Chhatarpati Raja, no other is equal to the Bhagat.

Raoidas A. G .• p. 195 .

1 Price Rs . 2-0-0

1934

AT A RA & SO NS

EDUCATIONAL PUBLISIIERS & BOOI{SELLERS

LAHORE

Ijubli~hed by

Bri] Lal Pury of Messrs. Atma Ram & Sons Booksellers, Publishers & Printers

A narkali t Lahore

TO

DI~. T. GRAHAME. BAILEY

Printed bJ' Ram Lal Pury

at the University Tutorial press.

In the course of my researches into modern Urdu poetry and the history of Panjabi literature, during the last decade, I had had my attention focussed amongst others on the three

problems of the rise and development of Hindavi, of the nature and differentia of the Bhagti l\{ovenlent, and of the influence of Mediarval saints on all subsequent Indian vernacular poetry. In the books I studied for aid to the solution of those problems I came across many incorrect or ridiculous statements like : " The Adi Granth is almost entirely in Hindi;

husro was the father of Urdu Poetry; Kabir was the father

\

of Hindi Poetry; Chand * wrote his Raisa contemporaneously

e

with Prithvi Raj; Nanak was a disciple of Kabir; the

manuscript • Ka of Kabir with Mr. S. S. pas was made eut in 1504 A. D.; the whole of the Bijak 'is by Kabir;

,

Dharam Das was a contemporary of Kabir; Namdev came after

•

was the fifth Guru of the Sikhs; apuji is an unknown

Panjabi author; Sukhmani was composed by Nanak; Guru

Arjan wrote the Shabads himself · and palmed them off upon the public as those of the Bhagats; the anam Sakhi of Nanak forms a part of the Adi Granth; the only mention of

Arian was the sixth Guru Of t e Sikhs.' AS one WhO

Hindi, Of Urdu, Of Gujarati, Of Persian, Of Sikhism both the internal and external Sides Of it, and as one WhO had at his disposal a large number Of unused manuscriPts, I COUld not

sa b .. I -- ...... -___ w ,.,. _, ..... ,_ •• p_"" __ ,., - 'I .,.... 'ill T. ~ ...... ... • 'I L __ Z$Z - .. - III - d P • • ... * ... , - _. _ lIIIIIIIII' -. ,"" _ F35f. _ _ .... _ l1li , an..

* According to Mr. Mehta (Life Of Miranbai. English Jaidev is referred to by Chand. For Prithvi Raja Raisa and Chand further, see my History 0 Panjabi Literature, page 99.

•

IV

PREFACE

ring myself to accept such assertions; evidence definite and direct, and often dated, in my possession and within my kno\vledge, directed otherwise. I, therefore, decided to take up Kabir, a detailed study of whom would help me to lay before the public my conclusions practically on all the three points enumerated above.

Students of printed literature on Kabir availa Ie to-day may have noticed that without having first fixed upon anyone or more manuscripts as sufficiently early and authentic and without having established their texts from different recensions, writers, favl'ourable and adverse, on Kabir have proceeded to erect vast edifices of Kabir's mysticism, Kabir's poetic

excellences and Kabir's immeasurable influence on all sects posterior to him. This attempt of the Kabirites, is, to say the least, most unscho]arly, and one bound to be proved fruit-

less or wrong at any time by the discovery of really reliable material,

As I think I have gathered enough dated material for a brief survey, I have undertaken the task of ptlblishing in

three volumes a iography of Kabir, an appraisell1ent of his language and his poetic graces, and a short comparati'te study of his esoteric teachings. The most important portion

a Namdev glossary and a Nanak glossary, a detailed account Nirban og or Atam og and its differentiation from the

•

Bhagti CUlt proper, from Vaishnavism and aivism and its

...... "

relation to later Buddhisrn •

•

have tried not to give any cut and dried thesis ; I have led available evidence and left to the reader himself to draw what-

I have shown that Ka ir, a 1\1 uhammadan

PREFACE

v

ful life not far exceeding the normal three score during which he first lived as an householder and, later, as a retired saint, meeting many men of godliness, deri ving instrllction from them, and singing in the later part of his life his own brusque comments on persons and practices about 11ilTI, and on his early beliefs and actions. A true child of the age, he imbibed what seemed to be the best and most appealing to him and gave to the world the best he could, without having been personally obliged to I{amanand or without having

directly obliged Nanak and others. He gave that, further, in the traditional conventional way, in traditional, con ventional language and metaphors and similes, and under conventional

heads. A l\1"uhammadan of character, independence, con-

table; rather pugnacious, frank to a fault, assimilative; genuinely fond of retired, contemplative life, without any ambitions of Guruship, picked up and idolized by the Hero-

worshipping and sllperstitiollS and tolerant Hindu and dropped by the intolerant Muslim, we bow to him for all these human virtues; but we refuse to accept him, what his I-lindu worshippers have made him out to be, a fallen Brahman disciple of a Brahman Vaishnav, who through the grace of his Guru rose to be the greatest mystic of mediaeval India, its grandest linguistic and poetic benefactor and original

SPiritual force, and its biggest Shavian critic Of Hindu and

Muslim religious thought and practice; we are qUite happy to find him fully deserving to be one Of a long line Of great Hindu and Muslim personalities Whom India has been throwing UP Since the Lord BUddha entered Nirvana, so that they may provide the SPiritual manure and seed and humidity and sun to the needY SPiritually_minded section Of humanity .

• Vide C. P. Gazetteer. page 10,)

•

VI

PREFACE

and to myself to state that I fully ackno\vledge their scholarship as well as their service to Hindi and the Bhagti cult. I must confess I have greatly profitted from the works of Dr. eay and of the late Dr. Farquhar. Anum er of

other statements found in Dr. Ishri Prasad, R. B. Hira La], Westcott, Rev. Ahmad hah, the Misra Bandhus, Dr. Yusuf

volumes of this work but, as with the two gent emen mentioned a ave, my criticism of them will not be a denial of their

interpretation do creep in and our duty is no less and no more than to point them out in others and to e grateful for their eing pointed out in us.

I shall consider myself sufficiently rewarded, if the readers in India and abroad accept my work as a genuine attempt

historical exactness and analytical and comparative, scienti c study, and express their frank and full opinion of the success or failure of that attempt. The next two parts will follow

the Poetry Of Ka ir as emerging rom authenticated, esta lish .. ed texts Of his and the Anand Yog or Surat Shabad Yog or 'ant Mat or ahaj Yog or tam Yog 0 Ka ir ased on his poetry.

The urgency Of the PUblication Of a monograPh like mine on Ka ir has been brought home to me most acutely y the perusal Of an article pu lished during this very month

U lure,

eccan,

SARDAR SHER SINGH

UBEROI

Fatller

PI~EFACE

on "The Influence of Islam on the Cult of Bhakti in Medireval India" by Dr. Yustlf I-Iussain, D. Litt. Paris, who devotes the major portion of his space to Kabir and 'VI10 makes several incorrect statements about Kabir and Nanak and the Bhagti Cult, Tile sooner world attention is directed to

available material the better for Oriental Religious and Literary Scholarsh i 1).

I must thank Dr. A. C. \Voolner, Vice-Chancellor, the University of the Panjab, for having allowed me to work on

,

the subject during the term and for permission to continue it

till I have finally done with it. I have also to acl{nowledge the help I have recei ved from Mr. Bala Sahae, Assistant, University Library, in the matter of conSllltation of different books, I am sincerely grateful to the publishers for undertaking the ptlblication on a subject which is not imtnediately connected with college classes.

A word about my dear father, whose photo is included. I-lis elder brother was known as a Bhagat, and 11e himself is POPlllarly called a Vaishno, I-Ie is over eighty 110W and for the last

thirty years I have seldom seen him without the great standard

Bhagti works like the Bliagvcit , the Bliagat fl;l al, the Upani shads, tile Yog V(l,~'list etc., in his ample leisure. lIe is a practiser of tile Raj Yog and the Dhian Y og and without his constant help and guidance and inspiration I could never have acquired my deep attacllment for Bhagti and some inkling into its IJsycho!ogy and evolution. May he be spared long to aid me in my humble work,

11, LOdge Road, Lahore 9_8_34.

l\10IIAN SINGII

ABBREVIATIONS

• • r I I r._

G., Gujarati; H., Hindi; 1\1., Marath i : P., Panjahi; Pr., Persian; u., Urdu.

A. A. ·-~Ain-i-Akbari., Pr., Abul Fazl.

A. A.-d. -Akhbar-ul-Ak11yar, Pr., Abdul Haq.

A. G.·· -The Adi Grallth, P., Pp. 1323, Lahore.

A. S. B .... The Asiatic Society of Bengal.

B. B. S. Bhagat Bani Satik, P., Kaka Singh.

B. 1\/1. De- -- Bharat Mat Darpan, P., Gariesha Singh.

B. V. ·-·Banarasi Vilas, 1-I.

C. P. G. The Central Provinces Gazetteer. D. G. +-The Dasam Granth, P .

......_.. H. v. s. -- Early History of the Vaishnava Sect.

E. R. E ... Encyclop~dia of Religion and Ethics, Hastings.

H. B. L. and L.-' History of Bengali Language and Literattlre, D. C. Sen.

H. H. P. S. v. +Hasta Likhita I-lindi Pustakon ka Samksipta Vivarana, I-I., S. S. Vas.

1-1. I. - History of I ndia, Eliott.

H. P. L · History of Panjabi Literatllre, l\1011an Singh.

H. R. P.- +Hindi Religious Poetry, Ahmad Shah and

Ormerod.

H. U .-- Hifz-ul- Ulum, Library, Lahore.

I. A.- -The Indian Antiquary.

I. 1.- Indian Islam .

. B. O. R. S. The ournal of the Behar and Orissa

Research SOciety .

. R. A. S. The ournal Of the Royal ASiatic SOCiety . . S. L. odh pur state Library.

K. & F. -Kabir and HiS FOllowers, F. E. Keay.

K. G ... I -Kabir Granthavali, II.

K. GeM · P . 66 & 67 Karnrup District Gazetteer. K. T. Khulasat-ut-Tavarikht pr., Sujan Rae.

?\1. B. V... 1\'1 isra Band h U ViDOd, H .

• . · - ohammadan Dynasties •

•

,y

x

ABBREVIATIONS

1\1. ~1:. ~1onograph on 1\1iran ai. N. P. SI- Ie he Nagari Pracharini Sa ha, Benares. 1-4'arq uhar.

P. N. . -Punjab otes and ueries.

P. P. L. -The Panjab Public Li rary.

P. T. S. A. I. O. C.· ·lJroceedings and Transactions of the Sixth All-India Oriental Conference.

f). U. L. ,·The Panjab University Li rary.

R. S. G.-- Rewah State Gazetteer.

R. • 1-1. I\I.- -Report on the Search for indi 1\tfanuscripts •

.......... B. Santavachananlrita, 1\1., Ranade.

S. H. I_ •. ". Selections from Hindi Li terature, ., ita Ram.

~ . R .. u=- ikh Religion, l\1acauliffe.

S. V. A,- ~ .. Santavac11anamrita, 1\1., Ranade.

T. C. C. P.·"",--The Tribes and Castes of the entral Pro-

•

vinces,

U. P. The nited Provinces of Agra and Oudh.

BIBLIOG RAPHY

• •

XII

BIBLIOG RAPHY

Rohtak District, 1910, Lahore.

Sialkot District, Captain . R. Dunlop mith, 1890-95,

Lahore .

Iindi Religious Poetry, by the Rev. Ahmad Shah and the l~ev. S. \\1. Ormerod, 1925, Cawnpore.

induism and Buddhism, 4 Vols., Sir Charles Eliot.

History of Bengali Language and Literature, D. C. Sen. 1911, Calcutta.

History of India as told by its its own historians, 'The ; The M ollammadan Period y t. ir H. 1\1. Elliot, edited y

1869.

London, istory of India, by Sir H. 1\1. Elliot, Vol., 187 5, London.

Calcutta. •

History of Panja i Literature, A, Mohan Singh, Lahore.

History of the Afghans, translated from tile Persian of Niamat Ullah by Bernhard Dorn, Part I.

History of the Sect of l\Iabarajas.

Indian Antiquary, The, Volume VII, 1878, edited by as.

Burgess.

Indian Antiquary, The, Volume XVIII, edited y • K. l~leet and R. C. Temple, 1889, Bombay.

Indian Islam, by Murray T. Titus, 1930, Milford .

. B. O. R. ., Volume VI, P .448-453, 1920.

ournal of the Royal Asiatic Society, The, 1918, London.

Kabir and HiS liollowers, by the Rev. F. E. Keay, 1931, ___.,..alcutta. Kashmir series Of Texts and

Vichara Of Vanadeva, edited 1918, Born ay, together With Gorakbsha-Natha,

Life and Teachings Of Bhagat Namdev, by S. ur akhsh '_""""ingh, Lahore.

-tudies, The anam Maran

by ukand Ram Shastri,

the Amaraugha hasan Of

. N,

BIBLIOG RAPHY

•••

xiu

!\{onograph on Bombay. ysticism in aharashtra, by I~. D. Ranade, 1933, Poona •

...........

and enlarged edition by H. G. Keene, 189~, London.

Orissa, by Andrew Sterling, ] 896, London.

Preaching of Islam, The, by T. W, Arnold, 1896, est-

minster.

Reports on the Search for 1-J indi l\1annscripts :

Allaha ad.

First Trienniel Report for the years 190f)~8, The, by S. S.

Das, 1912, Allahal)ad.

Report for the years 1912 - 14, Allallabad, Third Triennial.

Tenth Report, The, for the years 1917 .. ·- 19, v Hira Lal, 1929, Allahabad.

Volume I I, by Hira Lal, 1929, Allallabad.

Selections from lassical Jujarati Litrature, E. . . ara-

porevala, 1924, Calcutta.

Studies in Indian istory and Culture, by N. N .

London.

Sikh Religion, The, by Max Arthur l\1acauliffe, Volume VI, 1919.

Sikhs, The, by C. Rebsch Stulpenagel.

Thirty Minor Upanishads, translated by K. Narayana wami

Aiyer, 1 914 t adras.

Travels of Ibn Batuta, translated by the Rev. Samuel Lee,

1829, ndon.

Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces, Volume I, Intro ..

duction, Religions and Sects, Glossary and Index, by R. V. Russel and ira La}, 1916.

Tri es and castes Of the Central prOVinces, VOlume III,

..__... ~K, by R. V. Russel and ira Lal, 1916, ndon,

Ka=a- .Y' 1916, ndon.

FarqUhar, 192o, Sir R. . Bhaodarkart 1913, trassburg.

......... ~w, 1925,

. N.

•

XIV

BIBLIOGRAPHy

Panja i

Adi Sir Guru Granth Sahib ji, 1923, small size, published by Gurdial Smgh, Bookseller, Lahori Gate, Lahore.

Bani Bhagtan Satik, by Pandit Tara Singh, 1925, Lahore. Bhagat Namdev ji da ivan Chritra in 3 parts, by S. (iurbakhsh Singh, first edition, Khalsa Tract Society,

Amritsar.

Bharat Mat Dar pan, Ganesha Singh, Amritsar,

Granth Sahib, Garib Das , 1924, Baroda.

Gur Shabad Ratnakar, by Kahn Singh, Amritsar,

aidev ji l<a ivan Chritra by S. Gurbal{hsh Singh, first edition, Khalsa Tract Society, Amritsar.

ivan Chritra Sheikh Farid in 2 parts; by S. Gurbakhsh Singh, first edition, Khalsa Tract Society, Amritsar.

Parchian, Pre111 Abodh, published by Messrs, Hira Singh Gurdit Singh Likhari, Amritsar.

Puratan anam Sakhi, Sri Guru Nanak Dev i, 1 27, Amritsar.

Raja Rasalu, by Bawa Budh Singh, 1931, Lahore.

Sri Dasam Granth Sahib i, The Khalsa National Agency,

Amristar,

Sri Kabir i, ivan Virtant, by S. Nihal Singh Suri, 1917,

Ithasik te Vidyak Society, Lahore.

Vaddi anam Sakhi Bhagat Kabir i, 1917, Messrs, Chattar

Singh ivan Singh, Amritsar.

Varan Bhai Gurdas, Pp, 776, The Khalsa National

Agency, Amritsar.

Yog Darshan, by S. Gurbakhash Singh, first edition, printed

at the Coronation Printing Press, Amritsar.

• •

.... In 1.

Adi Sir Guru Granth sahib ji, Bhai Mohan Singh, 1927, Taran Taran.

Banarasi Vilasa Of Banarsi Das, first edition, Nirnaya

Sagar press, Bombay.

Bhakta Mal, 1914, published by Hari Prashad Bhagirath,

Bombay.

nadu Dayal ki Bani, part I, Sakhi, 1928, Prayag,

Dadu Dyal ki Bani, part II, Padya, Belvedere press,

aryag.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

xv

Gita Govind, of ayadeva, The, 1923, published at the Nirnaya-Sagar Press, Bombay.

Goral<hsiddhanta Sangrah, The, edited with Introduction by Gopi N ath Kaviraj, 1925, Benares.

Hasta Likhita Hindi Pustakon ka Salnksipta Vivarana, Volume I, by S. S. Das, 1923, Kashi.

IIath Yog Pradipika, 19~+, Shri Venkateshvar Steam Press,

Bombay.

Kabir Bachnavali, by A. S. U padhyaya, 19] 0, IJrayag.

Kabir Granthavali, edited by S. S. Das, 1928, Allahabad. Kabir Parichaya, by S. B. l.,al, Lahore.

l\liran Bai ki Shabdavali, 1920, Belvedere Steam Printing orks, 19~O, Allahabad.

Misra Bandhu Vinod.

Pran Sangli Sattipani, Volume I, by S. Surnpuran Singb, 1 91 2, r\llahabad.

Selections frorn Hindi Literature, compiled by Sita Ram,

1921, Calcutta.

Book I, Bardic Poetry.

1300k II, Krishna Cult of Vraja. Book III, Tulsidas, 1923,

Book IV, Saints Kabir, Ral11anand, Sunder Das, Dadu, etc. , 1924.

Bool{ V, Ars Poetica, 1924.

Book VI, l=>arts I and II, Other Poets, 1926.

Udaipur Rajya ka Itihas, Volume I, 1928, Gauri Shanl{ar Hira Chand Ohjha .

•

arat 1.

Gyaneshvarvacbnamrita, first edition, compiled by R. D.

Ranade, Poena.

l\1aharashtriya Gyankosh, 1925.

Poona. r u.

Risala-e-Kabir sagar

Shalli BhagtaniJ S. B. La}, Lahore. Shahi adugarni, S. B. La}, Lallore

Takzi -i- adiyani, Amar Singh, Lahore.

1898, hore,

,

"VI

BIBL10GRAPHY

•

ersran,

Ain-i-Akbari, Calcutta.

Ain-i-Ak ari, Vol. I I, Naval Kishor.

A. H., Ahmadi Press, Delhi.

Dabistan-i-~1azahi , 1262, Bombay. Farish ta.

Kh ulast .. ut-l~avarikll, Delhi,

NOTE

1. 2. 3.

5. 5. 7.

8. 9.

10. 11. rz,

13. 14. 15.

15. 16. 17. 18. 19.

20. 21. 22. 231 24.

25. 26. 27.

28. 29.

CONTENTS

PAGE

Preface . . . . . . . ..

Abbreviations . . . . ..

Bibliography . . . . ..

The Eastern Biographers ...

tvI usalman or Hindu? . ..

Place of Birth . ..

Caste . . . • . . . ..

Parer} tage . . . . . . . .

B i rt 11 M y t 11 S • • • • ••

U pbrillging, Education, Sickness and Disciple-

sh i p . . . . . . . ..

His Guru . . . ... . ..

Date of Birth . . . . ..

• His Name and Family Life ...

Death . . . . . . . . . . ..

Disciples of Kabir, Kabir- Panth and Kabir-

Bani . .. . . . . . . . ..

Development of Kabir's Biographical Tradition .

Narndev, Ratnanand, Kabir and Nanak .

Gorakh N ath . . . . . . . ..

Parallels in the Legends of Saints ... . ..

.i\dditional Notes . . . . . . . ..

Adi Granth ... . . . ... . ..

Bir Singh . . . . . . . . . . ..

B hagti Bha vati . . . . . . . ..

Dabistan . . . . . . . . . . ..

Dadu ... ... . .. . .•

Gorakhnath and Kanphata ogis ... . ..

Gorakhnatll, Gopi Chand and Nathisrn ...

Gurdas . . . . .. . . . . ..

Gurll Arjan Dev, sat Guru and Sadh ...

Gyanesh vari Kosh . . . . • . . ..

Ibrahim Adharn and Bajid or Bazid ...

ogi Panths..; ... . ..

Kabirt Ramanand and Pipa . ..

• • •

• • •

III

•

IX

• • •

• • •

•

Xl

1

• • •

• • •

• • •

5 6 8

8

• • •

• • •

• • •

• • •

• • •

• • •

29 40

43 54

5+

61

70 74 79 80 80 81

81 82 85 85 86 86

86

87 88

• • •

• •

XVII

~ . .

XVIII

NOTE

30. 31.

32.

33. 34. 35. 35a. 36. 37.

38. 139.

CONtENTS

I~AGE

I(abir Bijal<... . . . . . . . ..

N amdev and Firoz Shah • .. . •.

Padarn Nabh, disciple of Kabir ... ..,

Panjab Sadhs and Panjabi . . . . ..

I~ajan . . . . . . · • ~ ...

I<amanuja and Raghvananda . .. . •.

Senapanthis ... ... . ..

Shah adar and Gorakhncltll . .. . ..

~i kandar . . . . . . . . . . ..

Taqi, husi, l\ianikpur, aunpur ... • •.

Taqi, Kamal, and Bodhan,I3udhan or Buddhan ...

General Index . . . . .. . · ·

Addenda and Corrigenda ... . ..

88 88 89

89 90

91

103 91 92 92 92 95

101

- - ........... -

•

to contain S(JIl1e account of" birth, childhood, cerelll0nies performed d uring childhood, i 1111ess, COll1 panions, marriage, profession, parental feelings, travels, illtel1ecttlal and physical

victories and defeats, persons and places associated with, utterances and literary corn posrtions, and death, L\11 Eastern iograp ry, particularly of pre-t110dern liJlleS, is sure to involve and intertwine availa le history with some philosophy, a little folklore, much sllperstitioll and plenty of spurious stuff, For example. sllpernattlral ()Cctlrrel1ces at birth and death, divined kno,vledge of previous and subselluent

saints and kings, faked prose and poetry, glorifying and deificatory events, genuille and deliberate errors in copying literary works, im possible travels and association~~ etc., without any heed for correctness of time and place and in justification of the avowed purpose of establishil1g greatness, COlI-

Pled with much imaginative vision, literary skill and PSYchological e ciency are found interpolateu with truth Of

fact, in alnl0st all biograPhies. Great kings, great saints,

sacred numbe rs, sacred doctrines, holy Places and holy myths

ations are exploited by his followers as pegs round which to hang certificates annunciatory Of the greatness Of the departed

)

.. .,

ulle or of those left behind, anrl tiClllonstrati ve of other desirable ends, Such IS the Eastern mind, to ,\ hich I)sycllological and suiritual truth and (~()rrectlless is dearer than historical rizhtness and e xactness, It is well to recognize all that, so ;lS 110t to ~el provoked IJY Frequent I-~(lstel~11 bllllg1illg- and ex,tggeratil)11.

