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GURU RAVIDAS’ POETRY AN OFFSHOOT OF EGALITARIANISM

Irshad Ahmad Itoo

Faculty Department of English
Govt Degree College Bijbehara
Jammu and Kashmir.

Abstract: Since the dawn of civilisation, poetry has been used as a method to explore the
multidimensional themes in relation to human life. The world prominent literary figure Dr. Iqbal in his
famous book The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam has well said, “....But the kind of
knowledge that poetic inspiration brings emotionally and individually in its characters; it is figurative,
vague and indefinite.” It has also been said that poetry provides a platform to the readers to take an
emotional journey to the remote ages and countries. It is all because of the literature that we are able
to peep into the Greek or Roman civilisations after reading Homer’s Iliad and Virgil’s Aenied.
Therefore, it is brilliantly said that literature is not for an age but for ages. The present paper is an
endeavour to look in to the Indian Bhakti Movement through the poetry of Guru Ravidas. It is an
attempt to explain his poetry under the shadow of the philosophical term “Egalitarianism”.
Key words: - Untouchability, Dalit consciousness, Brahminical domination, Emancipation and
Empowerment.

Introduction

The south Asian country officially known as Republic of India with an area of
3,287,263 km2 and estimated population as on 1 March 2011 stood at 1,210,193,422
who speak around 1625 languages in more than 2,000 dialects among which only 22
state languages are officially recognised4, had given birth to some evil minded people
who segregated people into different castes and creeds which later became part and
parcel of India’s culture for centuries. But on the other hand, India also became home
to the huge number of renowned philosophers, saints, and mystic poets, who from
time to time played a vital role in the socio-cultural reformation of the country. Guru
Ravidas is one among such stalwart mystic poets, who used their pen to unleash the
traditional shackles of social oppression and untuchability in the Hindu dominant
society. Born in the family of a cobbler at Seer Goverdhan in Varanasi UP in
1377AD, Ravidas Ji, the founder of Ravidassia religion has became visionary figure
of Dalit Liberation.

The Bhakti Saint of the 15th century had whole heartedly rejected the Brahma-Vishnu
concept of Hindu mythology and became the manifesto of the Dalits in Punjab. He
always struggled for the basic rights including equality, fraternity, and sovereignty of
deprived section of the society. He opposed the myth that caste plays a very important

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role in establishing a relation with God and said, “If God actually resides in every
human being, then it’s quite futile to segregate persons on the basis of caste, creed and
other such hierarchical social orders.”5 He was of the view that God is omnipresent,
and one can reach him through simple prayers provided one should have a clear
conscience. Moreover, he has written unbiased religious poetry which was later
included in the religious text of the Sikhs, “Adi Granth” or “Guru Granth Sahib”. His
poetry depicts all his feelings and teachings about an egalitarian society.

An Overview of Indian Bhakti Movement

The literal meaning of the word “Bhakti” is an attachment, love, devotion, worship,
piety etc, but in Hinduism the word means devotion to, and love for a personal god or
a representational god by a devotee. So far as the terminology of the Sanskrit word
“Bhakti” is concerned, it is derived from the verb root word “bhaj” which means “to
divide, to share, to partake, to participate, to belong to” (Cutler 1). There is no
denying in the fact that the meaning of the term “Bhakti” is analogous to but different
from the term “Kama”, which connotes emotional connection, sometimes with
sensual devotion and erotic love. Bhakti in contrast to the said term, is spiritual, a love
and devotion to religious concepts or principles, that engages both emotion and
intellection (Karen 19-21). So far the history of the term is concerned, it dates back to
1st millennium BCE and the last of three epilogue verses of the “Shvetashvatara
Upanishad”, uses the word Bhakti as follows:

He who has highest Bhakti of Deva (God),

just like his Deva, so for his Guru (teacher),
To him who is high-minded,
these teachings will be illuminating.(Paul 326)

However the term “Bhakti” grew rapidly in India after the 12th century in the various
Hindu traditions, possibly in response to the arrival of Islam in India (Flood 131). It
has also been said that the term emerged into a movement in the medieval period of
Indian history and had provided a platform for shaping the society, culture, religion,
and literature to a large extend. From every nook and corner of the nation, the mystic
saint poets of the age had became social reformer. Most of them were mediators and
wonderers in the name of God and in service of the people. It is also remarkable about
them that most of the saints were belonging to lower casts of the society. Therefore,
they every time refused the caste discrimination of the Hinduism which had been
there for a long time.

