Kabir

Kabir (kəbēr`), 1440–1518, Indian mystic and poet. A Muslim by birth, he was a weaver in Benares (Varanasi) and early in life may have become the disciple of the famous Hindu saint Ramananda. Kabir opposed caste practices, ritual, image-worship, and all forms of religious sectarianism; he taught the brotherhood of Hindu and Muslim under one God. Because of his anti-institutional ideas he was subject to persecution and banished from Benares c.1495. Thereafter he traveled from one N Indian city to another and died at Maghar near Gorakhpur. His songs in Hindi show the fusion of Muslim and Hindu devotional traditions.

Bibliography

See Poems of Kabir, tr. by R. Tagore, 1972; I. A. Ezekiel, Kabir, the Great Mystic (1966).

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Kabir

(born 1440, Varanasi, Jaunpur, India—died 1518, Maghar) Indian mystic and poet. A weaver who lived in Benares, he preached the essential oneness of all religions and was critical of both Hinduism and Islam for meaningless rites and mindless repetition. From Hinduism he accepted the ideas of reincarnation and the law of karma but rejected idolatry, asceticism, and the caste system. From Islam he accepted the idea of one God and the equality of all men. Revered by both Hindus and Muslims, he is also considered a forerunner of Sikhism, and some of his poetry was incorporated into the Adi Granth. His ideas led to the founding of several sects, including the Kabir Panth, which regards Kabir as its principal guru or as a divinity.