2. usa mall or in u? \Vas Kabir a Hindu or a

1\ I usalman ? 1 .uck il), \\TC 11 a \ c con vincing evidence and we

need not infer one wuy or the other.Trkc Keay Kubir u u.! 1Il-,4\ Followers Irom Kabirs intimate k11o\vlellge at- Hinduism

revealed in hi-, poetry, 111 the 6\(li Gru utli of the Sikhs com-

'I

l)lle(l 1)), Guru .vrjan De v , tile Iil'tl: (jllr\l,&t~ indited by Bllcli

Gurdas, arid COll11l1eteli ill 1 tlO-t, we 11~l\:C, on }lages 1 I ~}8-~, a S II ( tb c I (I 1) y 1 j II ( I ,t; ( I I 1 {cl v i d ,1 s, Ih cal] c ~ e (1 G II r u () r s p i r i t u a I

IJrCcelltor of Miran Iiai, the alleged co-discir)le with Kabir of (iUSi.lill }\L\111allallll, which definitely and Iinally hi\res 11S l(abir's llationality 1)~1 bi rth :

CO\,- is btltcllerC(t; ill whose family Shaikh, Shahid and L'ir are rC\PCrellcell: wh osr; father (lid like that, tile son following

III tile lines preceding these Rag 1'1(1/((1" .~ , }{a\Tidas has

referred to N unulev and Llias. ~ Ynother reference to Kabir

anti N amde v ill l{,l vidas reads a~ follows :

l\Iy Gobind makes tbe 10\\9, high; he is not afraid of any one; Namdev, Kabir, Tilochan, Sadhna + and Sain have

E aa I a i& 2 • • FE • aLe at • ... • r ,I" ..... - .... ". , 4 " a! a. • .... IT1 • • $ ...... illIZI .... *. ... - -EZQ.. &. _. 1 F - I .... - E$1U'-i ......... - ....... -.. ....... ..,. • -...... _ ...... ., _.

~ In the Encyclo ccdia Byital£llicu, 14th edition, Vol, 17. page lOG, Guru Angad De\1 i~ stated to have been the fifth Sikh Guru. This is incorrect .

.• " It may be stated, once for all. that whatever else the compiler Of Ad] Granth. in 1604 may have done wit h Bhagat Ban.i by way Of editing, 11e could not have tampered With the proper names mentioned in it.

According to it Shubad 011 pages .l52-4531 A. G., Sadhna carne after Sain and was inspired to Bluigti by his example.

S\VUln across ; Ravidas+ says, listen, 0 Sants, all cat ensue from Hari i. A. G., . 1 O:~7.

This allusion by its nature and style makes it clear that Kabir had <lied before the birth of Ra vidas or, at least, that Kabir was a 111 uch older man than I\, a vidas and had already become famous and died, as one ,,·110 had swum across this

Bhaujal or the ocean of Fear, when Ravidas wrote the lines. Here are all the references to Kabir b)9 Ravidas, from the Adi

Granth,

.~

A . G., f • 1198 .. 89 •

e{

A. G., • 1027.

A. Ge, • 452 .

N ow Kabir himself refers to aidev and N amdev as the

two WhO had become the spiritllally-a\vakened ones in our Kait Ytlg. .

..... _. t ............. ~ .... 110 _..... nre ............... _ _. ~ -.~ - - • m __ -.. I ;~7 ._____. _ ........... __ .......-. •• _..... .............. d .. 1 47£ __ ••• --........ •• • ....... r • ... ....... _ ... -.

....... I!II * m!ll tr _ F 2 .. _--....,_..... __

* AI.B. vet VOle It page 96. Gives 1~46 as the date Of the ftoruit Of Ravidas.

KABI I{· -HIS 13IOGl{APHY

Nama, these have known Him y their love of hagti. Ad; Granth, age 1107.

b 'Shan ar has awa ened through service 0 in Kllli Ytlg Nama and aidev have a,,,·akened.

Adi Grantli, . 307.

•

IS

eet;

c aidev, Nama and tile Brahman Sudama, to their share

11tlS fallen boundless kindness of Yours ; Ka bir says, You are

7, Adi Gra nt h, . 793.

clre found in Kabir's Grtllztlzavcrli as well as in his Bijak 't,' Z- c Ie. 1 6 G an (1 2 1 6, and 1 7 2 .

\ V c may add that N arndev refers to Tilochan as one directly addressed ancl, therefore, proved a contenll'Orary.

A ,/ i G IA a u t J I, I • gO 2 .

N arudev S,lYS, listen, O Tilochan, the mother puts the baby ill tIle swinging bed.

On page 1273, Alii Granth , there are two shaloks :

N amdev y i oehan ;

o. 213 is N amdev's reply to it. On pages 29-30 of the

R. s. H. 1~1. 190<)-11 there are given extracts from

aidas, Ka ir, riloc an and amdev, and said to have een

composed in the 2nd half Of the 15th century; one 0 t e extracts contains the lines:-

In response to Akash Bani or Divine VOice urging him to ecome a Baishno Bairagi, Kabir said :~

ati caste ; how can I put on 111 ala the rosary ? Again came tile voice : GO and receive instruc-

tion rom Ranlanand'~'

KADIR HIS I~IOGR.~rHY

iograpilical pieces of N amdeva, Kabirci,\sa, Redasa, Sea Sampata i, rilochan i, Angad i, Rakahakn i and D1IUl111U Bhagat, which is listed in tile R. S. fl. 1\1. for 190f. It was composed by Ananta Das in 1588. I believe, contrary to tile opinion of the COlll piler of R. S, H. 1\1. for 1 909 -11,

that the auth or of both is Olle and that tb C date of tile work as given in tile second manllscript is correct. It requires the distance of at least a century or so for true facts to get blurred and for fiction and (11),tl1 and fabrication and faith to paint

them ane w . It is til is distance \\Y 11 ich j ustifies th is i ographer s

it \\'as that Raidas took all A vt ara . I-Ie was a Ilrahman in the previous birth, but as he did not give 111) eating meat, for til is. sin lle was awarded a 10\\1 birth." I little doubt that this author was one of those accessible to the Punjab as well as to the U. P., and may have formed at first or at secondhand the basis in part of Bhai Gurdas ancl N abhaji. Several legends which N a haji g ives under N amdev and Pipa etc., were later annexed to Ka ir's biography l)y subsequent writers, I am of the opinion that Ananta Dasa's P(lricJza)'a formed the

asis of the Panja i Parchis in P. . L. !\/I .. No. 528, dated

the Adi Grantli seems to be alphabetical:

Kabir, Nntndev, Ravidas.

e

irt .

the district 0 Azamgarh.

•

• •

ulaha 0 Kasi; tr to un er ..

l\I\BIR····HIS BIOGRAPl-IY

• 1198 an

1199

amil}' mem ers:

alar 1. ut in teA i ra II f It page 899, we ha \'e the lines of

., . J

epending on you I resided at Maghar : you quenched the

rst had a vision

arshan of YOlI at Maghar and then

did I settle here at ., asi."

From t is ast and from the existence 0 t ie tradition a out his eath at aghar and the construction and reconst~uction of his tom , I infer that Ka ir was orn at Maghar, rather than at Belhara or at asi,

__ aste. The ulahas the weavers are a 10\\· caste vide

•

astl, ~ ennres,

U account 0 t e ulahas Shaik hs, Doms of 1\1 aghar and Kashi. Kahir refers to his hereditary profession Alii Gra11fJI,

• 486 :

• a= _ •••• -2 •• d _ ••• dUd au ... m - - .. zezuz_ze ........... - ......... OS" •• EO ....... - - .. dIllE 4 114 - t .................. -- .......... -.- .... ... ,....._. .- ......... --.. .. -- ... :!QIIIIIIJ :u • ._.,_ - ..... 1QoJ. _

This would seem to give the lie direct to the statement often made of Ravidas's having been born in Rajputana or in the Maharashtra and his

having been the Guru of Mirabal. who is nowhere stated to have visited

Benares, Neither in Bijak nor in Anubha! have J come across an).

reference to Raidas by Kabir.

George Grierson vide • R. A. Sf. 1920, . 157-1-39) mentions

one Lal Of Kashmir, She belonged to the Dhedh caste and seems to me to have been a Shabadite. She is said to have flourished in the 14th

century, prior to Kabir.

The other words Kabir uses for his caste are Kori and SUd. vide A. G. 449 and 302. The Koris, together With Kanbis and Kharwas, alllo",.caste

Iolk, were converted to ISlam in Gujrat in the 12tl1 century through N urud-din or N ur Satagar who came to Gujrat in the reign Of Siddha Raj

1094.1143 l'ide . 43. Indian ISlam, Titus,

KABIR 1··11IS BIOGRAPHY

l\'Iy intellect is mean and my crt is Ill(111a."

o dans also. LO'\1 class Hindu , and Buddhist converts to Islam abounded in U . I_). r artlcularly in Maghar area, with which

is associated G hazi Mian, a general of Sultan Mahrnud),

Bihar and Bengal; upon their COI1\'Crsion tile lligh CI,lSS Hindus and Muslims continued to look contenlptUQllsly on t11elll, while the converts thell1sel,}'es never wholly gave tIP their 10\\· Hinduism and "rent 011 cherishing several of the Bud<111istic Tantric practices and 111l1Ch of Hindu spiritual and mythical \rocabulary .

....... e •• a. ._~_.... . _ ........ _., ..... ' .... ..._.......,ep ---.-----...-....-..- ... - , - ..... - ....... _..........-..... ---. ...... _, - _ ........ "II' ... L -... ..... ..--.---.. - - ........ PllIII'''__''''- a_ ... * r_£L$...... *' _ ••• v ........

*Titus in l n d ian l slani writes p. ] 71): "There is a wide range of caste names £01111(1 In the second drvision of Muslims. e-uch a~ j ulaha , Tell. Bhat, Jogi arid the like. Most of thern indicate OCCU11(ltion. Most of them are just the old Hindu caste or guild name carried over. "

We have yet to hear of Hindu Julahas in the 1J .P. It is significant that both at Maghar and at Benares, the j ulahas are entered under Muslims and Chamars under Hindus. Ravidas. a charnar t clearly (11stingllislles between himself and Kabir, the Musalrnan weaver. 1'. C. C.I:J., Vol. III.,

pp. 279-280: JuJaha, Mornin-e a low Mollamn1a(lan caste of weavers, TIle j ulahas claim Adam as the founder of their craft, inasmuch as when Satan made 111m realize his nakedness he tatlght tile art of weaving to his sons. And they say their ancestors came from Arabia. TIle

J ulaha or Momin women observe no purd £1, and are said to be al most unique among Mollammadans in this respect. TIle Musalrnan weaver or Julaha, Sir G. Grierson writes, is the proverbial fool of HIndu stories and proverbs,

tBhandarkar in his Vaislillavisill and Sa ivisnt . (:7 throws out a hint that Kabir may have been a Sudra, and as such his family could, while carrying on cow-killing and I.Jir-worsllip, still remain within the fold of Hinduism, but the very insistence of the Hindu biographers on a previous Hindu birth Of his and the inclusion Of Kabrr in MUSlim records like those Of AbU} Fazl and Abd ul Haq, points to another direction. ADd then conversions Of low-class Hindus, the erst,vll11€' Buddhists, to ISlam had long taken Place at Maghar by the time Of Akbar, which for

years had been in charge Of a MUSlim garrison. An interesting parallel is provided by the account Of H ir given in T'iria Charitt ar in the Dasam Grantb page 847. She was before 11er birth, a dancing girl Of Indar in Heaven, which She had to leave under a curse to take birth in a Turk family and to which She WOUld return When duly liberated on earth bY Indar WhO WOUld have incarnated there as Ranjha. Ravidas Rag Bitavat 2 refers to SUd Sudras), Dom

Dums • Chandar (Chandals and Malechh in A, G" ,795"

8

l\AnTR· .. HIS BIOGRAPHY

In fact their contact with Hinduism and Buddhism continued to be close and personal, and their kno\vledge of Islam did not exceed a bare acquaintance with the important orthodox 1\1 uslim terms and practices.

. arenta e. Keay gives no definite reference; he just says

that Kabir was brought up in the house of Niru, the weaver, ".'hose wife was named N ima.' But we presume that he was drawing Up011 the writings of tile later Ka ir-Panthis.

1\1anuscript No. 193, P. P. L., ll11dated,· contains the life accounts Sakhis of Hazrat 1\1 lillanlmad, Kahir and Ravidas. A printed biography of Ka ir Arnritsar, Messrs, Chatar ingh

iwan Singh, 19] 9, 2nd Edition , which is based more or less on a similar manuscript or another copy of the same manuscript as a ov'e and in which, in tile publishers' preface, the

"

manuscript used is stated to have belonged to the time of Guru

Gobind Singh 1666-1708 and to have been prepared under the super\rision of Bhai Hiranand Goravar, a Sikh of the Guru, gives 11th Vaisakh 1015 Samrnat as the date of Kabir's birth. It gives Mukta and Murat as the names of Kabir's

paren ts. It also mentions the existence of a real brother of a ir's father, or a Kaka. I place no reliance on the 1\15. nor 011 the two printed Gurmukhi biographies of Kabir based on

the S. and can, therefore, enter nothing definite under

val; shabads of Ka ir are contained in the S. as well as in its printed versions which make out Kabir to be a complete Vaishno and a greater person than Ramanand, who is said to have touched Kabir's feet.

. Birt yt S. TO the Eastern devotee, a great man

must have a befitting present or at least a SUitable, or one still

familiar feature Of BUddhistiC and Pauranic mythOlogy. n

KABIR-,__·HIS BIOGRAPHY

9

Brahnlchari Brahman in the previous birth of his; Raidas to credits Ravidas with a previous Brahman birth, Elsewhere N anak is said to have been Raja anak, in a previous incarna .. tion of his v ide Dabz·fL'\tall, .166-169, and Kirat in the A. G., p. 1:~87. III Ti ria Ch aritt ar a portion of the Dasam

Grall tli ,Ranjlla, tile popular IO\Ter in the Panjab Folklore,

Hir, an incarnation of Mainka, an a sara dancing-girl of Indar; Sassi is also· said, in the same poetical work, to have

been an incarnation of a heavenly being. These myths about

Ka ir's previous birth ,abollt his appear-aIlce as a derelict babe, and about his name are purported to hide the ignominy of his low birth in a Muslim family. We shall simply ignore

them as the ingenious products of the Hindu mind which could

•

not brook tile dissonance between Ka ir's birth and surround-

ings, and his lofty spiritual attainment. Sahib put after him is a Persian honorific word, N amdev, and Kabir after him,

calls God as his Thakur Sahi. v ide P. {J. 1-4.1\'IS. 1960,

folio 263 1.

• • •• •••

• p rm In. ucation, rc ness an lSClP es rp,

Those who would rely too much on poetry for details of

life and would extract all sorts of informative its from

that oth

ill subject-matter and execution diction, verse-forms and

__ ~ ___.. _-... __ ..._.... _ ..... ~ ...... _ ....... _ ......... _ ...... '- .......... ~..__ ............... ~ ............ .....,..._- ...... 111"" d& .... -....... .......... znz • ¥?t ' ...... J. ....... . ~ ..... , .... ~ "L" ••

.... F"'II .-~_ .............. .- .. 11 ~ ~tzzzz- _ --. ~ ..... - ~.-............. .....~........ W--r ,..........._... .. - --- --

*Kabir has alSO heen described as an incarnation Of Sukdev (Vide Pran Sangli),

tThe idea Of a previous birth was probably suggested to Kabirolators by the following hne Of Kabir Rag Ram kali 4, A. G., • 899 or a

Similar line:

•• In the previous birth I was your servant (devotee ; now can I never be Obliterated. "

Another line is in Rag Gauri, A. Get . 303 :

•• In the previous birth I was one without Tap. "

A third basis must have been the Jines in Kabir's Shabad 13. Rag Ga"Y;. A . G., . 303,

KABIR- rn HIS BIOGRAPI-IY

pattern poetry has always run in well-worn grOO\1es; it has very seldom departed considerably from tradition. Now the poetic tradition in the Indian \7ernaCul~lrs has included amongst others, the following subjects, kinds of poetry, and forms of \~ersificatiun :

•

The profession or oCCllpation ~.#

'I'he Guru

1~11e ,\90111al1-f ollower

"file Love-mad poet

The Love -sick poet

The Parents and other relations Death, etc.

To name only a few others, Narndev, Ravidas, Nanak, Dadu, 'hall Miranji, Ahmad, Prapanna, Bajida, all write alike under

the heads given above, containing not what is fact or history, but what is con\'entionally and n1etal111oriccllly true and idealistic. III tile light of this the Cliautisi 0 Kabir, his singing of himself as the love-sick, the ]O\·e-111ad man, of one of his parents, of his profession, of Sutak Rag Gauri 41 , of Pitar Rag Ga"I·Z· 45 , of Suchch Basa ttt 17 , of Aliinsa.oi' the

Gllrlt, we take as traditional stuff sung in the traditional way; it may not imply the existence of any ordinary or extra-ordinary

real happenings or discussions or experiences.

Thus under the four heads given above ,\'e have not much

or Chautisi

or Bavan Akhri or Si IIarfi

real information.

8. is uru. I have a few rather startling points to

suggest on the SUbject Of the alleged relation Of Ramanand

$The Rev. Ahmad Shah says on page vt.i Of his Hindi Religious

Poetry ~ Most noticeable is the wealth Of metaphor throughout. Metaphor here is the real method Of instruction. and so Often in India, takes tile Place Of argument. Not the least effective are the poets WI10 use their own or their hearers, common occupations or the details Of the Holi Iestival, to paint their picture Of the devotee or Of the worlds vanity Fair. AlSO see his remarks on page t7 i about God as the sat Guru.

Mr. s. s Das in Kabir G,.antltavali has earlier a Similar thesis, though in a later passage he accepts ublic OPinion,

1

with Kabir, Firstly the very mention of the sacred num er 12~:~ doubts in my mind about the authenticity of the statement.

Rall1anand, Ramanuja, Ravidas, Narndev, Dadu, etc. Secondly, it is un-

thinkable that any one belonging to Santism or the Sant ltl at, as Ka ir did belong, should conceal the identity of his Gllrll and never once mention him in his writings, while the greatest emphasis is laid by hi111 on complete, COll)prellensive obedience and subser\Tience to the Guru, ,~.'110se deeds are above criticism and

who is to be identified with tile rd I~I irnself : this is a matter

for serious consi(leratioll. 'Thirdly, the curious way the eager Hindu biographers of Kabir contrive his first encounter with

true, and reveals the fact that this l\/lllhamtnadall weaver never got personally initiated into the A 11 liad Sll(71)(lCI mysteries by Ramanand; his kIlowledge carne after a considerable search and research at tile feet, and ill the company, of 13aiIA(lg1·S and S" S and o gis, as the unknown author

of D (1 bis fa ,t-i -IvI aza hi b states .] () 7 -1 6~1. Fourthly,

Kabir, like Nanak after him, in several shabads, seems to

refer to the Lord imself, tile Sat Gurui. as his uru. At

one place he uses the epithet agat Gurtc for the Anhad

__ ----- __ "-..... ~ 1 I ~ ~ OJ .~Z$ __ .' ,..... -. _- - • 7 _ __.- .-.......-- ..;a_vzz4" ~--~ ...

- .. -- L .... jT' L

*This is a very, very sacred number; Rarnanuja is also given 12 disciples; exile is limited to 12 years, so is penance or tap; e.g .• Puran Bhagat was put in a garret for 12 years; Baba Farid suffered self-inflicted rigours for 12 years; 12 are the Sadhus; 12 Panths Of J ogis and Of 1(abir. 12 mon ths, 12 T'l.laks. ) 2 Rases 12 M a sh.as , 12 1 m ants

etc.Ranjha left horne when he was 12; he spent 12 years in the service and nearness Of his love. Hir.

Bllandarkar in his VClishna'tJisl11 anti SaiT}it\111 (p.67 mentions 13 disciples at Rarnanand and Macauliffe, in S. R. gi,;es LJO.

T. C. C. pet VOl I lit . 233: It is said that Kabir became the Chela or disciple Of Ramanand, but this cannot be true. as Ramanand was dead

before hiS birth.

§Ra\1idassays . 41J H.R. Pi):

.• Sadhus, Of the sat Guru all the world is Chela",

K ,\ R I R - ., HIS n lOG R A P H \~

. 13 • In one . 176 :

my ir."

Another instance" is page 306, Alii Grantli). we have on folio 4tj7 1:

on page 126, 1·bl·(! No. 120 vide In P. P. L. l\{anuscript No. 193 Ba Let no one speak ill of ants; the are one and the sarne : Kabir says,

Guru \\T}10se name is Bi e ~ iscri-

11e exact couplet is found in Adi Gra ntli, . iT33.

Sant and Ram or Hari

, .

mination .

As an ill ustration of tile lack of sufficient la bour in research lea ing to incorrect conclllsions and as an example 0 the difference between the Adi Grautlt and the l\'Ianllscript versions 0 ]((lb,·r-Balzi, I give in full one sha ad as it appears

t;

in the three anthologies; it nee hardly e added that this,

as almost all t e other sha ads, is not mentioned y Pandit Das as occurring both in the Adi Grantli and in his

manuscri11t • 3, 4, just ecause 11e or his agent had not the

patience to go through the Adi Grantli exhaustively. Mark the tampering with spelling which Pandit Das has e ected :

,

,

._ ....... • • AM .... 1 -tro __ ......... ...,... ..... .. • $ZZC"'V" ..... -.~ ...... --'111'" - ~ - _ 11& L •• _&'II1II ... - ~ - .... 6'.&&'" _ 1(11 ".,stu III5IIl .. -. .. a so _",~.1111111 ,b. ... ••• C .._ ••

*Also see K. G., b. 143. ad 165 and . 145. ad 170.

KABII{ ..• HIS }310Gl{1\{_)HY

II

..

1(. G., , . 126.