On the other hand, the Bhakti Hindus had two ways of imaging the nature of the
divine one is Nirguna and another is Saguna. The former had the concept of the
ultimate reality as formless, without attributes or quality while as the latter was totally

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Unknown facts about Guru Ravidas Ji

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in contrast to the Nirguna. But both the sects of the movement attempted to reconcile
the differences between the Hindus and the Muslims by stressing that Rama and
Rahim were one and the same. The movement attempted to encourage the value of
social service to the poor and the needy. Its teachings always tried to develop a sense
of humanism among people. But it is worth to mention here that some scholars assert
that the movement gave birth to a new sect called Sikhism (Lorenzen 1-3). Some
famous saints of the movement were Ramanuja, Nimbarka, Madhavacharya,
Vallabhacharya, Kabir, Dhanna, Namadeva, Sena, Chaitanya, Mirabai, Tulsidas,
Surdas, Ravidas and others.

Theme of Egalitarianism in Ravidas’ Poetry

The term “Egalitarianism” is philosophical thought which focuses on the point that
people should get the same and treated as same irrespective of the fact from which
social cult they belong. Therefore in other words, this doctrine of egalitarian mainly
states the idea that all humans are equal in fundamental worth or moral status. But
there is no denying in the fact that egalitarianism is such a broad concept which
couldn’t be explained by a single definition. The term is so philosophical in nature
that there are two distinct definitions given by Merriam Webster Dictionary for
explaining the term. The first one states egalitarianism as a political doctrine that all
people should be treated as equal and have the same political, economic, social, and
civil rights. Another definition presents the term as a social philosophy advocating the
removal of economic inequalities among people, economic egalitarianism, or the
decentralization of power. But in the present context, the term is used as per first
definition.

So far as the famous saint poet of the Bhakti movement Guru Ravidas is concerned,
he throughout his hymns had tried to awaken the people mostly the deprived section
of the society to shun ignorance and illiteracy which are the cruellest enemies of
mankind. As a social reformer he had to make strenuous efforts for the social
emancipation of the downtrodden people. By means of his religious songs, he always
tried to show the path of meditation to his followers. The mystic saint in the “Shabad
49 (Raag Bilawal)” of the English version of Amritbani Satguru Ravidass Maharaj by
Siri Ram Arsh puts forward the statement that man is not known to God by the name,
colour, and caste, but by his/her deeds. In fact in the majority of his religious songs,
he seems struggling with the contemporary social issues like untuchability, caste
system and social injustice. In the 14th Shabad (Raag Aasa) the saint asserts that
people of his age particularly are born ignorant and knowledge of goodness is no
more present in the minds of people who became thoughtless in distinguishing the
good and evil. He states the same as:

Oh God! Man love ignorance. The lamp of knowledge has become dim. The
thoughtless are born again as creeping things; they can’t distinguish between
good and evil.....men are lower animals. (Ravidas 38)

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Another expression of the egalitarian thought of his verse can be analysed in the
Shabad 62 (Raag Gaund) where the poet wants to bring attention of his readers
towards the fact that in the kingdom of God there is no scope for richness, poverty,
man, and women. There is scale of equality and it the man on the earth who creates
theses sects for his/her monitory benefits. In the last line of the said verse, he refutes
with the sayings of four Veds and says that the Veds have divided the humanity into
four casts (Ravidas 71). He gives importance to the one who surrenders his wishes
before the God. He explains the whole statement as:

