Various aspects of Ravidas
Answers
Explanation:
The life details of Ravidas are uncertain and contested. Scholars believe he was born in 1450 CE.
Ravidas's devotional Verses were included in the Sikh scriptures known as Guru Granth Sahib.[4][5] The Panch Vani text of the Dadupanthi tradition within Hinduism also includes numerous poems of Ravidas.[3] He taught removal of social divisions of caste and gender, and promoted unity in the pursuit of personal spirituot well known. Scholars state he was born in 1388CE and died in 1518 CE.[1][6]
Ravidas was also known as Raidas.[7] He was born in the village of Seer Goverdhanpur, near Varanasi in what is now Uttar Pradesh, India. His birthplace is now known as Shri Guru Ravidas Janam sthan. Mata Kalsa’n was his mother, and his father was Santokh Dass.[8] His parents belonged to a leather-working Chamar community making them an untouchable caste.[3][4] While his original occupation was leather work, he began to spend most of his time in spiritual pursuits at the banks of the Ganges. Thereafter he spent most of his life in the company of Sufi saints, sadhus and ascetics.[8]
The text Anantadas Parcai is one of the earliest surviving biographies of various Bhakti movement poets which talks about the birth of Ravidas.[9]
Medieval era texts, such as the Bhaktamal suggest that Ravidas was the disciple of the Brahmin bhakti-poet Ramananda.[10][11] He is traditionally considered as Kabir's younger contemporary.[3]
However, the medieval text titled Ratnavali says Ravidas gained his spiritual knowledge from Ramananda and was a follower of the Ramanandi Sampradaya tradition.[12][10][11]
His ideas and fame grew over his lifetime, and texts suggest Brahmins (members of priestly upper caste) used to bow before him.[4] He travelled extensively, visiting Hindu pilgrimage sites in Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan and those in the Himalayas. He abandoned saguna (with attributes, image) forms of supreme beings, and focussed on the nirguna (without attributes, abstract) form of supreme beings.[8] As his poetic hymns in regional languages inspired others, people from various background sought his teachings and guidance.[8]
Most scholars believe that Ravidas met Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhism.[4] He is revered in the Sikh scripture, and 41 of Ravidas' poems are included in the Adi Granth. These poems are one of the oldest attested source of his ideas and literary works.[3][4] Another substantial source of legends and stories about the life of Ravidas is the hagiography in the Sikh tradition, named Premambodha.[13] This text, composed over 170 years after Ravidas' death, in 1693, includes him as one of the seventeen saints of Indian religious tradition.[13] The 17th-century Nabhadas's Bhaktamal, and the Parcais of Anantadas, both contain chapters on Ravidas.[14] Other than these, the scriptures and texts of Sikh tradition and the Hindu Dadupanthi traditions, most other written sources about the life of Ravidas, including by the Ravidasi (followers of Ravidas), were composed in the early 20th century, or about 400 years after his death.[