"

t t

•

-"

+rlrr fSl~

.'

"11<'"

• •

qr

or a e terms, I seem to e coming roun to the nal View a ter reading the ants again and again, that unless we presume

the names 0 their personal men- urus, if at all they had them, \\.e must conclude that the personal uru -whenever he did exist to every one Of them was ut an acci ent in this

life; the real Guru is the Sha ad' itself; the Shabad and Guru, the Shabad, and

the Hari, all three reside within. As someone has very

sarcastically bllt so aptly put it, the one and the only one

object of search, glorification and enjo}'ment for these

by trying to reach IIp the stages that were inside the body of man, which stages were placed round diflerent physical centres of man and were marked by the rise of different types

of spiritual music, Whatever religion, whatever practice,

whatever place, whatever form YOlI suggest as good, desirable, to then), they would point out its mental or physical corres-

pondence in 111an, would emphasise that correslJondence like

S,vedenborg and then say that there in tile body, or the mindprocesses or Inilld-virtues which cOrreSI)On(l exactly and fully

with the Universe and the Lord of the Universe with and without His Attributes, they were being used by them, Not one of them, Kabir, Bajida, Dadu or Nanak mentions a personal man-Guru in his authentic Btlll1·. The only possible excep-

• I ._. v ........ - ..................... .. - -_ ...... _ -- -- .. _ .- PIIi~ ... - ......... ~-- .. - 4 ....... ...-..1 _-milo __ ... I." _ ............ ~ __ iIIo _'111"1"' ..... - - ___. ••• _,.. -....-'-' -- - .--.......- -- ~ .....,.---- - .... _ --.. • ............ _ ..... -...-- 4 _e _ .... Is. 'I zAIsoIFw 2 _ 2 _

"No translation should satisfy the reader on this point. I quote tIle original lines from Guru Nanak WI10 is here engaged in an imaginary gOS/lt or con\'ersalion with Gorakh Nath , Bharthri etc. (A. G.

p. 874.

A. Get • 87+-

. ,

A. a., p. 87 5 •

,

•

A. G., . 553.

tions are Gorakh and N amdev who name and praise l\lachhandra and Nivritti Nath respectively but I have my suspicions there, too. Dadu distinctly says :.__,_.--

-. .

:qr

•

~T

I bid .

~ Dad", \'0]. II, Belvedere Press, Prayag, • 361.

•

•

i_j5 •

he common con\7ention Of these Sants is to refer to all the historical and mythical Bhagats galle efore, known to them, in their Ball i and to Offer the same ,"eneration to every Sant, not to one particular, unnamed, if at all real, Guru. Namdev says Rag A sa 1 5, Adi Gra nt b page 45] :

occurred the instruction y tile Guru, Nama met Hari through the Sants?

Ka ir says Rag Suhi 5, Adi Granth, . 733 :

Sant an Ram are one and the same ; Kabir says, I have attained to

that uru whose name is Discrinlination Bibek ."

\Vc must, therefore, conclude that where there is no mention of a name as that of tile Guru, we are to take that fact as the non-existence of a personal teacher.

The same word Sat Guru for tile Lord is used by Gorakhnatil B. V., page 210, Beni A. G., . 1251, I{anlanand Acii Granth, page 1109, Namdev S.V.A., b. 129-130 and

.1110 ,Bajida P. U. L. 1\IIS. No. 6382 •

Raidas P. U. L., 1\Ianuscript No. 1960 uses Bithul for od, folio 28+ 2. e uses Loi for tile world, folio 286 1. orne of his lines on folio 288 2 are almost the same as of Charpat given in my History 0 PlII1J·abi Literat ure, . 1 09, stanza 3. On folio 290 2 he addresses God and says : You are the master, the Guru of the world Soami, agat G It/jail •

Fifthly, the Gur ~"l(Tltf(lr or Mu! or Bi] ~1frl{1Ilta/~ is a

most vital part of spiritual illstrllction ill Sautisnt, This

1'1 attt ar Mantra is conveyed personally into tIle ears of the

cut as, according to the I{Cllz·S{lllttlr(lll(l U a nisliad of Krishna Yajurveda \\.as : ..

....... are Rant a rc ant

Rant Rant H (~1.'" arc

arc I{ risluia H are K rish n II [( rislina K risluia H arc are.

The biograpllers make out that Rani, Rani, was the 1'1 antar

R aniaoats by Ranlanand. But we don't find that ell] phasis on that word by Kabir or the Kabirites, who seem to llave

accepted Satnam as the 1\/J antar while the followers of N anal"

Vaf,l·gltrZ/, a compound formed out of tile first letters of the

four current Mantars, which severally belonged to tile four Yugs, Va v asu dec, H(TI"i I~Ii, Govi n d Gu and l\.ll

,.

Ra11t ville Bhai Gurdas", v.» 1, P(lliri +9. 1~11e Mantar

of [{avidas is also Sttt nant vide Adi Grauih, page 641 .

Ravidasis are sQlnetimes called Stt t u amis vide E. R. B., page ~1 0, Vol: II and C. P. G., 1870, page 1- 12. To Kabir any other qualificative name of Bralttn is as good as

R a III and f urth er it is not (} ualificati ve V (1 JA II at Jl11·!l names

he lays stress on, but the unlettercci, Dlllll1(CtJllill NaJl1" or Name which 11e wants to recite. Says Kabir A di Granth pages '147 -4+8 :

II

Narayana, nnd in my heart dwells Gobind Govinda."

tile stealer of heart and the enticer of heart, Krishna grazes the CO\\5 ; ,\7}10se Thakur are you Sarillgdhar, I am he , my name is Kabi r.'

Sixthly, Ranlanand according to tradition was a Baishno or Bairagi; if so, either we have to accept Ka ir as a enliglltened Bairagi, as Dabisian .. i-M(lZallib does . 165, or to take him at his word and treat him as a Free-thinl<er. Does he not clearly say that he is neither a

botll a Bairagi and a ogi."

__ ...... *ucza • ft, _ _ i. .. ~ .... - ........ .,en - .,.... - -....... 4L - ~"'._11111 -.....--.......,__ ..... - ---- •• ____._.....-............ ..- - «¢ 4'lfr -p!I(" 'II' - -. ....IDI:.... ...---. -.-.- .. ........_..... ...._....~ ....rr ..... - .... H tr n .... d~

*In Var I. Pauri 23, Gurdas seems to give sat Nl111t as the Sikh Mantar.

But in V ar 1, Pau ri 49. he gives Vall,£gurtt as the J 3P Mantar ; he does that again in Var 24, Pa u ri 1. He calls it Sliaba d . we find it again in Var 6, Pa u ri 5.

Nihat Singh Suri also accepts him as S11Cll, Vide his Gurmukhi Li e 0 Kabir, . 20.22 and 30_31.

IH

KABIR .- HIS BIOGRAfHY

1\11 y 0 w nor i n ion i s t hat K a b i r , in his ea r 1 y 1 i fe, 1 i k e Ixavidas, (lid become a Bairagi+ or Baishno in pursuance

of the teachings of Ramanand which came to him at secondhand, I~amanand having pre-deceased him - by about 20

Baishn 0, developing the attitude, common to all Hhagats before and after him, of insistence upon the inner, lnetapllysical aspects of the outer forI11S and CereJI10nies and worships, the necessity for which he realized like other Bhagats in the later part of his life. 1\5 we shall see ill a later

•

chapter, the influence on Kabir of Gorakh Nath and aidev

and Narndev was far greater than that of Ranlananci. This influence, further, was wholesale, particlllarly of Namdcv, and cOlllprehensivc. There is little doubt, however, that

Kabir, like others] rather soon after his death, began to e associated in public mind with Ra111anand. Many of these medireval Bhagats were contenlporaries, more or less, and this fact lent them to the easy, interested interpretation of a common discil)leship of a famous 13ral1111an tcacher : while, in fact, they all dellOtlllcecl th e Brahman and would

2iiiiiIIIIIP"= • .. _ ................ ~ rt &£¥& 7!PF'IW''' ...... An EPEE zv;rrzz,.. C __ ;"p'_' ~ ...... ............ __.... zzzL .. _. I •• ~... La::JIP. • ~ ....... 222iiiiAL .......... -+--.- ........... ,...... • T'_' ••• ..._. -..... .... .... .. =C. • .. ,,_. .. III.- ...... .--- ..... _. .... •• -r-r ......... _ ............ "T"""'II"'.-... ..__. ._...... 01&& ...

• EJ1Cyclop{(t(litl of 1 .... Ian: Vol. 2, page 593: Kabir popu lari zed the curren t V aishna v teachi n g of 11 IS age wi t110U t t 110\\ ev cr t ccnnecting it \\ ith any particular incarnation.

1-?('. the dates 'of Ramanand I reproduce here my note from my H istory 0 Panjabi Lit erat u rc, p. 25: Ramana nd was born in

12~9 (1£. I? E. vet. 10, page 569. Tllis is accepted by all

and can be established Jndependently teo from the dates Of Yamunacbarya CH, H. \lYe S. pp. 113-117) and Of Ramanuja, t lie

Guru In the fifth Place Of Rarnanand ACCOrding to B, J~I. Ir.,

Gurrnukhi, Ramanand was born in 1~99 and died 10 1354, Pipa was born in 1349 (Ville Blia gat Ban Satik, Gurrnukh i). B. 1\1. D. was written recently but after a long travelling programme all over India and after much personal investigation. I Place great reliance on its conClUSions. Tile date Of Ramanand's birth is eviden tly drawn from AgastJ'a Santli ita, WI} ich s: ys that Ramanand w as born

at Prayaga WIlen 4400 years IJ3d elapsed Since the beginning Of Kat

Yllg. vu, J. I~. A. St. 1920. p. 595,

t J~. g., the father Of Gnanadeva fl. about 1290 VitthalpantJ vide . 19 and 30_31, Ranade's JJIysticisll" ,.t' Mal,aIAas',tra6

I<.l\BI R ... 1115 131 OG I{1-\PH Y

19

OVln none but the Great God as their Guru. Gurbal,llsll

,

Singh in his Gurmukhi Li eoN (1111dev seems to me to

have COIne upon the real expl~lnation of the self-co11tradic-

tions apparent in the lives of these Bhagnts a nd upon the

true course of the evolution of their thought and practice,

l\ianuscript No. 133, according to the R. S. II. lrl. for 1901 A. D., was COl1111iled by A 11,111t D[lS ill 1 588 and contai 115 the work of Narndev, Kabir, Raidas, SeQ Sa1111)at, Trilochan,

Angad, I{aka11,11{a arid D 11~111n(l. (_)11 r)~lge 5 of tile R. S •

. AI. for 1902 the probable dates for Kabir are g iven as

1398-1"}+8 :~. Another collection of l(lllJl·J·-/~I·-l-3(llll· is dated

1 51 2 i \. 1 ) , V i (I 0 fl. fl. 1:J • S. \1, , 1 ~ 2 3 , I) n gel C). 'r 11 e first l11al1l1script is placed with one Lalit l\all1 of odhpur, l\.ajputalla. l\'Ianllscript No. ]36 mentioned in the report for 1901, page 99, is Blutlst i BIz aoat i in verse by one Goesallanda, who makes his obeisance to J\llantaIlalld,

\\/110 was ~t disciple of R,tlncliland. We don't 1(Il0\V if he mentions Kabir. Bilt his doctrines, ideolog y and voc~lbulary

_. • ~nr ... ~ty& • ._. ------...--------_ • ..... .._ ~ - ....... - ~~ ~ - • _ ............... ----.. - --- - - ~ - - ~ - - --- .... .... ..... .__ - ..... _ ... .....---

.... ~ .................... .......---- ~ ........... ~ ............ ,..._._ hr ... _t

* I, It would, therefore, appear that Gorakha N at ha was (lead, when Kabira wrote t hese ve rses, ~O\V tile u me of Kabrra Deva is approxinlately {~i\~en by scholars in tile beL~lJlning of tile flfteel1tll century, Heal in his ()I-£el~t(lI13iog/~llPlllCllll)ictioll{II·Y fixes 1490 as

the time of Kabira and considers him to be contemporaneolls with Sikandar Sur Lodi of Delhi Dr. Hunter fixes 1300 to 1420 as the time of Kabrr (see Ins Lnd ia n EJ1ZjJi,·c, Chapter VIII). In a Hindi book Bltarat Bhrain a nn Wl11Cll has recently been published, the following verses are quoted in proof of the time when Kabira was born and 'v hen h e died.

t

~ ~

T11is WOUld then, fix the birth Of Kabira in 1398 and 11 is death in A. D.

1448." (I~. S. H . .IV! t 1902, page 5. The author Of the report in a footnote on the same page quotes from Mon urncnt at A ntiqu ities and 11~scr,ptions

in N. W. P. and Oudh by Dr. A. FUhrer, p. 224, in support Of the above.

I

20

I\ABIl{--,· HIS 13IOGRAPHY

are exactly like Kabir's, which lends unqualified support to our view that f{an1anand was a S II rt Sliab ad Yogi, to whom his doctrine may have in parts come from the South, via the M aratha COlIn try . The work was COIn posed in 1554.

Man uscript No.] 28 is said to have been composed in 1600 according to I I. If. P. S. V. page 87. I n its two parts a

a n (1 bit con t cl i ns t h est 0 r i e s [J ( l ric h y (1 , P ar C h i - Pan j ~ l i

of L'ipa and Raiclas. It may or 111~ty not be a part and a copy of Ananta Das. According to the r31101 t f01· 1909-11, page 7, I\a vidas flourished about 1 L1- 5 0; 11 is (Jette of birth is

given as 1399 ville R. S. H. ss.. 1909-] 1, pag e 7 nnd ibid,

1 ~1 +, page 7, and S. tt. L., Bool{ IV, page 86 ; Ananta Dasa vide, ante, page 5. carne S1101-tly after Raidas in the second half of the l Sth century ; the dates the Report gives

all page 6, for Kabir, on the authority of the 1111 erial Ga zctt cer 0 India, 1909, nre 1380-1 +20. '-rhe R. S. If. ill.

for 1902 contains an account of a maIlllscript, No. 2+9 which is n collection of tile Pad as in R {l~ SOl·! 11 IT, of 1\1 ira, Ka vi ra

..

and N arnadcva ; all p,lge 81 of the said I\eport 1\1 ira 6: is

• •• _ .. .... • _ • d,,& dl "b _

• _ _ %L ¢&_ IE.... ... I T b = _ L ••• _ a

¥zzzzt _ TV •••• -._

• 4iO ce... 1. alE Or •

~~ Mira in one o f her Sh alut d .. 4) v idc Illy Hi~,t01/'Y 0 t h e 1J(1It,,·CllJi-

IJitcl'·Clilt'·C,l);lge IJG) refei s to Kabrr as If loru; dead, atul to Ravi .. das and other- Of her. Krncaid savs In 1115 Teachers of {1ftlill, page 38 :- .. Colonel 1\OlllUC)1"C correctly speaks of h er as a prrncess ()f Jodh-

pur : she was tile q ueen of Ku mbho Icana \\!11() succeeded to the throne

'of Udaipur 111 141~)1 ~ Accord mg to 1\1r. Melita ~11f! was born about 1499.

According to Mr. J hav er i ~11e was 11(1rn 111 1,103. In t he AI~cll{{~ological

SZtl·V('Y Rcbort of N. l\l. J_1. (_~ Ou dh for 18~3 we read on page 19:

Rana l{u rubhakara n buil t a tern PIe to V ish n u In 1450 and another in honour ()f Sornanath (Siva] \\ ~1~ built bY hIS Queell Miran Bai, \\'110 \VL!:1 celebrated for her poetry. III the P. U. t.. ]tIS. NO. 523 dated 1693 both Miranbai and Karuianbai are said to have belonged to Udaipur, III his I-Il11(li II istory cf Uila ib u r Rel)-, G. H. Ohja says VOl. I., p.

358 that Mrranbai was marrrect In 151 () A_ D. and that she died In 15~l(). S11e was the daughter Of Ratan Sin gh and the Wife Of Bhojraj, son Of Sangram Singh or Rana Sanga. -rllis date does also support our thesis that both Kabir a11(1 Ravidas had long' departed before her birth anc1 that neither was Miranbai a disciple and contemporary Of l{a\,i<.las 110r was Ravidas a co-disciple with Kabir Of Rarnanand.

Kab 1 1. had any way long been gathered to h is forbears before even

the birth Of Mii anbai about 1498 A. D. The only rvISS. containing

21

said lo have flourished about 1 +20. III their reference to these great Bhagats neither tile A. G. Bliatt s writing between 1550 and 1604 nor Guru Arjan Dev mentions l~alllanan(_i 1~<J9- 1354, E. R. E., and Bli arat .L'I(ll Da,· (11l i11 P~tllj~tl)i either as a Bhagat or as the Gu ru of Kabir and Ru\?idclS. Guru Arjan

Dev 1553 ·160G ill R(lg B(15;(Tllt Acii Gr a nt li, ) . 11 ()5-110()

talks of tile following Sants a111011gst others : Dhanna, Trilochan,

Beni, aidcv, Sail}, Set, Kabir, N amdev, I \'~l vidas and lastly

~

not as a S an t but as the G It ru , N anak \V 110111 11 c calls GOt' i 11(/

Rlf or tile very form of the Govinda, tlle Lord.

It must IJe noticed that he separates the II1Clc})e110e11ts, those who had no Gl"~II, from the Perfected Disciples, 'VIIO attained to I--I im through their Guru's aid ; only T'rilocha n and Bcni are put under the second.

He writes again, on pages 452, 453, Alii Gra uth : a __ The mind of N amdev became absorbed in Gc)bin(i; the tailor

of a half - penny worth acquired tile worth of 1,\.1(115. (_;i ving

up weaving and loving the feet of the Lord Kabir, ulaha, low-caste, became all-virtue. Ra vidas, ,,,'110 ever LISe(i to carry the dead bodies of animals gave 111) Maya and on the appearance to him of the companionsllil) of Sadlis attained to the Ditrsliau Vision of Hari. Sain, barber, was known ill every

house as a worker on human body; in his heart the Par Bralitn began to reside and he carne to be counted among the Bliagat s. 'This way was heard by the at \VIIO commenced

Bhagti. Great, indeed, \V~lS Dharma's fortune for he glimpsed the Gosain GOd face to face.

Guru Amardas 1479_1574, the third Sikh Guru, WhO was

Mirans work I have been able to trace are P. U. L. NO. 374. dated 1804 and J. S. L:. NO. 249, undated, containing Rag Sortha Padas Of Miran, Kavira and Narnadeva. The latter MS. is mentioned in R. S. H. ~f. for 1902. page 81. After Miran there is given

the date 1429. CA. D. or Vikrama? Mr. Mehta in llis Monograph on Miranbai gives . 65 1498 and 1546_7 as the dates Of her birth and death.

KART R - -_ HIS Bl OG RAPHY

and who, if we were to believe the nJ~rtllographers of Kabir was 3<) when Kaliir died ill 151 H, 1](t5 left his own 13(l11Z· exactly

and properly tr,tllSCril)e(1 by Sansrarn, his grandson, in his own life-time and by Guru .. '\rjan, WIlD was himself 21 years old w 11 e n (; u r t 1 A 111 a r ( 1 n s ,1 i e (1 , t h ro II g 11 t 11 e h e I!) 0 f II i s fat 11 e r Gllrll 1\all1 Das, the son-in-law of Guru Amar Das, in which at about a dozen nlaces he differs from Kabir straightU\V,lY and ill other portions of wh ich lie refers to Kabir, as

one long dead, who 11(1(1 like N amdev etc., attained to the

I-I ighest ill th is life, ~,-' i (I c il ,( I (J J.(( nt h , page 63. Th is evidence

is infa llihle [or more than one C011ten tion of ours: Kabir 11Ud long l)l·e-(lcce(ts(~(l N anak, to ,\·110111 Kabi r' s B ([II i migh t or

might not ha ve been known ; Ka bir was not a regular, personal disci ple of 1{,l111{111allu, and I\{ll11anand 11 imself is not known to ha vc become very 111l1Cll popular in the Panjab, by the

~

time of N anak . NOlle of the first five Sikh Gurus refers to

J~atllclnan(l.

It 111,tV lie related ell asua u t that Guru Arnar Das was

.,

~) 1· e c i s ely' i 11 t 11 e I ) ( ) sit i o 11 0 f I (a h i r, 1) e for e h e e m b 1· a C e d S i k 11 i SIll ;

that is, he was a \! nish na va in the habit of visiting I-I ard war

011 a pilgrimage every year and fond of Bani and used to collecting it. His C0111111ellts on Vaisllnavisnl or the Bairagis after his embrace of Sikhism are 011 a par with Kabir 's comments on the same, His clubbing of Kabir with Narndev and the nature of his allusion to their popular verses, leaves no doubt ill 0111· 111i11(ls that here we have persons "rho had

joined the majority fairly long while before their con1mentator was borne In the references to the Bl'(1 gats by the Bh atts

vide Adi G 11t{111 tli, . 1286, J 289, 1290 , the name Of Rama-

nand does 110t occur wh ile the names Of Kabir and all others are recounted in the manner Of the third Guru. TIle Bliatt Kat, \\.110 was at the COllrt Of Guru Arnar Das is our another great authority Adi Granth page 1286. TIle author Of Risalae

KABIR OT HIS BIOGRAPHY

his lecture deli vered in 1879, denies on page 17 of his work that Ramanand \vas the Guru of Kabir and arrays several reasons for his assertion.

\Ve read in Guru Amar Das Adi Gralltll, page 63 :

,

salvation Gtrti through the Perfect Guru.* 1'11ey were the SOllS of the Lord Brahma), they realised the sh ab ad and they

consciollslless of which should be really treated as something Io w, as something which should be treated as we treat wrongly low-caste people ; gods and men sing their Bani

compositions ; 0 brother, no one can efface that Ba1Ii."

Obviously Guru Amar Das [J. 1479 and lie 1574 does not write Inerely llupllazardly and ignorantly. He could easily have

referre to I{atnanand if he had been Kabir's and N amdev's

Gllru. B), one Perfect Guru is meant God, the Lord. In

the references to tile Bh a gat s by the Bh att s vide Ad! Grauth,

pp. 1286, 1289, 1290, the name of Ramanand does not occur while tile names of Kabir and all others are recounted ill tho manner of tIle third Guru. 1\'ianuscril)t No. 63 mentioned in the R. S. H. 1~1. for 1900 may throw some light on Rarna ..

nand. 'This poetical work is by ihi Lala who is tile fifth

direct disciple of I~amananda; the list runs : Raghavananda,

w4..

Ral11ananda, Doacharya, Ag hara Dasa, anaki Dasa, Baishnava

Das, l\1ihi Lala.