The man is supreme, who has conquered the dog of greed and dedicated
himself to the feet of God. He attains salvation after death, glory and fame
while living in the world. I am the criminal and sinner, who have taken birth in
a low family. The people of my caste laugh at me. Ravidas says, the man who
will recite the name of God with his tongue can serve himself from the noose
of god of death. (Ravidas 61)

On another occasion in Shabad 69 (Raag Rakali) he provides this material world as an

illusion and all the worldly affairs are part and parcel of this illusion and all the rituals
performed in support of this illusionary world is false. In addition to this, Ravidas
criticises the sects of religion that supports to the view that spiritual calmness could be
achieved by keeping society aside. Therefore, the mystic poet had a keen vision on the
evil side of the society and he used his hymns as a tool to highlight the socio- cultural
issues of his age. In the religious songs of Guru Ravidas, it has been analysed that
there is hardly any section of the society which has not been addressed in it. From the
common man to the highest section means pandiths who were treated most respected
sect of his age and form child to the adult everyone has been given addressed in his
poetry. Like that of the men, women were given equal importance. He depicts the
importance of a woman in the life of man for achieving his salvation as in the Shabad
40 (Raag Suhi) when he states:

The good wife knows her spouse’s worth. She renounces pride and enjoys
conjugal happiness.... who has tolerated the pang of sufferings, himself; he
can’t understand the woes of others” (Ravidas 61).

There is no denying in that the entire philosophy of egalitarianism in the poetry of

Guru Ravidas can be scrutinised in the third Shabad (Raag Gauri) where the poet
portrayed an ideal city named “Begampura”. To him this will be the city where there
will be no place for sorrow. He further explains that there will be no violation of
human rights and civil liberties. He invites us to be fellow citizens of the Begampura
city. He views the whole picture of the society as:

There is a city named Begampura. Where there will be no place for pain and
sorrow.

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There is no fear for imposing taxes or of tribute (Kharaj).

There is no care nor sin, nor dead nor death.

Now I have found an excellent abode, where ceaseless happiness does reign
and the sovereignty of God is firm and ever existing.

There is no neither second nor third rate citizen. Everybody is equal there...

Ravidas, an emancipated tanner says, O my friend! Come and become my

fellow citizen of the Begampura (Ravidas 28).

From the above lines it is clear the city Begampura was not merely the fragment of his
mind, but is the photographic representation of his socio-economic and political
outlook of his contemporary society.

Conclusion

In the conclusion, it is apparent from the above discussion on the said theme that Guru
Ravidas was one of the great stalwart mystic poets of the Indian Bhakti Movement,
who devoted his entire life for the welfare of the deprived section of his society. He
made strenuous efforts to unleash people from of the evil thought of oppression and
untuchability which was deeply rooted in his contemporary society. Besides, most of
his hymns are an endeavour to explain the philosophical concept of an egalitarian
society. It is all because of his frontal attack on the caste based system practiced for
ages in India that Ravidas is being comprehended as the Prophet of Dalit Liberation.

References
1. Cutler, Norman. Songs of Experience. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press,
1987.Print.
2. Flood, Gavi. An Introduction to Hinduism. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1996.
Print.
3. Iqbal, Allama. The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam. New Delhi: Kitab Bhawan,
1990. Print.
4. Karan, Pechelis. The Embodiment of Bhakti. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014. Print.
5. Lorenzen, David. Bhakti Religion in North India: Community Identity and Political Action.
New York: State University of New York Press, 1995.Print.
6. Paul, Deussen. Sixty Upanishads of the Veda. Vol 1. New Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, nd.
Web.
7. Ravidas, Guru. Amritbani Satguru Ravidass Maharaj, Trans. Arish, Ram. UP: Shri Guru
Janam Asthan Public charitable trust, 2012. Web

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