In the final settlement of the question of Guru, let us quote Kabir himself again Rag Prabliati, Adi Granth, page 1249; c . ante, page 12 :

"These women and men YOU have created, all are Y Ollr manifestations, your ru a; Kabir says, I am a small fry Of Rani and A llali ; all these are my Gurus and Pirs,'

ill: .. _ F I .- a.,,, _ = • 7.. _

_ d _. , • ..a .__ . t. •• 2 & • '. $ , 1m = •• • •

* TO Place our interpretation Of the perfect Guru beyond the pale Of doubt, I may refer to the use (thrice Of the same expression by Nanak himself on • 392, At G., Where he uses sat Gurtl Sad b als a for the Lord,

KABIR ars BIOGRAPHY

Das's printed version . 13 i contains this sli abad but the

of tile

two,

the m caning of th is Pad, he is our

Gil JA II ."

TIle evidence of G urdas I). 15 51 and d . 16 ~9 or 163 i runs til us V a r" I 0 :

aidev, author of Git Govind ; Namdev; Trilochan, a friend of

nand; Sain, \\'110 became a Bhagat through the fame of Kabir's spiritual attuinJllent; Icavidas. A miracle or an

extraordinary event connected with the origin OI~ growth of the spiritual e11ligiltenTl1ent of each is given. The story. about

the Gur Mantar of R(l111. TIle stories are repeated in 1,rlT,- 12, Pauri 15, the order being Nama, Kabir, Dhanna, I(avidas, Beni, Sain. A reference to Goral{llnath and his Guru l\1acll11- andar is made in ~T aJ14 23, Pauri 1 J. 1~11e order of .. 4)(l£llzl-'<s

anel SI-(ldIIS is connected with them, The miracle about

(rCllllill(II~(1 reCtlr in V(ll~ ~6,Pltrl· 17. aidev, Beni, Trilochan,

Namdev, Dharma, Sadhna, Kabir and Ravidas are again

mentioned in ~' ar 23, Pa uri 15. lIn Velr 25, Pauri 5, we have once more Dharma, Sadhna, Kabir, Narndev, Ravidas, and Sain, Gorakh comes UP again ill ValA 36, Pauri 20 and

l," a," 3 8, Pau ri 7 .

•

dates Of the birth and death Of Kabir has been Vitiated by two and t\VO conSiderations only : he betrays them both and lets the cat

.. P ys III!II _ • _ _. F • • PIp- _ .. _ _ _ L • _ __, W F 'I'" ~ • ••• * _ P , J _ _ .. ._..,.__.... .............. l1li::.-1 IF ...,. & • - ".IIIPII... .... - _ , •

* Nihal Singh Suri in his Gurrnukhi Life 0 Kabir, p. 20. footnote, says that this ,,' ar is believed by some to have been an interpolatiotl and. pot the compOSition Of Gurdas.

KABIR HIS BIOGRAPHY

date of Kabir's birth is 1398 or 1399 Sarnmat 1456 but tIle date

becti icitli (1 dCSZ·l~C fo connect 111·,/1 ioi t li R(llll(lJl(Tll(/(l that the date of his birth was placed so early; for I~alrlallan(la is often said to have died about the year 1410 when Kabir would have been twelve ~!ears ol.l, There is, however, good reason for thinking

t l1 ,1 t Ra m a n and w as born a bou t l·t 0 O. . . . • . . . . . . . ' , () 11 til e (late

of Kabir's death 11e delivers himself thus : "lIe is said to have lived till 1518. This is probably correct ,111(1 l ts well into the facts. Nn nak li\Tf~(_l from l·t()l) to 153 8 and would thus be

~9 years younger than Kahir, which also l t s ill well. The Emperor Sikandar Lodi reigned between 1 +~8 and 1 512 and visited aunpur ill 1·~(J5. lie never, never visited aunpur ill

that year, oid c Farishta, Vol. 1, ). 333-33+. These dates also

t in with the probable dates of Kabir's life." ! Iere is a 1110St glaring instance of facts to be accepted being required to fit in with desirable theories. If others place his (late of birth early to give Kabir a first-rate Brahman, Vaishnav, Bairag i, l~an1ajte G11 ru, Keay places the date of his death as late as possible to

gi\re him an excellent Ch el a or disciple in N anak , 14'irst, as we shall see in detail in our Vol. 3, Nanak's teachings differ fllnclal11entally from Kabir's on at least 6 points, including the vital one of tile jlIlil or Bi1· III ant a r, vz·(ie, ante, I)age 17 ;

second, there are at least half a dozen other thinkers contemporary with Kabir or Nanak who use the same literary diction, doctrinal ideology, poetical similes and metap}lors, and my-

father the Guru Kabir on poor Nanak alone and deprive him

Of the credit Of eing an independent thinker like Kabir

himself and like some others WhO all breathed in. the same atmospllere and wh o breathed out the same critical, conCiliatory

and candid words ; third, Kabir himself is antiCiPated com-

•

varying

•

perlO S

26

KABIR --HIS BIOGRAPHY

ath, aidev, (jnanacleva, Ralnanand, Narndev, Tilochan and several others on exactly those points doctrinal, expositional,

would ase Kabir's greatness as a founder anel father of so 111aI1Y sects and ideas and as the Glt1JJ1( of Nanak ; fourth, Nanak ill the A{li Gra nth nowhere mentions Kabir although

tile 11aJl1e~-; of Isnr, Gor~l.khnath, Ciopichand, Charpat, Hharth ri

occur ill turn vide Alit- Gra uth, page H83. If 'VJ dissociate oursel vcs rom th ese t\VO ai ms of gi vi 11g Ka bir ~l clecent G u JA It

and a decent Chela like a decent present or previous birth and a decent death and burial not at Mag har anyway or even, jf of necessity, at Maghar , then the only historical bit we have

to contend ag-tlinst is the evidence of Abul Fazl, A'·Jl-/·_

drawn 111)011 by Sujan Rae for his I(ll1Il{[~,)cll-l{t Ta't'al#l-!?!I,

,

De111i, l 'ersian, page +3. Now so far as pre-Akbar history is

concerned Abul Fazl 's own sources should be the final authority for LIS. T a rill II .. i-F i rozsh a hi, Z It lrd a t tit t - T ava }I'l·/llz AI·,I-i A kb ari." \'01. II, page 2~1-3, Persian, Naval Kishor

make no menti ou wllatsoever of Kabir, Farishta Persian, Vol. I, . 33~1--33+ only describes the proseclltion and

.... tzzz .. ....- ~ - - "...- --- -

* A in-i A lsb a ri (111l/ 1{J'111'1,')(f t ut T'aoar ik li . It \'1111 t,e Ile\VC;; to the students of Kabrr that there are t\VO and not one reference in A. A. to Kabir t'iclc page 393 and page 433), A. S. I~., Calcutta edition). TIle

first reference under the heading Bangala (Bengal and sub-head

Jagan11atll Odissa states that according to some statements concerning the cells 01- graves round the temple Of Sun-God said to have been built Se\WCIl hundred thirtv and Odd years before Abul Fazl '5 own time by N arsingha Deva, in one Of them rests Kabir t the unitarian, the second reference coming after. under the head Oudh, states tllat some people

or traditions are Of the OPinion that in Ratanpur the grave ' Ttirhat Of Kabir, the U ni tarian I existed] in the time Of Sikandar Lodi. TIle latter

Pcraian passage is SUbject to two interpretations on account Of there be-

ing only a comma in some MSS. Of A. A. and in others there being no comrna ; one i n terprotation is that in Ratanpur was I(abif's grave in the time

Of Sikandar, If \ve accept no comrna : the other. that the grave Of Kabir

KABIR HIS BIOGRAPHY

---- eheading of one Ilodhan," a Hindu ,\TI10 talked in the strain in which Kabir before him had done at anl hal between

as is stated to hav~e een fourth in spiritual descent frorn Kabir : of the sect of !vI ah arajas, page 26. Dadu, fifth fro 111 Kabir, is said to have been born in 1544-.

of l\lliran

Bai, of Ravidas, of Pipa, of }\amanand, of Guru A mardas,

Persian, pp.31-2 .. 31-3 , all POi11t to the death of Kabir as having occurred between 14 20-1449 and his birth between 1380 or even 1360 and 139H. I have discussed some of these dates on pages .24-27 of my History 0 PCII1J·abi Literaflt/~e. To me tile

_............... --~.. , zu.' ... _"""",.... ........ ..1. __...... .........-- ......... ---+--...... ~ -- _ ..... 1 .......... ._, ___,.___ .... _. ... "", ....... - _..... ----.. .......... ............. ............ ......,_~

lies in Rattanpur; he \vas In the time of Sikandar if one accept the comma and treat it cquivalen t to a semi-colon and condone tile ungramlnatlcalomission of tile verb in the first sentence. The J{. 1-'. (Delhi,

p. 43) says that in Rat tanpur is the grave (M a zari of Kabir t the weaver, who in the time of Sultan Sikandar Lodi in Benares had gone to the capital of Reality Irorn the town of Appearance.

As to Sikandar Lodi, his date of birth is not known; before l1e ascended the throne of Delhi in 1488 he was in the area of Jaunpur of which he was the Governor at the time of his father's death vide A. A., Navalkisll0r Press, Vol. II, p. 144. As to some other Sikandar, we find Sikandar Shah I amongst the kings of Bengal (which under

some kings included Odissa and Bihar: vide 1\1. D. by IJ. 1)., 1894 who ruled from 1338 to 1389. Sikandar Shall II's date, WI10 was also a king Of Bengal. IS 1481. on page 300 Of the same work we have

amongst the rulers connected with Delhi, Sikandar Shah whose date

is given as 1392.

~ Bcnares Dt. Gazetteer. 1909. p. 241; Another is the Dadupanthi Akliara founded by a Brahman named Budhan WhO was Childless.

He found a Child lying on the banks Of the river and gave him the name Of Dadu : the latter became an ascetic and established this well-known

sect (Of Dadu Panthis about 300 years ago.

t A COUPlet Of Guru Arjan Dev, 5th Sikh Guru, is wrongly attributed

by Elliot to Ramanand. Vide Buddhism and Hinduism, VOl. II .•

page 243.

KABIR .... 'HIS BIOGRAPHY

evidence of is incontrovertible and conel usive.

Kal

, ••••• TIII"".~'" p........._., _...,._, ....,_, ~F •• """""'__""'II~_""""'_. __ ._ •• __ '.I. _"" __ ' ...-....----.- _........_._-_.. .110 .. ... 4 - __ ... _... ..... d ....... _ ..... _ _ _.

* Abdul Haq, in his Persian work A kl,blTr-ttl-AllllY{lr (Ahmadi Press, Dellli, 1853 A. D.) refers to I(al)il·, fIis evidence pp. 198-200 and 341-343) can be Stlnlmarized thus : My ancestor Ag ha Muhammed Turk Bukhari carne to Delhi in the time of Ala-ud-din Khalji, His son was Malik l'rluiz-ucl-(lin : Malik Musa was the son of Muiz-ud-dln WIll) lived in the time of Firoz Shah. One of Malik Musa/s sons was Shaikh Firoz , WIlO was al ive in the first part of the reign of Sultan Ball101 and (lied in 1~t55 L\. fl. 860). HIS posthumous son was Sadullah \VI10 was

my real granrlfather. Shaikh Rizq Ullah was Sad ullalr's eldest son. My uncle Ic izq used to say that one day I asked Sadullah : this

famous Kabir whose (Bi,'-;/lanpllcttlS men read, was 11c a Musalman or a Kafir ? He replied : he U'{T .. ') a Micvahh.id , believer in one God. I then submitted : but a J.ltlIV,1JtltilJ is a glia ir Kafir, non-Kafir, In other words, a Musal man Thcrcupon , he said it is too difficul t to compre hend th is

meaning or explanation. You 5110111(1 try to understand. Sadullah (1 jed in 1521 A. H. 928) . My f ather at the time was 8 years old. S11ai k 11

I{izq Ullah was born in 1 .. 191 and died in 15Hl. My grantlfatller Shaikh Sa'\.) ullah was a Mlt/~i,l 014 disciple of Shaikh 1\1011(1 Malava, whose

tomb is at Malawa town in Qrlllauj. My uncle Rizq Ullah was also made a disciple of Shaikh Mllilanlmad, when Shaikh 11ullamtnad Malava

visited these parts (I)cl111 during tile reign of Sultan Sikandar ; my grandfather associated wit h him for several :y·ears.

TIle aforesaid statements point out COllclusively that Shaikh Rizq U llah inquired from Sa.'dullah about Kabir, anyway before 1512 when Sikandar died, in whose reign Shaikh l\1l111alllmad had come to Delhi where both Sa'(_1111Iall and RIZq became his drscrples. As Shaikh

Muhammad had hailed from the Qanauj area, he and his companIons must have brought the news and RisJla1~pad(lS of Kabir, the famous Musalrnan

J ulaha singer, Rizq Ul lah was touched by the utterances and he wanted to find out if Kabir had been a Muslim or a non-!\1uslitn. TIle reply his father gave him was 111at Kabir liad been a believer in one God, which shows that Ka bir had been dead for many years when the query was made and that since his death, his reputation and hIS poetry bad found

enough time and patronage to travel up to Del hi, The reader wil l hear more Of this inquirer about Kabir, and his own Hind avi' Bhagtr' poetry in the third volume Of my work,

iT11e poet Kal is the on ly Bliatt who Sings the praises Of Guru Nanak.

AS he mentions Guru Arnar Das, l1e must have died before 1574. the year Of the death Of Guru Amar Das, HiS evidence runs thus Ae c., pp. 1285_1287 : Guru Nanak carried out Raj. Jog and S{lh). Joge The praises

Of GOd have been sung by Ravidas Bhagat, Nama and Bhagat Kabir, Bhagat Beni tall Of whom are clubbed together in one stanza. Mahadev is mentioned both as a Bairagi and as a Jogi. GOd'S praises are sung by the Dine Naths and by Bharthri WhO ever associated With his Guru.

It is ObViOUS from the above that Kabir must have died before the birth Of Kal which may be presumed to have taken Place by 1510 or

29

. is arne an ami y i e. I don't think the

ingenuity of the splitting up of the word Kabir into Kar and Bir deserves to be paid any other compliment than that of a hearty laughter; it is a well-known fact that among the low-

class 1\1 uhammadalls single-word names are preferred to two-word ones and even where there is a two-word name, it is in actual conversation reduced to one word, and, further, that the lower classes take special pleasure in giving thenlselves rather

holy alld very dignified names, often of saints that 11U ve come to be reverenced in the family or the locality or the tribe.

Shaikh Kabir ~ or I{abir-ud-dill Auliya, was a \vell-known saint and pllilosOI)her; his tomb was erected in the reign of Nasir-ud-din Mahrnud Shah 1389-92. He was a conternpo-

Zia-ud-din Barni, 1\\'lohanl111ad Kirmani vide SiJ,ar-ttl-AttliYll by Chishti and Sa in at .. til-A uliya by Dara Shikoh ). Yahya

•

Bakhtiar was later surnamed Khwaja Yahya Ka ire He

died in A. D. 1430 vide History 0 the A galls, B. Dorn, Part II, . 6 and 12. Hasan Kflbir-uu-dill preached Islam in U ch in the 13tll century, Sayyid Ahmad Kabir is said to have been the means of conversiOll of several tribes in the

and one holy names of God in the (}1tl"alz§.

Kabir is also known as Kabir Shah vide Basti Di sl rict

Gil zetieer,

e cOin ..

tllereabouts. TIle nine N atlis referred to by Kal are, according to Kaka Singh, B. B. Se. p. 341, Gorakh, 1\1acll11andra, Charpat, Mangal, Ghughghu, Gopi, Pranka, Surat and Chanba. Kabir aJso talks Of the Dine Naths. Vide A. G., Rag Bliairo , 515 13t

Salek 31. on page 1264. Adi Granth , seems to bear out this View that Kabir was generally treated as a 110ly name Of GOd and that Kabir was aware Of this connotation Of his own name.

§Cal1lbridgc History 0 India, VOl. III. . 593.

IIR. SI HI' M. for 1909_11, page ao, MS. NO. 5 b Kabir uses the

word Baba more than once for his imaginary hearer, 1(1 Get page 148.

The names Of the Aughar section Of ogis end in Das. T.C.C.P" . 2501

30

:KAHiR H1S BIOGRAPHY

pared with Ba a Farid and Baba N anak. N amdev calls the Lord by the appellation Baba Bithal P. U. L. MS. No. 1960, folio 267 1. In the Orissa Gazetteer, we are told, . 94, that amongst the pu lie works left by rulers of Orissa after 1277, is

the bridge at the entrance of Pooree called the A thara N ala, said to have been built about 1300 by Raja Kabir Narsinh Deo.

Tbat is the only Hindu instance known so far. There is no

slave, and this is llsed by Kabir's predecessors, conten1poraries and successors, Namdev, Ravidas, Dadu, Nanak, in addressing God or in addressing the public, generally at the end of the hymn, either in close proximity to the author's name or at some

distance from it. Vide Rag Ratnkali, 3 2, Adi Granth,

page 899. Nanak uses Das similarly Adi Granth, page

811. N anak says, I am the servant of servants. Also see

Asokan influence. Asoka called himself Priya Dasa .

As to his family life, manuscript No. 5~8, P. U. L., composed in 1693 at Anandpur, the seat, then, of Guru Go ind Singh, and containing tIle biographical bits Parcliian in verse of Kabir, Dhanna, Trilochan, N amdev, aidev, Ravidas, Balrnik, Sukdev, Baddhak, Dhru, and Prahlad, does mention a wife, a son and a daughter of Ka ir, and possibly a daughter-in-law

1588 vide ante, page 5 may also throw some light on the point.

he impreSSion one gathers from those two M . as wel as

from certain lines Of hiS in the Adi Grantk is that Kabir was married early as is usual With the low ... classes, be they

Hindu or 1\1uhammadanJ and that as a married man he met mem ers Of several wandering Hindu and uhammadan religious orders, came to have a new way Of life Of his own, and

• F • Wl •• 1 •• t J d.

.. -

I. _ L 1 • ••• ,.. •• *_,. _ J ••

• •• al.. =

*Several Canarese mystics 01. Lingayats also had the suffix Das,

KABIR HIS BIOGl<APHY

that he then gave up family life, during the last 15 to ~o years of his earthly sojourn; in this last period was written almost

neous with the events mentioned in them and almost the whole of which seenlS to be an expression of emotion recollected in trallquillity after the physical or intellectual or literary causes of those emotions had ceased to operate on 11in1 •

The words put in the mouths of others in Kabir's Alii Gra utli verses, are not reported speech: long after the event in some cases and in others, in a purely imaginati ve way,

he composed, ill verse, questions that others did put or might be imagined to put or be imagined to have been 11l1t, and remarks they did make, or might be imagined to make, or be imagined to have made, and then adds l1is answers, The same tiling is trlle of Nanak's hymns wherein the questions and answers with Bharthri, Gorakh, l\Iachhindra etc., occur .

•

One is remin ded inevitably of N amdev, of Landor's excellent

and of certain Buddhistic writings, Loi] the alleged name of Kabir's wife means the world and Kabir clearly implies this meaning in one of his Sliabads, Rag As(~ 5 8 21, Adi Gratith, . -t~~6. It is a common Hindi

. _. .. - - - ._a = '.

• _ L • .F. .,.

F w •••

..... 1 __

*1£. R . E., page 633 : c 'Lt is probable that tIle first collection of Kabir/s sayings was not compiled earlier than 50 years after his death." A History of Hi ndi Literature, Keay, page 24 : .tBijak is often said to have been compiled by Bhago Das about the year 1570. It was produced in

connection with the Kabir Panth after the death of Kabir, probably as a book Of instructions." I( abir and II is FOllowers, Keay , page 56: "Tile

compiler may have been Bhagwan Das and the compilation perhaps was not made till somewhere about 1600."

t In K, G., page 44, Kabir says:

•

K. G., . 44. on page 449t A,li Grantli , the mother of Kabir says :- -The name Of my daugllter-in-Iaw is Dhania, but these (01,. I have re-named her as Ram

ania; MundiasJ Bairagis have darkened my home; they have attached

KABII{ HIS BIOGI<APHY

and Hindu word and we cannot easily associate it with a low class Muslim woman, I refuse to accept this as the name of his wife.

wornan : the feminine is used

for it; in Persian we have • ~ or • Pir zal or

Zal-i- pir and in I-linduism, Maya ; we have, aga in, in

~ ~

G rantli, Kabir says, Listen, 0 Loi, thou, without a Fir or a Guru.

In the Alii Grantli 11e calls Loi, Andhli or blind. N am-

dev vide P. U. t.; llIS., No. 1960, folios 264 1 and

272 1 twice llses the word Loi in the sense of the world, in the feminine gender. Tile world or people dance before

of R(f1Il. Loi in the Afghan language signifies great, elder.

\\T e accept Kamal" as the name of a son of Ka ire 11e

published Gllrmukhi biography of Kabir, . ~98, 2nd edition,

Amritsar, gives Kabir two sons Kamal and Nihal, ,l11L1 two daugl1ters, Kamali and Nihali, and adds that except Kamal all the others died in his life-time. Two sliab ads bearing

the name of Kamal have been found by me. VZ·LTc fl.IS.

No. 374, P. U. L. Several more are to be found in S. s.

The Alii Grauth sli abad on pages 806-807, has been interpreted to imply the presence of at least one daughter and two or more sons. 'I'here is mention of mother in the second sh aba d given on page 486, Adi Granili. I, however, would

hesitate to interpret ~ ff,I ai, mother as my mother, as I have

Adt

• I 1 W2¥ -.. ZQ zuz ., ..... 4 ~ _ • d... • lilli 1& • F d F V .. I 9 .. V • P ..... d ¥Z .. ... • - z:u...-.. .4 • ..,. .. ., ~ ........ -. '01.... ~ ....... Is Isaaa. « :III t _ • * __,..

my son to Ram and Ramana. Kabir replies, Listen, 0 my mother these J}f undias have helped me to get rid Of my lOW) caste.

I must,11owever, add that all these references and the names seem to me to be allegorical and metapllorical, for Dh an , again, literally means a Wife.

* Among the 10 Pirs , contemporary or already dead, Jayisi in his Hindaoi Pad,1zavati, begun in 1520 AI D,, mentions one Shaikh Kamal (vide Pa{11Jl{17:l1ti, Naval I(ishor press, p. 10. In S. II. L., ve.. I

page 224. we are told that the date Of the floruit Of Kamal is 1450f

KADIR rr_'HIS BIOGRAPHY

33

hesitated to accept wife above as my wife. Guru Nanak Dev calls Maya by the appellation of Mui Adi Grantli, . 6 .• He says: One is the mother and she has three sons, one Sansari, the worldly one; one Blian duri the store-keeper, the

generous giver; one Divan ... 1101der, the great one keeping court. Guru Arjan Dev Adi Gr(llztlz, • 489 says, 0 Mai meaning, woman or the world, we should attach Ollr

heart to the feet of the GttYII. • ~1-90 0 Mu], whatever is to happen, is llappening. lie uses the word in the same

sense again in R. G. on ,L!90, 492, .. 1-93, 661, 662, 1038,

1116, 1117 etc. The ninth Sil{ll Guru, Teg11 Bahadllr, hus a similar use on pages 58+, 585, 1101. Farid Adi

Grantli, . 1275 employs Dh.ait for the wife, signifying

the human 50t11. Guru Nanak Adi Gra.ntli, page 1087 says: 0 Pandit, just think over my statement that we should read of. two mothers and t\VO fathers.

In Adz- Grant h, Rtlg Dlz,clILasari, sliaba d 4, Kabir puts it beyond doubt that by Loi he meant the world, the people. Kabir says, listen, 0 people, let none of you be misguided by ignorance ; if the name of R(r;11l be in the heart, then

whether it is Kaei or Ukhar Maghar, it matters little.

After evolving his own philosopllY of life in his maturity, Kabir may be said to have ended his visits and discussions

with all sorts of saints and to have accepted the Shabad doctrine in the main, becoming a sort of Bairagi observing Ah i n sa, though minimizing any sort of renllnciation of th e world and any adoption Of a saint'S garb without a corresPOnding Change in the mental outlook.

HiS alleged visit with Ravidas and 1\_atl1anand* to Pipa b. 1349 and d, 1473, Ville pages 523 and 5~6, Bhagt att .u Ba1ti

• ~ __ • Wi ..... .._ ..... _ ..... ~... _ ..... £CIII..... .. .... ..- ........ I.. ............ _~ -___ .......... ~._..... " •• ..........-... ~ .... - _........ .... ...... - --- .... - _. W" ....... _ .... '11"' .. lilT Q?&IIII --... F ..... LUi ~ __ eoz ZOE .... _,. -- •• - - 1 ...

* There are some very interesting dates and statements in Farquhar io.». L. I., pp. 323, 298_299, 331 :

•• several Vishnuite Bhagtas preceded RamanancJa, the real leader Of the movement, notably Namadeva and Trilochan from the Maratha country and Sadhna and Beni WhO belonged to the North. HiS royal

KABIR .. E HIS BIOGRAPHY

by Kaka Singh, mentioned in lvIS. No. 528, P. U. LI, and his co-discipleship with Ravidas of Ramanand, referred to in MS.

No. 512, H. U., copied out in 1711, are not accepted by us

vide aute, . 3 & 18 , but we may at once agree to the state ..

rnent that his visits to places outside Kasi must have started in the last quarter of his life when as a wandering Sadhu or Sant himself, he made the personal acquaintance of some persons and places that after his death were made the

centres of Kabirolatory. All sorts of tales were woven round

those persons and places, that, to give them credit and

credentials, were glorified in one form or other, and were made

During these visits he may have gone to agan Nath, Ratanpur etc., all of which, as has happened in the case of Ranjha, later came to lay claim to be his urial places. Vide IC. T., Dellti, .43; Ailz-i-AkbaIJli, ersian, Vol: II., .393 and 433 ;

~ •• III _ ozz ~:zI&& ......_ ,,,,,,,.. --.. b .----............ ....~ 222iiiiIk:: --.............. _,..._ _ ___..... _-_."ft#o 22!!!iiiiiIII ~ ~ .,.._............. .. .....-..... '_'L¥ .. G~L ..

disciple Pipa was born in 1425, while another disciple, Kabir, seems to 11a\~C lived from 1440 to 1518_ It is clear that lle was not Ramananda's latest diciple, Hence we shall not be far wrong if we suppose that

Ramananda lived approximately from 1400 to 1470. Mr. Balesvar Prasad giees 1423 as Narndev's fioruit, This chronology is finally established by one of Narndev's own abhangs, •• Gone are the saints," wh1·ch

"take.') it absolutely clear th at GnatJ.esvarll and his saintly eOI1Ipattiotz,.s lived tong be ore h im . Namdev spent his life propagating bhakti in the Maratha country and in the Punjab.

" Another, Maratha singer. Trilochan by name. seems to have been a contemporary of Namdev, but very little is known about hin1.·: Accord .. ing to Farquhar's own way of deducing, implied in the words itahcized, Kabir 's references to Namdev, Jaidev and Gorakh are suell as make it absolutely Clear that they and their saintly companions had lived long before him and Raidas's and Mira'S references to Kabir similarly ShOW that Kabir, Sadhna, Sain, Dharma had long pre-deceased them. Far ..

quhar further says p. 328 and 309): •• Mira Bai became the Wife Of the heir_apparent to the Mewar, throne, but he died before the assassination Of his father, the great Kumbha Rana, in 1469. She left Chittore

and became a disciple Of Raidas. She mentions him in three Of her

lyrics. MY information comes from the Place records Of the Mewar

family. I am greatly indebted to my friend the Rev. Dr.

James Shepherd Of Udaipur for ascertaining the actual facts. Much legend has gathered round her name. The apprOXimate date Of Sena IS

tlourit is 1470. the same as that Of Ravidas. It Farquhar's dates about Ramanand, N amdev, Kabir and Miran Bai are. Of course, wrong.

KABIR'BaRu HIS BIOGRAPHY

35

Dabistat~-i- azahib, . 167 and nlanuscript No. 193 B(I, P, P. L. His literary references to Maghar Adi G ranih,

. 639 and agan N ath and Odissa, rissa , were exploited

utilized to glorify him by securing him an interview with there is not an iota of proof for that; beyond tlle statement of A i,t-i .. A kbari that he lived or died in the time of Sikandar

Lodi, If he had been hauled up before Sikandar, be would

certainly have met the same fate as the Brahman Bodhan met at Si andar's hands in 1499 or therea outs at am al or similar religious propaganda as Kabir had carried out. As

we know now, Kabir had died efore Sikandar Lodi was even

orne

hatever stir Kabir created at Kasi and at places he may

have visited in his last few years, it was not strange and deep enough to attract notice in his life time or even till a ong while after his death. The contemporary biographer of Chaitanya

b. 1486, ,1. 1533, who visited Puri, Benares and Allahabad

between 1511-1520, makes no mention at all of Kabir or a

air- anili. ide.. ir ar's hait anya and his Pil-

t was after a ir

had been duly canonized and amal and amal etc., had

ascen e a ir's gaddi and organized his anth, that Ka ir's

Bani and fame began to spread. To me surely the second half of the 16th century is the period of the formation of Kabir-

ant It an the in ition Of his real and spurious bani, and in this connection I relY most on Guru Arnar Das's reference to Kabir and his poetry Vide ante, page 23. Guru Amar Das

must have come to know Of :l ir rst as a Vaishnav Bhagat

to visit ardwar, on foot, year after year, doing it a out 20

times. ter) When he ascended the gaddi Of Guru Angad Dev

KABIR HIS BIOGRAPHY

known religious centres of India. I-Ie probab ly sent one to the area of Kabir's influence also. I lis emissaries, too, may have been instrumental in Guru Amar Das's acquisition of further l{no\vledge about Kabir and his Bani, which 11e collect-

ed, and differed from in his own utterences.

I{alnanand's Dig Vlj·a}, Great Conquest tradition is sought to be aped and repeated in the Kabir gosh.ts conversations that have been coined without regard for the correctness of time and pllce. Thus Kabir's gOSllt,S both with Gorakh and Nanak and Ratnanand too in which Kabir is seeIl to triumph

over the otllers, are tnanufactured anachronisnls ; if the Kabirites have been guilty of them, no less have been the Nanakites

who have in a similar faked gosht made Kabir acknov l~dge Nanak as his GZl/IIZt. Vide st«. No. r. 512, H. U. The

Brahmans, thoroughly aristocratic and jealous of their age-oIl

prestige, could Ilever have deigned to enter into a discussion with the low .. class 1\1 u11amn1adan weaver.

The goslit with Ramanand:f! like that with Nanak is meant to make Kabir show off and come out the better of the two : in

fact a serious difference is shown to exist in ........ eliefs and Kabir's view is made to emerge and is finally accepted by his opponents.

Gusain Ashtanand is another contrivance for making the connection between Rarnanand, a Brahman, and Kabir, a low class Muslim, possible and look 1110re decent through the intervention Of a Brahman agent or mediator.

~

Kabir, went to see him ....•. so the (,-z;qir ecame a disciple

source. ahan Gasht was the title Of Sayyid alal-ud.din Bukhari, son Of Shaikh Ahmad Kabir, known as l\1akhdum-i. ahanian,

their several trillmphant,

........,. .-....-_.. &1& ...,........T zo ~us 2 ~~n 7 'L •• 7 _til... ....ru •• _ .,. ad... F ILL & ~ •• _ '. "''IIIPI: 'II •• 'zIII'IIII iQJJ wwf _.1 _ __ m.... 4. FIla _ d L .~

* Vi£te P. U. L. MS. NO. 2116.

Vide Keay, Kabir and HiS Followers, pages 115 and 116.

KABIR···-HIS BIOGRAPHY

ahangasht. The dates of ahangasht are, birth 1307, and death 1383. Of course, the discipleship by ahangasht of Kabir is an idolatrous fib of the Kabirolators and as with N anak, so with Kabir, the famous dead saints were brought in, in the form of Gosht s, to establish Kabir's superiority.

ith regard to Kabirs alleged connectioll with Raja Bir Singh DJv'£: of R3\\'ah Srate, I finel absolutely no mention of Kabir or Kabirites in the Rei~llll State G{lzetteel·. Bir Singh

--

Dev an I h is gra rdfnther Bhira Dev were both contetnporarics

of Sikan .lar L') Ii whose attack in 1 f}85 on Rewah during the reign of BtlirJ. DJV was faced by 13ir Singh Dev at Khan Ghati. III my opinion Sik in .iar's fancied association with Kabir made Kabir's bio6r~lphers drag in Bir Singh Dev. Otller\vise, Kabir's real COllten1porary would be Bhira or Narhar De,Y. Vide

R.S.G., .108, 109 and . 13-14. Narhar Dev imlnediately

Nar Singh by Babur ibid, . 1 + ; therefore, the later writers on Kabir woul.l confuse Narhar, the predecessor of J311ira, with Bhira's successor, On page 10 of the aforesaid Gazetteer we

driven eastwards by the l\1tlhammadans, expelled the Kalechurls from their Districts north of tile Narbada," which gives us an idea about the date and extent of Muslim penetration into the area of Kabir's influence. On page 41, Kori is translated as Hindu weaver and ulaha as l\1uslim weaver and

Bilas ur Di st rict Gazetteer ,ve have a King Virasinghdeva WhO is said to have ascended the throne in 1407 A. D. and been succeeded by Kalmaldeva in J 426 • 36. conSidering that

_____.._ L_ r... _... ..-. ... u~ ... -( _ uaz I¥o ... • m .... ozz • .... LUi...... . - ... Ia ".. _ azt _ ... d .. & • k. _.... - - I •• til.. _ • _.. _ _. .. ... _

..... • _ .. ~ ... * Ib.. .." ... - • • - - - - -- ---

* Has this Bir Singh Dev to do With the Raja Bir Deva WhO built the City (If Patan in N~pal. in th~ year 299 and. was h~ not incorporated along with Gorakh into the biography Of Kabir ? Vide I, A., VOl. VII.

l\. D. 865. (later known as Bhatgaon something to dO With Bhagatpur in the Azamgarb District in U. 1"). Where there exists a Shrine Of Ghazi Mian Salar and has not the word Bh agat or Bhakta its own tale to tell

in connection With Gorakhnatb?

38

KABIR·, flU HIS BIOGRAPHY

this is the area wherein the Dharam as section thrived and wherein one of the two gaddis of a ir sti 1 runs, we must accept this Virsingh Deva as the real contemporary of Kabir,

whose dates of birth and death as accepted y us recei,'e

immense support from the date of this Vir Singh Deva.

unauthenticated sliabad of Ka ir in the Bijal: which contains the word Taqi need not engage us for long or seriously; some

biographers of Kabir have seized upon it as a convenient explanation for his knowledge of Islam, orthodox and Sllfiistic. To me, firstly, the text is yet to be established; secondly, the name may be there only as a part of an imaginary conversation, * just as the names of Gorakh and l\1achhindra are there in

Nanak. The whole problem of these goshts and names and allusions to events has to be properly studied and posed:

if we only remember that the conversational ~tyle legacied as tradition down to that age y the age of the Upanishads and the Buddhist books and the Pauranas themselves it is which is responsible chiefly for the issues raised for settlement,

then I am sure we cannot go wrong very far. The prose anam Sakhis couched in the same question and answer, or direct reported-speech style and written during the 16th century illustrate the truth of our statement better. I am reminded

here of an acute 0 servation of Dr. l\1argoliouth vide

ohamnteda1lZ·SI1t, • 66 which he makes while explaining

the genesis ot much Of 1\1 uslirn tradition respecting the · uranic

utterances. The utterances preceded the framework 0 events into which they are later fit; the events are manUfactured and their original justification is the loopholes provided to the commentators bY some allusion to a person or Place in

_;liliiii _ '" ......... -- •• uzzaz AU F ••• L£ ... III ..... 7 ...... _-- *If - •• -a_ t = I lit... •• ~ 7 1&&$'_. * T -. _* r a trW.

* MUCh Of Kabir Literature nlanufactured to illustrate his doctrine is cast in the Shape Of questions and answers. Those bOOkS that set out

to glorifY him and to contrast him With his predecessors or successors are also COUChed in the same dialogic manner. Vide, Keay. Kabir Literature, in his •• Kabir and H is FOllowers."

KABIR- ··HIS BIOGRAPHY

39

the utterance itself or some personal association with a person or place historically true, and well·known. This is an Eastern phenonlenon and one which has made almost every

Eastern Saint or era suffer biographically. I cannot say if the \'Vest provides any large parallels, th ough the history

of Christ and the early Christian saints does provide enough

proof of the evidence and working of this phenomenon there in tIle est, also. If we accept the dates of Kabir as gi\Ten

above, this Taqi will have to be identified with the Shaikh

Taqi or Shall Taqi who according to Beale in his Orieut al Biogra hical Dicfz·olzary page 369 died between 1413 and 1421 and was buried at h usi in the District of Allahabad and according to the Allahabad District Gazetteer, was born in 1320 and died in 1384. The latter page 246 gives his full name as Saiyyed Sadr-ul-Haq Taqi-ud-Din !\1uhammad Abul Akbar, son of Sha an-ul·l\Iillat. e further read about husi

that the place was once called Harbhumpur or Harbongpur

after the famous Raja Harbong the story ascribes his

downfall and the destruction of the town to the inter\'ention of the saint orakhnath and his teacher l\1achhandar." Has

husi or I-Iarbongpur got anything to do with Haramba of Kabir?

There is nothing unusual about Kabir's visit to Taqi for, as the author of Dabistan points out, Kabir in the first part of his life did go to many a Sadh, Pir, Shaikh, and Shahid, Hindu and Muslim, in search of the true Guru. A. A. mentions one

Shaikh Taqi Whose tom lies in Karra anakpur • 201 .

NO date is given.

It may be added that one Bijli Khan appears in the bio ..

graphy Of Chaitanya Deva alsot as a great lover Of religion.

the a opted son Of Pahar Khan Of Ghazipur and Patna, WhO is said to have built the tomb Of Kabir about 1450 Basti Dt,

Gazetteer, . 226 should be taken as different rom and earlier

40

KABIR .a·-HIS BIOGRAPHY

than the one who became a disciple of Chaitanya, unless the iographers of Chaitanya made use of the first one, who was an adnlirer of Kabir. In view of the date we have

accepted on the ground of the death of Kabir, we need not reject the tradition of Bijli Khan's construction of Kabir's tomb.

11. eath.> Let us not commit the popular, criminal folly of

,

making bad history" out of good literature and special doctrine

out of common conventional diction. As to the date of Kabir's death, he certainly ,,'as not alive when AnantDas, who according to R. S. . . for 1909.11 is said to ita ve thrived in the second

visited Benares and agannath and when Ravidas sang of him and when Nanak allegedly wrote of him vide below, No. 14 . If one were to prepare a list of those saints and heroes who have been given a lease of life amounting to 120 years each, one would simply laugh at the simple faith of the average Eastern consumer of literar}1-cum-religious manllfactures .

.. _ ,-,.. m I., ,,-"-,",-1 •• _ ~.dAt2iiiilllllllll_'_" t _. -_ _ __ I _ .... ..... ,....111 ilia.. ........-- .-.. ,., ... _,. .,. _It"'l""l" .... '-. oL.,..L. _..-..................... • ...... zM'II....,_. -..... ...... I""'~ _ ~ , -- 4 • -- - _.. Q. -- .., -

* How very necessary it is to be cautious inex tracting personal history from literature will be illustrated. by a reference to a Shabad of Ka b ir on page 793, Adi (;,~alztJl. w h ic h h itherto incorrectly translated

and interpreted h as been taken as a con\'ersation which actually occurred between Kabir and his m ot h er , May not one ask frOID such interpre-

ters, Why don't you, t h en , accept the existence of an elder brother and younger brother (or cousin) of Kabir 's fath er for the mother is

cle -irly heard to use the words eth ani and Deurani, and wh y don' t you assert that Kab irs mother was also a poetess or that Ka bi r was

in the habit of carefully vers lying the c}lastisement he received in the direct reported speech style? Why don't YOU also maintain (as indeed is maintained in Dabistan that every morning Kabir like a true Vaishoav Bairagi went to the river Side and brought an un pol luted pitcher full Of the sacred water and spent h is whole morning in plaster ing afresh h is seat and in recit in g the Mantar Rant Ra m, and

telling the rosary giVing UP all weaving work. And hOW foolish and ridiculous both, for a chastiser Of Kabir to remonstrate With 11 irn for renouncing his profession in favour Of SPiritual CUlture, When the Chastiser f'ull y aCknOWledges the worth Of SPiritual CUlture, by USing the words : YOU are absorbed in enjoying the nectar Of Hari ?

Macauliffe on the authority Of Bharat Khana ArfJachitzkosh, Marathi. says that Kablr died in 1448. vide h is SikJl, Religion, VOl. IV. page 122.

KABIR HIS BIOGRAPHY

41

of his dea th. the miracle of the disappearance of his! body llas its own tale about 60 to 70 kos from Benares and tile tradition that to die

As to the

included ill the Adi Gra nt h, constitute, manifestly a Iiterarys and religious corn ment on the ridiculousness of the said tradition and sllperstition and not Kabir's forecast of his death at Magharl], nor of his willi11gness or determincltioll tCJ die

* Or Pur i, ville p. 95, Puri District Gu zcttcer , ISlQS.

t In t lre C. P, G'a zc ttc cr pp. l03 .. 10·t, we read: The Pa nka Deity is Kab ir w h o is supposed to be (;0(1 incarnate and is said to have appeared sever a.l times on earth, at least once during each cycle of man's h istor y During the present h istor ic period he has only appearecl once, about A D, lO()O in rue v icin ity of the sacred CIty of Benares. Kabir himself is representee} as hav in g remained on earth from AD. 114 ~ to ] 449 . In the Ba st i Dt . G a zeitec r, page 225, we rea d: I teo n t a i n 5 the c en 0 tap 11 s 11 r i n e 0 £ t 11 e pro p 11 e t , 1 \~ a b irS 11 a 11 .

One story relates that in t he course of his wander m gs Iie came to Maghar and there apparently he <lied. His d isci ples disputed over the body: t h e quarrel was Ir ui t.less for though the Musal mans prevailed and bu rieu the corpse, Ka bir w as st il l in flesh at Br m da.bari near

Mu t t ra 'The nee h e sent wo rd b id d i n g th ern oren the g rave and thus

pro vet hat t 11 e re \v a c. n 0 C all C) e for dis put e . I'll e y rl i d S 0 a n (1 found nought but a lIt Iecta ble fragrance. Th e traditional (late for

t 11 is event is 127-+ and t hough Ka bir did not rea: 1 y d ie ti 11 1450 or

thereal)outs, h is sh ri ne was erected forthwith. Whatever be the true date of this or igrnal building matters little for it was replaced or restored by Nawab Fidai 1(11 an , w ho garrisoned 1\laghar with an imperial force about 15()7, though another account makes 13ijli Khan the adopted son of Pa h ar Kh an of Gaznlptlr and Pat na, th e rebuilder

Of tile edifice, The cust od y Of the Shrine, however, ha.s remained

from the first with a ulaha (MUSlim) family. The grant (to the Shrine dates apparently from t h e days Of !:iaf(lar lang WhO v isit ed the

spot.

Maghar is about 15 miles from Gorakhpur and "about 85 from Ajud hia, Maghar is said to be the Place Of Ganceh , its other name in Kabir is Haramba.

~'Namdev has an exactly Similar reference to the then exist-

Vide S. V. A. t page 119. compare the Stiabad containing this Gauri, 15 With Gauri, 30 and the alleged historical allusion Will be found to be ill usory.

42

KABIR ,. ·HIS BIOGRAPHY

there and thereby disprove the statement of the pu lie and flout their wishes and persuasions to the contrary. In these and similar shabads he was trying to expose popular super ..

stitions such as those pertaining to Sut ak, uth, unnat, Pind or Pitnr, a Brahman or Turk birth etc, The various references to Maghar in the Adi Granth are on . 303, 30+, 639, 1265-1266 and 312: Rag Gauri, 15,55 : Rag Dhanasari 3: Satol«; 61.

the father, two wives, one wife, the members of the family, a be- ir-wi e, the husband, the Ganges, the manacles or fetters,

the death], the madness, the education, the renunciation, are all metaphorical and imaginative. Vide A. G. . 442, 444, 445, 303. Any independent thinker could use this diction and ideology to criticize popular beliefs and superstitions and employ these metaphors an forms of address directed to an imaginary questioner and listener, for the purpose of expressing his own attitude towards thoughts and things, relations and ideals, superstitions and beliefs.

References to Benares are common among the media-val

doxy rampant and ruling there. Namdev has a reference to it

and so has Ravidas. Vide Adi Granth, . 808-809; and

.1198-1199 .

.... '.... dd _.t • 1... ._ ........... PIP" ........ _-- I ••• - .. -&JUl _._.....- __ -.1E'_I.2224-~..... P 22Q2 .... ~ ............. - .... ~ ........... -..... .............. - ... _:zI ... ,.-_ ..... ..-nOo_ .... '4 . ,,_.. 4 .... _ 1 np _ ... _.-.....

* In K. G •• page 145, ada 1711 we read Kasi lies within our bOdY (kaya.)

Adi Granth, page 1249.

Death in general, physical as well as SPiritual, is the SUbject Of many verses on Pt>. 303_305. Adi Granth. Rag Gauri. one Of the shabads has alone been miSinterpreted for the purposes Of damning

Benares.

Pandit Tara Singh in his Gurmukhi commentary on the poetry Of the Bhagats in the Adi Granth takes this view and explains the alleged historical and autObiograPhical allustcn. VJde hts B, B. S., , 338.345.

KABIR HIS BIOGRAPHY

43

44

KABIR ··'-HIS BIOGRAPHY

Das as Guru is correct as given by Keay and if his view is substantially true that the Kabir Panth owes a great deal for

certainly its 1110st Qutstanciing leader; Dharam Das is not

only the reputed founder of the lJI ai section of the Pantli at Chllatisgarll but he also figures very largely in the literature, a

great deal of which is in the form of S11 osed dialogues between himself anti Kabir," page 97, K, and F .... then my view that

Kabir-Pantll, and Knbir .. Literature were organized and modell-

ed definitely, and exactly and comprehensively on the model of the Sikh ]Jalltlz after Guru Amar Das's 22 preachers had gone out between 1552 and 157-1- in all parts of Northern India to preach and after Amritsar had been founded in 15 74 A. D., after scholars like Bhai Gurdas had visited Agra, Benares, etc.,

must prevail. Keay's evidence is, of course, only one of the

many proofs I have adduced in this work. R. S. . lrI. for 1905-08, • 7 3· 7+ states that the MS. N l·rbltal·gyalt bears the

date 1576. It is an account of Kabir's life to his disciple Dharam Das.

As I shall not deal with tile Kllbl·J"-Palz,fll in these pages again, I may here dispose of one or t\VO arguments ased on Dharamdas's and Bhagodas's immediate disciplesllip of Kabir, found in Kabir Gralztlzllval i edited by Pandit Shyam Sunder Das of the lVagari P/~{lcltarilli Sitbh a, Benares. Several statements of the learned Pandit are simply ridiculous and

excite both our Pity and laughter. ere are some : __ r_

I. P. 20. Guru Nanak Dev has included in the Adi Grantb numberless Sakhis and Padas Of Kabir.

N anak did nothing Of the kind. The ranth was compiled Amar Das, WhO came to the Sikh Gaddi in 1562 and died in

uru Amar Das

KABIR·WfF HIS BIOGRAPHY

45

II. P.30. But many I (ldCES of Kamal have been included in the Grantli Sah ib,

Not one brtd a of Kamla is there in the Adi Granth,

III. P. 21. Footnote, It is not improper to believe that Kabir's Bani uttered by 1504 was collected in this l\'ianuscript and the Ba ni uttered after that till 15 J 8 may have been drawn upon and included ill the Adi Grunth,

Wrio could have secured and brought that later 13,11Zi from

personal contact with Kabir, \\~110 must have held with him a secretary to write down his Balli as 11e uttered it, which secretary later placed his record at the disposal of the Sikh Guruvisitor of Kabir ?

IV. P. 20. It is \vell-l<no\vn that Dhararn Das the chief disciple of Kabir had compiled an anthology of the Bani of

Kabir in 1464.

After a long and careful analysis of all available records, the Rev, 1~. E. Keay, has come to the conclusion that Dharm D,lS lived about the end of the Loth century V ide 1(.

cuid F., . 99. The approximate date of installation to gaddi of Dharam Das,* given by Keay, is 1619.

Many quotations from the Alii Grant h given by Pu.tidit DClS are wrong, rnis-spelt and nlis-worded.

V. 1~11e Pandit says that very few Sakliis and Padas

Adi Grtcnt]: while the fact is th at al niost the toliole 11tOre tile-lit 1tilte-telltl,s 0 Kabir in the Alii Grantli a ears ill, his m anuscri t: at Places both entirely tally and at Places the Adi Grantlt version is the correcter and fuller Of the two and less tam pered With and the better arranged according to

the heads and Ra gs etc .

...... _'II _ ~." • ev&_........... - w..... .. ,..- _ _- _17. ~-..... .IIIIIE"'_" ~ - ,... _ - ~~ _ ztr b - - 41 ••

a

.. What WOUld me Kabir-Pantl1is say to the following from A . G." about pan to which they attach so much importance in the initiation

ceremony?

46

KABIR HIS BIOGRAPHY

\'1. The manuscript with Pandit Das, which bears the date 1504 and upon which he relies for some of his a surd inferences, is almost exactly the same as manuscript No. 1680 in the Panjab University Library, which contains the Balli of

the following in the order given :.__, A uthor,

Dadu

ork.

Kabir Namdev

Ravidas

Anubh ai" Anubhai

A tiubhai Anubhai

Haridas

Baba Sunder Das Gopal an

Maluk Das

Svayvas etc.

Barah asa

Sri G,,,,--U aibnma,

man uscri pt.

The earliest poet included is Namdev and tile latest is Baba

•

Sundar as, DCldlt·Patttlti, who is sai to have een orn

in 1596 and died in 1689. Yide Das's • H. P. S. V.t Vol. I, o, 183.

he noteworthy things a out this ania

• •

man user) pt are ... ·

1. The Bani of Dadu has the place of honour. 2. The Bll:lll· of Dadu is arranged subject-wise.

3. Most of the headings under Dadu are the same as under Ka ir : in fact those un er Dad u are mucb larger in

number.

i

..... _ ..... ~ _ ........ t ...... __ _ • __ ... L ... 11"& ._.". .... azts .... - ........ _...... p It - • - 1IIIIIiIIa:Zl: __ • ~ •• _ ..... _ ... ,.,.. - .;-'111 ••• ; ....... -_ Ib ......... ; .. __ ". ..... '$11 ....... ~.,. ...... ~ ......... ~, ... ...,... .... , .da :.-.I • 41$'

* compare this title AtJ,ublltli With Jnanadeva's Anubh ava Am rit a, as regards the title, vocabulary and diction, and as-regards doctrine and arrangement Of SUbjects and Rags. Kabir I{. G., PI 139 says: 0 Sants we should Sing those A nbhai Padas .

... R. s. H. M. for 1909_11, PP, 332_333. refers to MS, NO. 240 as being Raidas ki-Bani, It is deposited With N. P, set Benares, The M s. contains 14 Rags and 82 Padas . TWO other COllections Of Raidas, Sakhi and Pada, are mentioned to exist, on pa 7 Of the same report.

KABIR- -tiIS BIOGRAPHY

47

th ose appearing under Dadu, collection his PaltJ·('lhi Bltaklz(l A sht ak; is the same as that of the Adi Granili.

7. he Bani of Ka ir as given in these two manuscript

copies according to Pandit Das himself, is chockful of Panjabi

words, pronunciations, phonetics, ver -forms etc. V ide his Ii. G., . 6.

8. If the Bclni of Ka ir as given in his and the P.U.L. manuscripts is reliable and atlthoritative why not the ani of Narndev, Raidas and Dadu included in the P. U, L. lUS. ?

In fact Narndev and Raidas as they appear in it (10 appear in the A di G rauth wi th inevitable differences of arrangement: several lines in both versions are exactly the same. Further several other llfSS. listed in the various Reports on the search for Hindi ~1SS. agree with the P. U. L. MS.

9. The manuscript bears no date.

10. he ca igraphy of oth the similar, modern, not older than one hundred to one hundred

and fifty years.

a The number of Sakliis in the body of the work is

809 and the number of A Itgs is 59:1: as is exactly the number

and 69 respectivelY.

~~III1111111_ •• ~_'* .... 111$ ......... =tIt_ ....... _. ~ PI~" ....... ,.,.,--- ................... - d.PItIi::::.zL .... PIII .......... p ---.~P' .. _ •. ib*-._ ... _...-. • .,t-"" ..

..........__..,pp,. TT _,_.+ ......... _.... • ...... - q ........... ¢ ....... t - -;- - -

* compare these numbers With those given in Kabir MS. deposited

With the A. S. Be, calcutta, which was COPied out at Delhi in 1764 and which contains 59 A ng« and 896 Sakhis. It also refers to Dadu's Rani which it must contain or must have contained; the numbers for Dadu are 34 A11gs1 2634 Sakhis and 20 Rags and 445 Savars .

Dadu's numbers in P. U. 1.11. MS. NO. ]960 are; Af1.&s 37, Sahh i« 2496 ;

Rags 27 ; Padas 444,

48

KABIR HIS BIOGRAPHY

b The date and the name of the scribe etc, com prising

two lines at the end are len an entirclv di ereut 11 and rom ih at 0 the body 0 the work.

c The Su nyulz: or joint leiters iii tile body are di erent

roni those 0 the addl·tZ·Oltal two lines,

My conciusio11S which run counter to those of Pandit Das's are :-_.

1 The additional lines containing date etc. in his ill S. Ka

contain a wrong, deceptive, lying date and are a very late

affair, on the very face of them, on account of the most palpable difference in the nature, style anti age of their own hand and of that of the body of the lvIS.

:2 The collection of Bu ui seems originally to have been the

work of Bub a Sundar Das or some one intimately connected with him. I would incline to the former view. There are A Izg headings for the St'(l:yyas under Baba Sundar Das also. 3 The original copy of these nlanuscripts was prepared or preferably copied out after the death of Baba Sundar Das,

say, about 1 720 A. D.

·4 I believe there is much iIlterpolcltion in the B~t11i of

Kabir as given in these MSS. as coul I be verified by reference

to the lnanuscripts of Kabir dated 1649 to be found in odh pur State Library.

,

(5 The Panjabi element in Kabir as in Raidas", Namdev

Dadu and Sundar Das is to be explained, besides by tIle nature of the common literary language of Bliagti prevalent in those ages, by the kind Of personal contacts, by the nationality Of the interpolators and their love and knOWledge Of the Sikh Gurus and their Bani whom they wished to follow,

6 A careful analysis Of the Bani Of Namdev in the Panjab

University Library manuscriPt leaves no dOUbt that Kabir's

• •• = _ ••• F ,. •• ...._ w-... t $ I JA..m, _ -

•

= .no... I. 1 t .., =. , , a ---.. $ • , • .... .. _ • J • _ _ •• _

* Raidass Vanja rias are unmistakablY Panjabi, vide Pa U. Lt.

MS. NO. 1960. on the basis Of this poetical form Raidasis formed a sect Of VanJ.aras and displayed the same mentality as ah ow n by the Kabirites. Vide, ante, p. 43. Nanak has his Vanjarias too,

KABll{ HIS BIOGRAPHY

!y

entire diction and ideology was derived from the stocks left full y

of both of whom Ka ir 'V~-lS fully aware for 11e mentions Namdev

in the most reverential terms,

from these verses comes out a far different Bliagat and leader than has been our lot to take him to e up to now. As stated --- efore, oth Ka ir and Hamanand are stated bv tradition to

..

have visited Pandllarpllr.

them and under the Rags, are all the contribution of some Dadu·Pall,tJti copying the or er of the Sikh Adi Graiitb or of its preCllrsors, the bani of aidev, Nanuieo, Bajid etc. The order of the Adi Grautli itself was suggested in part by the S. still found at Goindval, prepared under the 3rd

Si h Guru efore 1574.

8

been inclu ed under Guru Nanak 1499·1538 AStl-Dz··Var

inclusion in the Adi Granth, ThUS this particular anthology even later. This DO/tiT, or Saklii does not appear in the

50

KABIR-" -HIS BIOGRAPHY

Grantli and that in this Kabir collection are entered below for a comparison.

Adi Graltth Kabir Kabir

K.G. P. U.L.MS.

9

........ .

om

l\1ajb

Gauri Devgandhari Bihagra

Vadhans Sorath Dhanasari

aitsari Todi Bairari

Tilang Sllhi Bilaval Gaund

Ramkali Nat Narain l\fali Gaura

l'vIaru Tukhari Ke.dara Bhairo

Basant

Siri

Gauri

Gallri

Dhanasari

Sorath Kedarau I\1aru Todi

Tilang Suhi Bilaval

Gaund Ramkali

Bhairo

Bil,lval Lalit

1\:1 ali Ga ura

•

Kalian.

Kedara Bhairo .............. sant

Basantt

t

7 7 _ __.7. . _ ¥ _. .... T... • L ..... ..... • r _ • lEI ••• • _ _ _ 7 7 d& IJII& :III

tIIAi • • ... • _ • .,... d *.. ... zzl.... _T-i .T 7 .... _ F. .".W _ .... T" t ...... ~

* The farthest back I have been able to trace the Rag arrangement is in JaidevJs Gita Gooinda, HiS ordering runs somewhat thus : (Ashtpadi Matavt Gujri, Basant. Ramkali: Gujri, l\1alav, Gond: Gujri, Karnat, Deshakh : Bairari : Gujri: GOOd Najar Narayan: Basan t, Gujr i,

Varari, Bhairair, Gujri Barari, Basant, Barari, Bibhas.

On ly Rag Basant , H indot, occurs as a =epara te Chapter-lleading

in Bijak . Vide Rev. Ahmad Shahs English rendering Of the Bijak ,

The word Bijak has been wrongly derived hitherto, It is to be traced to Bs] or tile M ul M antra. The words Bija k Sar appear in one Of the

Yoga or Binda Upant.shads. Vide K. Narayanaswami. Thirty Minor

,)1

A \rti Suhi Rarukalr.

10 Dharam Das who carne lo the gllllL/i in l61l)-Keay

(l chief organiser of the l{{cbiJ--IJelll,i 11, Cl.tlTIC nfter Dadu 15,-1-1-- 16()3 : if he were aware of the writings of Dad u, 11e could be held responsible, to some extent, for the classific~-ltio11 of ]( ubi J'Bani after the model partly of Dadu and partly of the GI~(llltI14

Dadu mentions Namdev and Kabir , Vi(/~ Sita Ram,

S c lee t i 0 J t s j I~O I J I l-f i II eli Lit e r ( l fit r e . Boo k I \T . \ V 0 r k s of

11 The Punjab U ni versity Library manuscri IJt is more

correct and comparati vely less l_)alljclbi-isll ill spelling anti phonetics, and, earlier, as judged frOI1} its fuller, clnd caligra .. phically and ortllogropllically, older character,

margin indicative of the fact that these pages belong to one

s.u G rcuit h Satang Nlalar Kanra Kalian

Prabhati Arti aijavanti Salek or Salehi

Kabir Satang

Kabir Satang Malar

Prabhati

Dhanasari

Salek

Vpt~Jtisltads, Madras.) TIle word Bijule is also present ill BOllltisattuVie I..Ii terat U14C. Accordi 11 g to R. 13. Hit-a Lal ll~. S - If. ~I.' 19-Z9, p. :260) Kabir Dasa Of Kasi composed 111~ Bijaku about 1418. The Alii Gra nili order may I agam , be C0111I)arecl wrth the Of del. Of the Shubu d s

Of Ravidas and Namdev as given In PI U. L, ]\tIS .. NO_ 19GO 'The first

lrst runs: Ram gari t Gaur i , 1):.111 j arian I Asa var i , Sorath , Hila val, l~ hairon t Todi, Gaund , Sarang , Kaura, Kedarau all (1 Dhanasari. I'he second hst reads : Todi, GOOd. Sorath , Gaurr, Mali Gaurr, Asavari, Basant , Lalit.

Hhairon , Kanrau, Kllambaidrit Paraj, Kahan, Sarang , Db anasar i and Artie It may be added that both I\'t-ll~las ar.d Nam-Iev I lrke Kabir as they appear in the A. G_. figure in the above mentioned .l11Se almost completely, with slight inevitable differences Of phonetics and orderin g Of the lines.

KABIR HIS BIOGRAPt-lV

University Library manuscript is similarly indicative ; it has the abbreviation. ka for Kabir.

13 The entire collection of Dadu which comes first is

called A nubhai, the collections of Kabir, N arndev and Raidas coming in order and arranged like that of Dadu are also called A nubhais,

14 The earliest dated manuscripts of Kabir are those in

the odhpur State Library Vide R. S. H. M., 190~ : they were copied out in 16~l9 1\. D. It would be stated in the second volume of this book how far those manuscripts and

these agree.

15 he last composition in the Panja U niversity

Li rary manuscript is by Maluk Das, being Doliras or Sakhis, The dates of Maluk Das according to Sita Ram are b. 1574 and d. 1682 and of Sundar Das b. 1596 and d. 1689. Vide

Book IV, Selectiolt~ rom indi Literature, Calcutta.

16 After I had written out the above and nearly com pleted

this volume, I discovered that Sakh.is No. ~1 and No. 41 in

oth the P. U. L. u«. No. 1960 and in the K. G. under the

head irlia Kau A Itg were those of Farid, appearing in the

A. G., • 1277 an 1280, Nos. 36 and 1 03, the second

o them having een commented upon in Saklii N o. 1 04 by

na and une allengea Ie that the original copy of both these SSe must have een made out after the Adi Grantk had

reached areas outside the Panjab about the end of the 17th

in its grammar and Phonetics and there is no mistake about it. Both the Skaloks have the word Farid in them. This discovery also dispelS the dOUbt which had arisen in my mind a out akhi 2 in those SS. UDder the head Gztrdev

.....

uru ana

y the antho ogizers Of a it.

•

atl

KABIR · -HIS BIOGRAPHY

S3

from 1173 to 1265 could not have been appropriated earlier

Gra1tt'~ in U. P. long after 1604 when the Adi Granth was completed. The three Doh as aforesaid read as under :-----

K. G.

I{abir.

,

I

t .t:.

,

I

II ~ II

A. G.

Farid.

I

I

Guru Amar Das .

•

I

Guru Nanak.

I

II II

In Kabir Parichaya, Hindi prose, by Shiv Brat 1,

we read, on page 122, the following COUPlet Of Kabir :

~ I

,

•

II

This COUPlet really belongs to Guru Angad Dev b. 1504 D: d. 1552. It occurs as the second alo in the Asi.di .. yare,

• G», • 429.

KABIR- ~HIS BIOGRAPHY

In K. G. on p. 8 4 and 12 Sal{ his 2 and 1 0, tile second of which has also been claimed for Khurso and the first for some one else t han 1\ a l)i r, we read :

I

II ~ II

•

I

•

•

~----

~ , ,

13. air's Bio rap ica ra Irion.

It would he interesting to rnake literal tralls1atiol1S of relevant extracts fran} Anant Dass 158H, Gurdas about] 000 ,

Dabist a u about t fi+5 A.D., Pretn A bodlt 1691 and

Inanuscript N(). 193 B«, P. P. 1.J. ubout J 700 , which will tllrow some light 011 the evolution a 11Cl elllargening of the tradition about Kabir, Most of tile statel11ents in them are not accepted by us or ha ve been accepted with full reserva .. tions. 'The traditions tllemsel\7es will be found to have been constrllcted almost entirely round, or out of allegorical or Inetapborical or con\'entiollal references in his Bani as given in the Adi Gr.t ut h and as foundin tlle P. U. L. lUS. No. 1950.

4. am ev," amanan, a ir an ana.

A few concluding words about Kabir, Namdev, Ramanand

• •••• ,. _ • _ 11 • • .... • ..d I •

_ ._ iii. •• • _.,._ =. I = F _ _. _ _ I _ _... $

1. _ .... ., I __

_.

* Keay Rays on page 45 of Ius K, & F.: One or t\VO verses of Namdev and Raidas al-e included along with those of Kabir in the A,li Grant h . Th is ill incorrect. According to Frederic Pincott 's calculation (J~ 1?. A. S., Vol. XVIII the numbers of scanzas of Kabir,

Narndev and Raidas, are 11l6, 239 and 134 respectively. But then we have to rernern her that Kabirs total is swelled up by two-line Dohras or Salek .. <; or Sakh is , by four-line Sat-oaras , by Ch au nt is i, by T'it h s etc.; ill point Of full-fledged sliabad s or p ad a s Namdev and Ravidas (73 & 41 run Close to Kabir, whose total is 229 or 231 only,

An example Of 110\V absurdly easy it is to miSinterpret simple and

good poetry and make poor biography out Of it is SUPPlied by a COUPlet referred to on the <arne page by Keay, It runs Adi Granth , page ] ~(7):

I

II

The word Kabir is prefixed to almost every Sh.alok or Sakh i : its literary \~t'f1tle is patent While Its biograPhical value is nil, The

KABIR L =HIS BIOGRAPHY

55

and Nanak, which will elucidate further my thesis about a R. G. Bhandarkar in his Vaisl'llat,islll and Saivism fixes upon 1299 or 1300 A. D. as the yeat· of birth of

Ranta/lalld and A. D. 1411 of his death.

rest is a description of the condition of any man WI10 has made in this world scores and scores of followers and friends but who has not rr.ed to befriend the one really befriendable person, the Lord, Keso, with the result that lie who had come out to this world to meet that very desirable friend H ari, has failed to achieve his object, by having

111 vol verI 11 is heart half-way, ha vm g given It away to ot hers.

Out of these simple statements Trumpp and Macauliffe have deduced the e xist.mce of a large following of Kabir acknowledged by

Kabir in his life-time. Instead of translating this- & as a 11 undred

others, similarl y, l{al>ir-prefixec.l verses by 0 Kabir, ,. the men of t ue world rna ke...... " they ha \Te rcspecti vel y rendered it, •• By Ksbir many disciple- an I friends were made ", and" Kabir hath made

many disciples and followers ", flow would they h ave relished our translating , c, g. Alii Granth , page 1267) the 98th and 99th verses .. salok s in th eir own manner:

Kab.r by preaching to others has got sane} into his mouth: while he has been guard mg others' possessions lle lias had hie; own home ..

farm eaten awav,

Kabir says I will contrive to live in the company of the Sadh u and to eat th e bark of J a u : what is to be. will be : I will never go in the company of the Sakat or the follower of Shio or the Saivitcs,

Of course correctly. these verses have to be translated differently by

beginning ., 0 }{abir: Those who ,. and ., we or you should

............... " Sakat wi ll have also to be rendered not as a Saivite but a') just an evil person, opposed to Sadhu, a good person Later. however, Sakat was used to convey a Saivite , in Kabir Literature. In Kabir .11, Mahara)· ka Pahla Pustak by Bhai Lahna Singh Kab'ir-ptlntlli, Gujranwala, we read on page 180: The Guru converted

Kabir from Sakatli to a VaiSltav and gave him Sat Nama for recitation.

1 he l Ol st. tosu. and l06th Saloks (PP. 1267-1268, Adi Granth WOUld also provide a very ridiculous bit Of biography to men Of Macauliffe's or Trurnpp's way Of thinking.

Kabir says, YOU have not Shaved your mind, WhY have YOU Shaved Off your head? Whatever has been done, the mind has done it; in vain have YOU Shaved the head.

Kabir says. the Sins YOU had committed. YOU had concealed them under; but) When Dharam Rae (Heaven's Accountant inquired, very easily naturally did they get revealed.

Kabir says, giving UP the Simran remembrance Of the name Of H art .• YOU have reared UP a big family : While YOU were bUSY in duties. neither brother nor any other relation remained; they (lied

Off one by one. ~

KABIR HIS 1310GRAPHY

b According to l{anade Mystici.f)111 1·'1 Mallal;.asJ,i1·{1

Namdev's dates are 1270-1350.

c Sita Ram referring to some biographer says on page

165 of his Sel ectious I~OJII H i ndi Lz·teratzJre, Book IV, that N anak visited Kllrul{slletra, Brindaban, and Benares, the birthplace of the renowned Kabir- -then dead but not forgotten.

d Page 7 of the l-e ort Ott the search or H 1·IZdi 11ta1t1J-

scri ts for 1909-10-11 says that Raidas flourished about 1450 A. D. In the same report there are extracts from a

manuscript copy of the work of Raidas. The very first

Dalla or SakJli in that is :- · ·

This nlanuscript in the Adi Gra/tt/l,

.. f:l

is undated. page 1275. UT ............

Now this Doha appears

e read:

C1i{ tAl;:r

{

I

•

~ Considering this and the facts that several sliabads of Namdev, Ravidas and practically all of Kabir in the Adi Granth appear with sligth inevitable differences in the A nubh ais of Namdev and Kabir in the P. U. L. lVIS.

No. 1960 and in Das's illS. Kabir alone the allthenticity of the Adi Grantlt texts gets established beyond doubt.

e ill the reader re-read the above in the light of the

following evidence mostly from the Adi G ran th i

aidev mentions not one of the medizeval Bliagats;

He, however, refers to Naths, Sidhs, Bairagis and ogis.

aidev.

aidev and Trilochan and Gorakh. Namdevand aidevand Gorakh*

II

Chand

mentions mentions mentions

Namdev Kabir

T. .. _.' • : - - ... b $ _ a.. ..- & - -. & , = • w... .a,. WiG' _ = _ J _ •• T. a =,111". L - I

,

• Kabir refers to Gorakh and Machhindra : He mentions Sanghl«

or Sangladip , andstates that Gorakh became Immortal in the Kaliyug. Vide K. G., pp. 51, 99; Bt,aak, P . 79.100, 104, 137 140.173.188, 167. 174,)

KABIR HIS BIOGRAPHY

57

Raidas

mentions

Namdev, aidev, Kabir, Tilochan,

Sadhna and ain. Or according

to 2 alleged verses, extra·Granth, Nama, Sain, Kabir, Tilochan,

....... vidas, Dhanna and Ramanand. None.

Nanak

mentions

Guru Amardas,

3rd Sikh uru mentions

and Dhanna,

iranbai mentions Kabir and Raidas.

What else can we conclude but that Kabir was senior to Raidas and had died by 1450 ?

ere is serious provocation for those Orientalists who, one after the other, have kept the fiction afloat that Nanak was a follower of Kabir.

a The earliest mention of Kabir is in the writings of the 3rd Sikh Guru, Amar Das Adi Granth, . 63. Nanak, in the Adi Granth, makes no mention of him at all, though he does of l\1achhindra, Gorakh etc.

b l\{anuscript No. 512, H. U., dated 1711 A. D. contains

a goslit between Kabir and Nanak in which Kabir receives instruction from Nanak and accepts him as his real Guru adding that Ramanand was first his K inch at Guru, The

...

passage is a part of a whole work called Pratt Sangli which

was certainly in existence before 1604 and which was proClaimed to be an anthology Of Nanak's poetry composed by him during his stay at sang/tal Dvi as a guest Of Raja Shiv Nabh, The whole work is found in Bhai Banno's copy Of the

rst copy Of the A. G., made etween 1604 and 1605, at angat, District ujrat, in the Panjab. It has een printed

by Belvedere press, Allaha ad, having been edited in Hindi

e same man us-

58

KABIR HIS BIOGRAPHY

cript contains a sh abad by Nanak in which occur the names of Kabir and Raidas, as if long dead, who are mentioned as the disciples of Ramanand GIJrl1 Gosain, At the end of the

Panjabi Siddh Goslit copied out in that manuscript in the Persian script in the first year of Farrukh Shah's reign, at Sialkot by asvant Rae, there is a Sh abad of Kabir followed

by another of N anak which is a COlntnentar}' of the first, in contrast to that. Vi de • 114-115 of my H1·,,,tOl·Y ()_ Panjabi Lifel"afzll"e, where tile whole of the gosh f between Kabir and Nanak is printed from the 111antlSCril)t.

c ~\/lalluscript No. 37~4~, Panj.rh University Library, dated

1701 allcllllanuscript No. 512 II. U., dated 1711, both contain considerJ.ble 13{1111· of Kabir. In the former, there are verses

attributed to N anak w hich state that Kabir, the follower of RamanaJld had li \led as a Se111 f ancl had long passed away ;

his name occurs along with those of other Bh agat s, The order is N amdev, Ra vidas, Knbir, Dharma. l'? iff e Illy H 1·,C;tOY • .l' Pall.,·c11JI- 1.J'·fe'~"TI1(IA(', page 132, where the full slt abad

• •

IS given.

Relyillg 011 the evidence that their own writings give, I shall place in cllronological order Narndev, l~amanand, Kabir, Raidas and Nanak and maintain that both sorts of writings coming to existence in the later part of the l Sth, l Zth

showing Off the other, are fabrications bY the Panth ais or followers. If we condemn Kabirolators WhO WOUld assert

Suri, Lahore, 1917, Panjabi, urmukhi, WhO not content With repeating the assertions implied ill the H. LT. manuscriPt

uru

KABIR*r .. nHIS BIOGRAPHY

S9

N anak and to have become his disciples. Some of the proofs

he adduces are very interesting. It may be recorded in passing that besides upon the lines found in Pran S(1Itgl1·, the most 1-111 ort ant e.,~ O.'),:tl·OII) 0.14 Sh.abad YORa existing 1:,1

tile world, which is known to have een in existence about

the end of the 16th century at the time of the compilation of the Adi (j ra nt h , Sardar Nihal Sil1g11 bases his conclusions on the similarity of words and ideas ill N anak 011 the one side, and the Bh a g al s on the other, and their conlprehensi\'e and all-inclusive existence in the first only. We shall see more of that in the volume on Kabir's doctrine and its SOtlrces and influences. I [( ab i lit 11- vee! 011 t f 11 e 1 ,) th cr II f u r» (111 d if Rat'1·da5; a n d R{[IJlall(7Izd and Pi (1 were 111·(C; C011,fc1Il ora ri es

t licn toe in u st acce f the evidence 0 PJA(111 SallRlze 1·,1 toto, iohict: is ver)' nearlv 01114 earliest avail able record, and acce fall t 11 es e Bh a,!.1 a! ,C) as t II e di sc I' les of N all a k ioho 1-11 their l at e r life e_ ectc(l t lic SI1(lb(TLi,·c cli a ugc 1·,1 them,

But then if these Bh a gat« had 1)eCOl11e Nanak's disciples, neither Guru Amar Das nor Bhai Gurdas nor the Bliatt s

would have remeo1bered them in the strain in which they have done, nor would N anak himself 11(-1. ve referred to them as is seen in band c above. If, conversely, Nanak had been a follower of Ka ir, he would, also not have mentioned Kabir

along with others in that strain.

A IZCIlf Narndev, I have come across a very significant statement in A H ist o r)' 0 the ltl arath a Peo I e by Kincaid and Parasnis, VOl. 1. on . 1 05 and ] 07 we read:

... '*

is a small town on the Zureyani River, a out 12 miles

.. _ .... p'" ........ ..... _ •• ....; ... ~~zCt ou.....-..-. ..-......--2iiiiiIIA:~.~ ..................... 'P .. _t.~ .................... ~_.__....._._..__._._.--_\UI'~1 _._..._......._. ,.-4_ -.._ ..... ._.. ... - - - ......... - _ - -_ 4 FIr...... sq,. _4 •• , & z==z_

: = V'" ..... , .... 11.." , .: E _ ........

* In that case it WOUld be very interesting to see how not merely the t\VO streams Of Kabir and 'I'ulsidas issued from the fountain head Of Ramanand but even hOW Maratha mysticism in a way COUld be traced to the same foundation. P. 9, M eMf

60

KABIR· -HIS BIOGRAPHY

north of Poona ...................•• Thus PalldllarlJllr· carne to

attract pious men of all castes. Kabir was actually a 1\1 usalman attracted from the north by the fame of Pandharpllr."

Let me, however, hasten to add that Ramanand's visit to south-India and his advice to a Raja who had deserted his Rani figures also in tile story of Pipa, an alleged disciple of

Ramanand. Ville P. U. L. MS. No. 528, dated 1693.

This further supports my view that Kabir was in any case fully con\'ersallt not only with the life and doctrines but also with S()111e of the b a u i of Narndev, even if he did not actually visit l:>and11~lrpllr. \\; e ha ve almost direct evidence

in favour, from Kabir's Bani in the Adi Granth and the 1<'. G. wherein he not only refers to the saintliness and leadership in the Kal i Yllg(T of Nanidev but also uses the epithet

*Bitl1(11, Acfl· Gr(111tl" p. 79?', used only for the god at

Pandhar~)ur by Dnyanesh\\~ar or naneshwar and employs the

Marathi form of verbs with the ending ale. Rag Rantkali, Glia r 2, Ad! Gra nth, • 901. Two more assertions have to be made: Raidas is clclirnecl by the l\1arathi-speal<ing people;

it is done in the H ist ory 0 I'll a ra th a Pea le mentioned above, • 1 0; his writings as found in the A di Gra nt It and in the Panjab University Library manuscript No. 196() have the

~1arathi and IIindavi of Narndev, and P. U. L. J1S. No. 528, dated 1693 refers to his association with that area, through its clubbing his name with Pipa of Gujrat and Mira of Raj putana. He is stated to have lived a way from the Ganges with which hiS first miracle is connected. AS against that are hiS own

lines in the Adi Grantb Vide . 1199 which tell Of his

family maybe his ancestors engaged in carrying animal carcasses round a out Benares. Both Miranbai and Karmanbai

.. 'Vd trrr ~....... _ _ • .. • 'I __ 'WEd _ 'II .. _...... _"'10' _ .. ......... -.~ ...... ., - - ......... -.,.,. ., sA zzoz .... • _ _. • ... ...., _ _ ... ~...... • I I • - ... d ft .... _

* Vith al has sometimes been treated as an Aoatara Of BUddha.

P. 37. Life OJ Na m dev in Gurrnukh i by Gurbakhsh Singh.

In the MS. Ramanand is Shown to be a much greater sane than

a mere Vaishnav can Claim to bet He is declared to be the Gzt,ru Of Namdev also WhO accompanied Ramanand, Kabir and Raidas to

Pipa's prinCiPality.

KABIR- · HIS BIOGRAPHY

61

are said in the Panjab University Library InanU5cript No. 52~ dated 1691 to have been his disciples, which we have rejected.

To me the very names of the earlier Bhagti leaders are sigllificant: Gorakh Nath, Nivritti Nath, Eknath, Dhyan Dev

or Gyan Dev, Narn Dev, Ram Anand, Kabir. Vajida

b. 1524 states that Raidas was a Sud ra of Benares and a contemporary of Kabir. P. P. IJI. J'II S. No. 193 Ba also says that Raidas belonged to Benares : IJ. U. I.J. ~IS. No. 528, dated 1693 supports this.

•

ora

Ka ir, to me. was definitely influenced y tile Buddhist Monks, and by the Maratha saint Narndev ; 11()\\~ Nnrndev's debt

to nanadeva is beyond d oubt ; both Kincaid and Ranade

,

establish it. nanadeva was influenced by Nivrittinatha-': and

he in turn got his doctrine from Gahininatha. "tho got it from G(JrHkhnatha, the disciple of l\1acll11andarnatha, the two last being mentioned by Nanak. l\1achhandarnatlla obtained initiation from Adinatha or alandhar or Siva himself. Thus it would seem that Goral<hnath was a most important promulgator of the doctrine of Shabad which is the core or pivot of the Bhagti movenlent. I arn convinced of it. Gorakh Nath has een claimed by the Panjab, I have been a Ie to unearth

dated 1804, two Sliabads being Gatlia or conversations in mother Of G opi Chand, and between Gopi Chand and his

mother, which are the prototype Of all stlbseqllent NorthIndian Hi nd avi and S(lllllSkl~it/~ Balli or Bish an ad as which

contain much Of the important esoteric, doctrinal vocabUlary and ideology Of the mediaeval Bliagats or Su tits, Vi de my

H. P. L., . log, 129 and 130. That intinerant saint

...... &11& .....,......., __ ,._, _ .... _.-....... ,-,-- Vi __ _.., - 4 - - 4*.....--- ....... - - ... ~~ _ ...... _. _.- - ...... ~ ....... ~ ...... ~ .-... _ .......... _t. __ - ............. - ........... 0.4 ..... ---.....-...- E -- • _..... .... .,...... - - ---_ ~.... .... • _ .....

* The whole Of Shabdaic Ideology and vocabulary and prosodic tradition is present in the alleged poetry Of Nivritri Nath. Vide S' ,'.A.,

...

Marathi.

62

KA.BIH.~= ·HIS BIOGRAPHY

penetrated on the East to Bengal and Goral<hpur,:i: on the est to the Marathi area and on the North to Pesha war

discovered by nle from fl. U. manllscript No. 512, dated 1711, contains the same doctrine and the same attitude towards all wandering sects, only ill greater detail. Charpat I was one

of the ] ~1- Siddha followers of Gorakllnath. There arc perfect echoes of Charpat in Kabir and other Bhagats, Gorakhs

doctrine was partly Bo(lllisllttclt'ic and partly ZOJ'-OllSI riel II. One has, therefore, to conclude that the Slutb ad doctrine was first effectively enllnciatecl and pOl1ul(_lrizecl by Goral{h in the

11th or the 12tll century and all the later BJ1(lg(l/S have only passed 011 tile torch lranded over to them. This would put Kabir and others in their proper place and would raise the Maratha Saints, particlllarly, the J11 {Ill bh a « ~ or III (Ill llilltbllllt'l(

sect amongst them, to (:1. high level rlS the intlllcncillg factors, along with aidev and the earliest Buddhist Gtt tt a 0 DO/Ill writers

of Bengal. The credit for '~lritil1g ill the vernacular should go to G()rakllIlatll, the Panjabi, and to Nivrittinatll the Marathi saint. (-;orakll N~l.tll according to R. S. fl. AI. for 1909-11, /J. 6, is the first Hindi prose·\\lriter. lie is usually placed in

* TIle Nepalese make l\1acllllandr'a Nath the same as A ryuvalok i tesvarcl-Ptldl'Zt1i'ClIZi BOlilz,ist.ltV(I. He ib sa id to llUVC lived In Nepal in the time of Raja J~al-e(leva or Bala d eva. about the fifth or si xth century. See Wt ig h ts History of Nc pal, pp. 1~O-152 where a legend of Padnz apa1t i-A rY(1\,~£llokitest.1ilr'( ... ~I a tsyclzdl-afzatll a is g iven , II odgso It)~ ESSQ)'s (Trubners re pr in t), ii, p. 40.== An editorial footnote to all article on the Kanbatas Of Ka clili bY D. I_). Khakhar in I. L1, Vot.7,p.47.

· A complete ech o Of Charpar's in the lines Of Kabir IS provided by Ka hi r, R (lg Gu ur i, N o. 1 ~- 2 .... ~, II i G runt It, pa ge -.104.

His name occurs in Nanak CAdi Granth , page 883).

---' Bot11 for the Iv1(lJlunltblltlVtlS and t h e Nut lis, see pp. 27_30, Mysticis11l i',t J.~f aharas ht ra,

;~ I WOUld Place Gorakh in tile 12 century or even a little earher in the nu. century (J. R. A. S., Ap. 1932, PI 340_341). Bhai Bala's Panjabi Jalta1lt Sakhi Biography Of Nanak Of which the Goslits con versations, Of N anak at Mecca. Medina and Baghdad form a part

and are found separately in MS. also, contains a reference to Khwaja

KABIR ,-HIS BIOGRAPHY

ha ve really preceded nanadeva by three generations and if we accept the dates of Ramai Pandit and others in the Bengal who refer to him and to Hadi Sic/lilt. E. R. B., Vol. 6, pp. 329-336,

puts him down as a Buddhist, who later turned a Saivit e.

Muin-ud-dln Ch isht i and h is personal contact with a ]ogi at Ajmer, V'idc 7"(lkzib-i-(jClLl£ycllti. U rdu, by Sardar Amar Singh). Now M uinud-d m , accordmz to Lrul iaii /.'>[(111' by Titus, p. J 18 came to Ajmer

In A. D. 1105 wh ich bee irne his permanent residence until his death in 123t>. Indirect support IS lent to the above by the following fl. I.

P: 44): 0 n e 0 f his fi r S t co 11 ver t s (0 f 1\11 u i n - u d - d ) 11 C 11 i 511 t i a t A j In e r)

was a ·''1''o&i, the spi rrt ual preceptor of tile Raja b irnself'.' Ar nold,

1"'JJC Preactu ng 0.1· 1~lllJI1, p. 281. Titus has ObVIOllSI)1' t ried to deceive the public for h is a u t h o r i ty 11. I., Vol. 'J, p. 5~8 does uot suppc)rt h im It rather bears out the con tent ion of the Panjabi jtlilel/It Sakll i. \V c read in H. I. as f ol lows : ~--.-

After the death of Masud (Salar Sah u), ~l uzattar Khan died also. "file unbelievers drove 11:5 (lcscenuants from Aj m ir ancl re-establislled t herr Idols, and idolatory agaIn reigned th e land of India. Th in g s rernain ed in this state for 200 years ; but after that time that chief of 1101 y men, the

venerable Kh waja JVIUIO-ll(1-Dl11 ()f Ch isht was "1 h at 110ly man reached

Ajrn er in the reign of l{ai Pit haura . T'h roug h th e power of h is religious fai th t 11 e persuaded J\ j 1 pal Jog t \\/110 was Pi tha ura ' S S pir i t ual g u ide to be-

come 11 is disci ple. Bu t tile darkness of u n be lief dnl not rrse from the hca.rt of l 'it haura , 'VIlO w as a second Abu JaI11 ; on t lre contrary, he even encouraged th e Iol lowers of tIle h ol y Kh wa ja to e'.ril practices, till the h oly man uttered ;L curse against that unl)eliever.t, Comment on t h is

frank adrmssion 01 f-rilu r e IS sllpertlU()llS. Chlsl1ti at least four times

mentions the order of j og is 111 a drspar agrng tone, f .. t one place clubbin e

Cl1isllti's I)ersian prose work (;{[ltJ~-tll-~lsrlll·, ~lIS. No. I~. c. IV 2S, 933. 1). U. L.). This reference seems to place Gorakh , th e founder of t h e

j og i order, in the 11 th century, if 110t even earlier beyond any pale of doubt.

On page 150 of the J au n u r ]Jistrlct Gu zettcer we read in connec. ti011 with Jaunpur under Pathan Sul tan s, particularly under Srkandar , "The defenders of the Hindu faith were Jogi Jayapala, Palanatha Pir and Pandit Baladatta" This relates to the period before 1321 and is based on ~Ia,.£aqllb narves/£iya by Say yid Darvesh , still in MS.

Th e C;oraklloath tern pl e at Gora.kh pur was first demolished tJY

for Jan., 188)' p. 56 we read: TIle Kanp hatta J ogts though ignorant Of letters can give n um berless slokas by Gorakl1natll and Puran Bhagat

wh ich it WOUld be worth While collecting , as ShOWing What their religion really is or wh et h er they represent wlt.at is left Of Buddhisnt in the Panjab, as I believe. or not, on page 63, tile same author W. B. refers to Sahvahana and Rasalu as BUddhist Kings. Although Gorakh

is said to have been the son Of Machhindra Nath and grandson Of Adi Nath (Vide S. Be, page 3t Nivritti Nath), yet in the public mind the founding Of the J ogi Panth has ever been associated With Gcrakh,

KABIR- .' HIS BIOGRAPHY

I am not inclined to accept it. He was and ever remained a Sant or a Buddhist Yogi, Vide istory 0 Bengali Language atu! Lt·teratztre, * D. C. Sen, . 29, 56, 57, 7 3 , the

teacher of N irbatia og, the goal of which Pad Nirbana og, was Sunn Sniadh. or Sliu iiya Sniadlii and which could be

reached through first hearing tile most rarified, spiritual music within us and then going beyond that. Shiv Brat Lal Varma himself a Shabadite, alive to-day clearly supports this view in his Urdu prose works of historical fiction, Sh alii Bh agatni

and Sliahi a dugarni, According to him alandhar Nath

was the Guru of l\1atseyandra Nath who in turn was the uru of Gorakhnath. Tile Shabad Doctrine was first taught by

Shiva to Parbati; Parbati, however, had fallen asleep during the talk by Shiva and the teachings had been picked up by a

parrot who later incarnated as Sukdev, the son of Veda Vyasa . ....... haran Das also looks upon Sukdevas the first lVlan-teacher

of this doctrine. LIke Gorakll, nanadev and 1 Dedh were

also Sha adites. From Nivritti Nath an Raidas an Namdev to Tulsi Sahi d . 1843 it is a long way off and yet all have talked of N irban or N irvan, I find the ideology of fhe habad

Yoga to e present oth in the later panishads and in the

• .' _. _. zI ......... ·., •• __ ....... , • L .... "Ip- .... ., -... .* ... -... . .. - .. _ at, 'II .. &. oz:.-z T ~ • .." • + I ",""'SO •• ~ ... QI"rt ..... __ ._. •• $" .4 b.,,- t ...... • .. ......_.__~

l{abir says Atll: Gralttlt, page 1076 : The ]ogi recites Gorakh, Gorakh ; the Hi1Zdtt utters, Ram, Ram. In 1.1. pp. 44·45 we read: .f In th is part of India (BIhar and Bengal. Hinduism was not nearly so well organized and consolidated as in the northern, western and southern parts of the country. TIle inhabitants were under the infiuence 0 a crude orm ot B,tddIJisllt,; and despised as they were by their proud Aryan rulers, who held them in disdain, they apparently welcomed the MUSlim MiSSionaries gladl y ." Titus is here referring to the work Of the Muslim IVI issiona ries in U. 1_)., Bi ha.r and Bengal during the 12th and 13tl1 centuries; these Muslim m issionaries. he adds, followed in the wake Of con qur ring armies. He parbicular ly mentions lVlullammad Baklltyar Kh ilji who founded a MUSlim Kingdom at the Close Of the

12th century With its headquarters at Gaur.

• Along With Gorakh is mentioned by Dr. D. c. sen another BUdd-

hist, Hodi Siddha. This Hodi is again Claimed equally With Gorakh bv the Panjab, Wherein he is accepted to have been the contemporar~7

and opponent Of Risalu and the paramour Of his Wife. Kokilan, Of Sialkot. Vide pp, 844, 845, D. Gt Risalu occurs in Nanak also, in the

Atli G'fPltth.

K~~BIR·=· HIS BIOGRAPHY

Shaivite Tantras and in Zen Buddhism. The question

whether the ha ad doctrine as a part of haivism was pre-

of the BJJllisatta vic movemen t which was annexed and revise

third Volume of this work, In t e Panja , his irth province

which has never been applied to anyone after him except Nanak, Signi cantly enough, Nana is the rst person in o

l\/Iaharaslltra, nana Dc'l.'CC and Nama DeV(T, whose predecessors

had had the title N atlia, The successors t<) Gorakh '5 gaddi at the Till a of Balnath or·Ba udai- which place is mentione

by Nizal11-ud-Din Auliya, 1 ~~t[l and 13th centuries; y Damodar, the 16th century author of II ir romance in verse; y the 17th century iographers of Nanak ; y ilt·i·Akbari;* y Nizam-ud-Din Ahmad ; by Farishta Vide H. I., Vol. 2,

• 450-451 ; even by Iexan ler's historians, from the 5th

century or so Vlcle lieluni District Gazetteer _. have een known as Pirs which is a 1\'1 ullanlmadan title. r his is-rather curious When did they rst adopt the Mus im title Pir in

,

place of G if rt, ? ,. There is a still more curious coincidence.

Keay 1(. a tul F., .115-116 states that Prarnodh as, a successor to Ka ir's g.iddi at Chhattisgarh Dharam s section was responSible for a Work! Gorakli Goshti or Gorakli N atti ',i Goshti, and was known as the Guru Bala Pir.

The approxinlate date 0 his insta ation is given as •

•• * ... .... ~. .. ..... - ....... _. 1........... • .. d..... . .... 'P' ~ ' ....... :III 'W' - t .......... 4 _. - ..... * ..... ,..... ......_ ..... FnII.~. •• Ii".. b , _ J, -,.. _ • ~ _ ..... , • ~ , b , _ •• __

* Abul Faz! in 11 is Persian ~4 in-i-A kbari also mentions Gorakli H atri, a Place devoted to Gorakh near modern Peshawar. There are Gorakh 11 atris in Western India, also.

Probably in the 10th or Ll th century When Gorakh made some converts from ISlam \VI10 took UP abodes at ~laths or Hatris and became founders or local Gaddis as Pirs , Muslim J ogis.

66

KABIR·" HIS BIOGRAPI-iY

But then Ghazi Mian* is also known as Bale Pir in the Gorakhpur area. He is also referred to in the Dliarnia mangal of ayura Bhatta. It seems to me that Gorakhnath was fully aware of Islam, its spiritual, Sufiistic benefits and its political and fanatical dangers, and of Zoroastriallisll1 which

...... ----. T _ .yr. Em • L _ U'-' _ m ._. Irrt 4:..-dll¢ _L -- '110 .., • IIIl_~'" _..._, _ ,.,. _ .. i;ZDIIp& 'Fe .. ro"'qL.. ,. $ ._-~

* ,. Sikandar Lodi abolished as an innovation, tile annual procession of the spear of Masood Ghazi Sa lar to Behraij and prevented women from visiting places of pilgrimage "._ [-I istory of t ltc AjglzlllZ I) I translat-

ed by B. Dorn, Part l,p. 65. Kabir h irnselfon page 1077, ~1, G. says: (He) who has 70 Sai Salars or Generals of t}JC army, ] ~l lacs of Paikal"tzbars or prophets; 88 crores of Shekh s anti 56 crores (Kots) I(hel [fh,;"si .. _1 __ .... '. Ghazi Mian Salar Masud died in a battle in the

year 1033. near Bahraich. I. I. t p. 138.

··1(. G., pp. 76.81,87,88.95.9l) :._-

•• 'I'he jugis are a low caste w hose trad itroua l occupation 1~ weaving and \Vl10 are looked down upon by their superiors in th e social scale. Like other humble castes they lay claim to ,1, Ijl~!ll or ig m , According to one account t hcy arc the offspring of 13r(1.11n1an widows and ascetics, w h ile others assert that they al-e descended Ir orn Goraksh-

nath, who waa an Incarnation of Siva .....•... 1"'11Cy were e ntirel y exclu-

ded from the N amghar Kabir (one of the gods or demons of the

Kacbari tribe) lives in trees, krll s cattle and men The DOIJlS or.

as they prefer to call themselves. Nad iyals, are the boating and fishing cnste of Assam. The Nadiyals are probably descended from the aboi iginal race of 001115, t he ruins of WllO~C forts are strll to be seen in India. but migrated to Assam before th e Dcm caste had been assigned the degrading Iurict ions 110\,\, performed by them in Bengal ... '- ... they account for the objectionable name Dom by saying that they were the last of tile Assarnese to be converted Irom Buddhism .. _ ... 'They rank '/ery low in t h e social scale and are superior 0111)' to tile Brrttial Ba n iya or Hari. Their pr iests are said to be descended from a Brahman father and Nadiyal mother. Tile J..Va1JltlSZtllrtlS are a boating and fishing caste, said Ly Manu to have sprung from th e union of a Brahman woman w ith a Sudra, and rh erefor e to be t he lowest of tile low. They are heartily despised by their Hindu neighbours, and a degraded Brahmin acts as their priest. A section Of the

Chandals has formed itself into a, separate caste called Hira.

,. Sankar Debt the apostle Of V3.ishnavistn in 4~SSa'l1, was born ill 14 .. ttJ. He founded the MallapUrtlSllia sect, the main tenets Of which are the prchibition Of idolatory, and sacrifice, disregard Of caste and

wor sh ip Of GOd b y 11)"mnS (kirt an) and prayers on l y . He was a vege-

tar.an tile l\fallapurshias are accordinglY allowed to eat the flesh Of

game, but not Of (lOmeSllcated animals ....•. They w il] accept a Sudra

as a reliaious guide A special feature Of Vaisbnavim in As-sam a.ro

th e gosains or priests, and the Sattras in wh ich t b ey dwell, These Sattras are smal] comluunitics. resernblmg in some respects the rnonastries Of media.vel Europe but w it h this important difference that

celibacy is not invariably regarded as a. requisite. I I

KABIR ('HIS BIOGRAPHY

61

was fully represented in the Panjab and indh up to the 12th and 13th centuries Vide H. II, Vol. V, page 56, itter.

1\ deal of Persian and old 1\ arathi voca ulary appears in the

writings ascribed to orakh. Even the t\VO habads I have

unearthed contain evidence of that. This lends itself to the interpretation that his new ell t was an attempt to reconci e

later Buddhism and ufiism : Gorakh's lend was taken up y

induism an mixed with panishdaism and Pauranism and

called Bhagti. Some of the institutions of Buddhism like the

Matt , teat uru, the a hsang, tile ani \\gere retaine

and others like idolatory were dropped in SOlne of the Bhagti orders in the areas of Muslim dominance, emphasis having een shifted on to the inner significance of the exterior modes of

worship and forms of Bhekh,

As I have yet to complete my researches into ~orak. the ogi order said to haTJe been founded by whom is mentioned

by Ibn Batuteh, Lee, ] 829 and orakh Literature, some of

which is in ans rit, Bengali and Marathi, am una e to e precise and nal in all my deductions at present, orakb ath

was himse f low- born ; according to the tradition in amrup be

wasa ulaha. Vide 1(. G., .77. In the 4 .. 1. G.t .870, \ve read:

Thus spoke Gorakll son of Luharipa or thus speaks or spoke Gorakb son of Luharipa or thus speaks or spoke Luharipa,

son 0 orakh, A third interpretation, rat er unlikely, may e

ased on Put eing taken to signify not son, but o111y a disciple,

From Pran S£lfZgli an alleged compOSition Of Nanak, we gather

that anak met orak on the ormer's way to et- an am.

es var eyon. his len s support to the View that the

I n Batuteh refers to the existence Of ogis in eylon as well,

especting the Origin Of the urat ba ad Doctrine an.

68

KABIR· ·--}-11S BIOGR1\PHY

glossary of the Saints. J t is that Ramanand was not a mere

secure d the doctrine from some one 11e calls the Sat Guru ,

L. M. S. No.3 74, . 9· -12, dated 180:+. who in turn obtained

Shaivite or I~llddhist mystics of the south in tile 1 Oth century,

Indian Sliabads or P({l/ClS or Bislut n a das," Someone has

Avadllitia to his followers ; this is incorrect f01- the word is as old as some of the l"ogtl U atiisluids and Charpat Nath uses it as a technical term for a sectarian. Narndev also used A udlio 01- A vadh ut, An article I have see11 ill tile A ,·yilil Path, Bombay, for December 1933, fully bears me out regard.

swami, says 0 hiruvalluvar. Let us note how t11orotlghly

versality of the spirit of Kural that at various times di erent religions and sects, ainism, Buddhism, \Taishnavism and Saivism have claimed t e author as their 0\\111. It is difficult to etermine anyone religion that 1"'11iruvalluvar specially favoured. In Kural there are echoes of the finest principles

of various religions. e can only conclude that the ook is

....... a.... , -. _ bb~. _--... r , us .. _. at .... -._, • __ ... " ......... .......,. LL" F •• ...,._...... q r -. ...... .." • _ .,.. ... __ ..... "....,. • 2 ...... _ .. ... ... " ._ 'W' .. ... ZlflllMI' +.... .....,_,. .._. = » __ cte • to _ • _ = ....... _ •• "..... •

* This is if we accept that Rarnanand came Irorn tile South. But In my opinion Sir Georcc Greirson is right ill Inailltaillitlg that Rarnanand was born in Prayaga v.a« J. R. A. S., 1920, PP. 592 596. I WOUld prefer to trace Ramanand's doctrine like Kab.rs partly to the influence

Of the school Of Buddliists 1 represented by Gorakh, and . partly. to th at Of Rama Nand'S Guru, Raghavanand who, had come from South India. In any case south Indian influence is un:hallenged and we must inves-

tigate its nature •

. ; .• , Beh ind Matsyen(lranatlla we llave m ytholog y but after Matseyndra we have h istory ; and it is evident that jnanesvara belonged to that great line Of the N athas who like the A lvars in the Tamil countr y and the S idd J,as in the Lingayat COl11m unity, succc~s£ully laid tlle foundation Of mysticism in Mal1al.ashtra through thei r great representa-

ti ve nanesvara." 1\1. ~f.' t 19.

RABIR'· ·'-HIS BIOGRAPHY

69

a svntlicsis and that when 11e wrote it uis mind and vision had

outgrown geographical and racial boundaries." e was

a follower of the Atuuul Yog and a listener of the spiritual A 11a11at l\f usic. I believe Sanl{aracllar)ia knew of this

Slutbad Yog which hnd existed long efore him ; he ac nowledged its utility but h~ wanted us to transcend even this stage

,

o SIll t 1 t J' a or S a Il a] 'f;C SIll ad J l i • yr z- dc, i b 1- d , L 1- b c r a t i 01/,

according to Sank ara by . \\'. Chubh, page 836. I shall,

later, have to find more place for the Saliajia cult also, which owed its origin to the VaI1tacl,al-i Buddhists and to trace its cOllnection with the Sant .~I at. The following t'\10 extracts

will be found interesting ill this connection :

Y oga In the 10th century A. D. l\'Iahayanism developed

into the Kalachal<ra cult, which introduced the doctrine of demoniac Buddhas and came to be known as Vairayana or the Thunder'bolt \1 ehicle and its followers were callecl the Vajracharyas. The later de\ielopl11ent of \Yajrayana, into Nathism,

~ahajiaism, t\ vadh utism, Cllandalism and Dornism are more

magical than religious.' P. 155-·~-·15(), . B. o. R. S., Vol.

XVII, part I. Gllrll Nanakdev during his \vanderings twice

and Avadhuts, \VI10 displayed their \'ajrayana magical effects to overawe the Guru, It is, therefore, to he concluded that even as late as the l Sth century 11aivite-cUll1-Buddhistic eu ts flourished in the hilly parts of the Panjab and that Gorakh's CUlt was dominant among them. I have seen an inscriPtion

in the Peshawar Museum, Of a BUddhist King WhO ruled not

far from RawalPindi, in the 12th century For the prevalenc~ Of the worship Of the lion or the Buddha in the West .. Panja

• _ =- a_a • 1> •

tr d ..... I _ ... P .. III _lac... _. ... zzzL ,., .. rrrI - -~ Gh.... ez ..... , *.... ,. _.0. ... - & ......, zzu LL I - - - - •• - ~ , =. , •

pQ. ,m_V _ T -

:Ie .One list Of the Panj Pirs includes Ghazi Miyan, Pir Hathili sister's son Of Ghaei Miyan, Parihar, Sahja Mai and Ajab Satar. _.1- I., p. 139. 'The word Sahja in Sahja l'tlai IS very Significant.

KABIRasSl. HIS BIOGRAPHY

,

of Bengal. who die a out 1238 and in Ramai Pandit Doma 11th century. A glossary of Sh abad Yogic terms found in

aidev's Shabad in the Adi G rantb an in his Gita Govinda

as well as in his alleged Bengali poems will e given in the third volume of my 00)<, which will give my nal views on the Shabad,

e e

• ara e S In tee en S 0 amts,

In extricating history and fact from nl}"thology and fiction piling round Kabir, I have emphasized parallels of simile and metaphor and common stu and have rawn attention to the act that his iograpbical accounts have een almost entirely

traits and miracles wit the 0 ject of making him out to e a sma ud a. he ollowing extract from Keay supports my

thesis. If you replace tne Christ by Buddha and gospel by Buddhistic tradition and Ka ir y any other medieval saint,

it wi app y equa y we , in at er cases, e. g. to am ev, to

avidas, and to Dadu.

his previous irt, too. I\ ohan ingh his temptation, his ma ing of miracles his horror of Hinsa also. +Mohan Singh his accusatio11 be ore a rul er b : his enemies, his punishment

to a resurrection 0 the eao, and so on. I t is qUite POSSible that a esire to assimilate the life Of Kabir to that Of Christ

analysis 0 FOlk and eligious tales and romances Will much

appreciate the ollowing ana ysis which represents the reatest

• I INS.. •• ar •• , • F.... - . _ .. 0&. F. • .F

• at • b _..... • m. _ T... ?.. -s. ..• F ....... La_ • $. _ ..

* MirabQi by S. S. Mehta, .99: "The real liKht in Mira'a heart was kindled by the torches Of ayadeva," P. 1 00. ., SO M ira's creed was

greatlY indebted to the highlY musical songs Of ayadeva.' P. 106.

71

Common Multiple of the earliest available 110St _. death Inanipulated legends of the Medireval Indian Bhagats, the parallels which the legends reveal being far too patent to occasion any great error in the analysis,

1. The saint now Iow-born bas had a lligll previous birth or is an incarnation of one of the 30,000 imlnortals.

2. The mode of hi rth of the saint is unusual and attended ,vi th miracles.

3. The saint in 1115 ea141y life 01" childhood and adoles:ence

rites and cerernonies, b}' poetizing over them and by suggesting in song his own different view, unsatisfied as he is with the existing order or currunt beliefs and practices.

4. In his youth the saint while carrying on the ordinary household duties meets with a Guru or the Lord Himself or any ordinary eve nt or person in some unusual and striking manner and is initiated or awakened and begins from that

moment to sing the great change come over him anrl his new Ideal or Disco\rery.

5. Tllere is an air of ttnCOtnmOl1ness about the saint's family relationships, e.g., his children are tile outcome of a spiritual not an actual physical union with his wife or they are but spiritual waifs adopted. The wife and the mother and the father is at first a hindrance but later a great self-sacrificing helper of the saint; she will even sacrifice her chastity to carry out his principle of extreme hospitality at any cost, towards all.

6. The saint by his new message incurs the diSPleasure Of men Of his own Position or caste, Of those Of other religions and Of a big mao. a ruler, WhO test him or Chastise him, ut he comes out Of all those tests and Chastisements unharmed and still more glorified through bis divine powers, Often the saint Wins through by Virtue Of his extraordinary bospitality, humility or humour,

7 • After be has his greatness thus establiShed, he goes out

on an intel ectual conq uest 0 the known world and meets all

KABIR HIS BIOGRAPHY

the great dead and contemporary saints whom in arguments and in trials of strength carried out through miracle-working spiritual powers he routs at all the known important centres of religious and temporal authority,

8. The saint bas thereafter even a special audience "lith the Lord God.

9. The saint, then, acquires a large following alIt at whom

he picks up favourites, usually 12, by test of service or faith, giving the latter his special instrllctions and esoteric kno\\~ledge

so that they may continue his mission after him as through his own life time,

1 O. A very long lease of ife, usually 120 or 3 00 years, is enjoyed by the saint.

11. A ter having esta lished the Kingdom of eaven on

earth the saint disappears in an unusual manner, causing a

wrangle among his disciples of different types, and goes ack

to the spiritual, immortal hierarchy.

12. The saint often reappears on earth to his favourite disciples or to a special devotee of his to guide 'or console.

13. The common stock of miracles worked by the saints

in water, turning away the elephant from striking the saint

his own dead ody disappear, covering any distance without

away, commanding the limitless increase Of SUPPlies, trans. forming robbers or evil persons at once into good and noble ones, making the hand-mill turn automaticallY etc.

events etc., we get the following residuary facts in the life Of a saint; the order, as given elow, may differ in different cases ut the central points wi 1 e ~UOd to remain the same

KABIR HIS BIOGRAPHY

73

1. TIle saint has a low irth, according to the Brahman idea of lowness of caste.

edllcation; he marries, begets offspring and settles down earning his livelihood, all the while showing a special ent of mind and aptitude for religion and poetry and studying and commenting upon his surroundings with which he is not entire-

ly satisfied.

his ever-gro\ving desire for spiritual instrtlction; the event may come while in his manhood he has gone out on trave or spiritual search, or on ordinary usiness or on pilgrimage or it may come while he is still staying on at home.

4. After the turning point in his life reached through the agency of God or tile Gurll or an event or a spectacle or sheer

self-exanlination and study the saint entirely retires rom active life or still carries on the duties of the house-holder but in a spirit of abstraction and self-withdra\\1al, devoting in either case his time and attention to poetical composition and oral ins-

truction.

5. His singing and preaching of the new path often brings him into conflict with temporal or religious or tri al or caste authorities, just as it, contrariwise, as often secures him the sympatllY, the patronage or the discipleship of the same. e, somehow, y his sincerity, tact, humility, charity and faith

and finally esta lishes himself till he quietly passes ehind the veil leaving hiS many disciples and admirers to wonder at his

structure Of a new religion or sect or sept or iterature upon

their own taste an liking, Often ringing him UP or down to

74

several legends from the lives of other saints to the biography of their own saint, g-iving 11in1 a great saint as his Guru, whom the saint himself, however, rna}? not have met 01" Inelltiolled.

6. During his life the saint may have come to believe in his own greatness nnd ill Divine iIlterestedness in him and so mal' have interpl·etec1 certain events and experiences as miracles or may actually ha ve tried to exercise his esoteric powers and 1{110",ledr,e to perform certain un usual acts.

To persons like nle whose credulity and scepticism have definite limits the ahove is the only "yay of llnderstanding the life of a saint or a prophet.

e •

. rtiona otes.

The following additional 110tCS based ] to ~t 1 on R, G. are given in further support of what has gone before :----

1. Sll1~1~ Ral1g. In addition to Bz·tlil/la, I(al)ir uses the name S/ZII·Z· Rang i·01- the Lord -. 89 .

2. real colour, in which colour every one is dyed." P. 97 .

3. Siddli GaIZ{'Sllvnr. Kabir refers to the Lord as Sz·d(/It

GanesJz'l)aJ~ • 98 .

4.

ari Guru the Lord who is my Guru " P. 98 •

5. that mind

man , very few know the secret: to some extent or for some

are enjoying BliSS A nand , . 99 •

61 Kabir, the

hidden mv

•

says,

When once one happen to him."

,

oecomes fearless, then nothing xevil

P. 1 05 •

can

am the Slave, the

0, rother, YOU should P. 106.

J(ABIR HIS i~IOGRAPI~Y

75

8. Kabir is aware of the miracle associated with N(TIIZC./C'l) that the door of the temple Otlt of which Namdev was ejected, turned to the south where and in which direction 11e was sitting after the ejection. P. 127. Cf. the turning of the face of the Kaaba at Mecca rought about y a miracle for the sa e of Nanak.

9. TI,e Sh abad Anahad as the lVOI·/,/·Tel1cllcr. " here

the Anaha:l·Ki/~g/·i horn), which is tile \vorld-teacher, blows, there in that long music does one's spirit get absorbed.'

P. 13 7.

GIITZI.

P. 139 .

vet 0

that

uru

15.

76

I{ABI R·· .... I-IIS BIOGRAPHY

te us somewhat with tile nknowa temple is made of clay our body is the the lamp in it is of kno\vledge Gya11 .,t

temple of the...-...-

"The rd ;

1 " e.

16. Pre'L'z· 011.1) B,· rf II.

Banl11na11, Brallman; my actions were mean and I was without ta as penance; I missed the service of Ram Dcv the Lord; so they caught me and gave me birth as a ul alta.'

P. 173, No. 250. This »a d or sh abad appears in the A. G. ut these lines Nos. 5 and 6 read differently in the A. G. viously this is theory or presumption on the lines of the orthodox transmigrationi~,t and not a statement of fact, though

17. Pant irias, Kabir, obviously, was aware of the existence of the Panj iria sect of Benares, amongst the

Muslims, e says: No one has known of them as residing

in the mosque of the heart; the five Pirs are known to the

rd Bl,agvalz,. P. 17 5.

18. Risalu, Raja Risal u is the \\'ell-kno'vn Panja ero.

Ram the rd whom he is considering in the poem as the

hus and and himself as wife, P. 180.

Bhagti and tile Bhagti teachings of Narad. P. 183. 20. K asi. Another interesting allegorical use of the results o residence in or desertion of Kasi is provided y Pad No . ... 90. P. 186-187,

21. Sakhi, Rantaitz,i, A 1Lbl,ai pacl. These terms in their

inds Of poetry, are found on • 186, 188 and 189. 22. Bikran, Bali, Bl~ojJ BisalJ Bharthri. UJi.az.n, Gurtt