Kabir

History glossary

Also called: Kabirdas · Topic: Bhakti and Sufi Traditions · NCERT: Class 12, Ch 2 "Bhakti-Sufi Traditions"

Meaning

Kabir (also remembered as Kabirdas) was a poet-saint of about the 14th–15th centuries who taught nirguna bhakti, which means love for one God who has no form and no image. He wrote in the everyday speech of the saints and mocked rituals, idol worship and the worship of many gods.

He matters because he took ideas from Islam, Vedanta and yoga and turned them into one voice that ordinary people could sing. His uncertain life story is also NCERT's main example of how hard it is to use hagiographies (life stories written by devotees) as historical sources.

Explanation

Background: the "new" devotional paths

  • From about the 14th century, a new group of saint-poets began teaching nirguna bhakti, or devotion to a formless God.
  • They wrote in local languages, not Sanskrit. This meant "low caste" people and women could take part.
  • They rejected the people and practices that stood between a devotee and God: priests, temples, idols, pilgrimages and fasts.
  • NCERT names four figures from this phase: Kabir, Baba Guru Nanak, Mirabai and Shankaradeva. Kabir is the clearest voice of nirguna protest among them.

How Kabir wrote

  • Sant bhasha: a special mixed language used by the nirguna saints. It was made so that poems could travel easily from one region to another.
  • Ulatbansi: "upside-down sayings". These are riddle-like lines meant to shock the listener into thinking.
  • "the lotus which blooms without flower"

  • "fire raging in the ocean"

  • The reason for twisting words: ordinary language cannot hold God.

  • So Kabir broke normal meaning on purpose.
  • The listener has to look beyond the words.

Three streams in one voice

  • From Islam: he calls God Allah and Khuda. He also uses words such as Hazrat and Pir (a sufi teacher).
  • From Vedanta: alakh (the unseen one), nirakar (the formless one), Brahman (the supreme reality) and Atman (the soul).
  • From the yoga tradition: shabda (the sacred sound or word) and shunya (emptiness).
  • Two moods in his poems:
  • Sharp and mocking: some poems attack polytheism (worship of many gods) and image worship. They insist there is only one God.
  • Gentle and loving: other poems speak of nam-simaran (remembering the Divine Name). This is close to the sufi practice of zikr (repeating God's name) and to ishq (deep love for God).

Results: how his voice lasted

  • Kabir founded no organisation in his own lifetime.
  • His followers later formed panths (sects), and each one kept its own collection of his poems:
  • The Kabir Bijak is kept by the Kabirpanth in Varanasi and other parts of Uttar Pradesh.
  • The Kabir Granthavali is linked with the Dadupanth in Rajasthan.

  • Many of his poems are also part of the Adi Granth Sahib of the Sikhs, which Guru Arjan, the fifth guru, compiled.

  • The three collections are separate but overlap. The same poem can appear in more than one of them, worded differently.

  • By the 19th century, printed collections of his verses were sold from Bengal to Maharashtra.

Time, place and evidence

  • Period: c. 14th–15th centuries. NCERT deliberately leaves his exact dates open.
  • Region: his ideas took shape through debate and talk with sufis and yogis in Awadh (eastern Uttar Pradesh). Varanasi is the centre of the Kabirpanth.
  • Birth and family (uncertain):
  • Some traditions say he was born a Hindu, Kabirdas.
  • They add that he was brought up by julahas, a weaver group that had recently converted to Islam.

  • The name "Kabir" is Arabic for "great".

  • Guru (doubtful):

  • Tradition says Ramananda initiated him into devotion. The dates do not fit, so historians doubt this.

  • Kabir's own verses speak of a guru/satguru (true teacher) but never name one.

  • Evidence and its problems:

  • All three collections of his verses were put together after his death.
  • Every hagiography dates from the 17th century onward. That is about 200 years after he lived, so they are late evidence, and they disagree with one another.
  • A copy of the Bijak of Kabir is held in the rare-books collection of the Indian Culture Portal, Ministry of Culture [2].
  • The same collection has a printed 19th-century study titled Kabir and His Followers (Religious Life of India series) [3].
  • Britannica's different version: it gives firm dates (born 1440 in Varanasi, died 1518 at Maghar). It says a Muslim weaver adopted him, and it dates the Bijak to about 1570, completed by a disciple [4]. For the exam, follow NCERT, which leaves these points open.

Don't confuse with

  • Kabir Bijak vs Kabir Granthavali: the Bijak belongs to the Kabirpanth (Varanasi/UP). The Granthavali belongs to the Dadupanth (Rajasthan).
  • Ramananda: tradition calls him Kabir's guru. NCERT says the link is doubtful because the dates do not match, and Kabir's own verses name no teacher.
  • Mirabai: she is also a bhakti poet who left no organisation. But her devotion is saguna (love for a God with a form, Krishna). Kabir's is nirguna (a formless God).
  • Sufi zikr vs nam-simaran: they are similar practices of repeating God's name. Zikr is the sufi term. Nam-simaran is the term Kabir and the nirguna saints use.

Prelims Hooks

  • Kabir Bijak → Kabirpanth, Varanasi/Uttar Pradesh. Kabir Granthavali → Dadupanth, Rajasthan.
  • Ulatbansi = "upside-down sayings", for example "fire raging in the ocean" and "the lotus which blooms without flower".
  • Sant bhasha = the special language of the nirguna saints, which Kabir used.
  • "Kabir" is Arabic for "great". The julahas were weavers who had recently converted to Islam.
  • Trap: Kabir's poems are in the Adi Granth Sahib, compiled by Guru Arjan, the fifth guru. Other non-Sikh saints in it are Baba Farid and Ravidas/Raidas.
  • Trap: Kabir did not found the Kabirpanth himself. The panths formed after his death.

Mains Points

  • Hagiography as a source. All life stories of Kabir are from the 17th century or later, about 200 years after him, and they disagree about his birth and his guru.
  • His own verses name no preceptor (teacher).
  • Later followers wanted a founder with a respected line of teachers, so they supplied Ramananda.

  • This is a strong example for a question on how devotional texts shape historical memory.

  • One voice, many streams. Kabir mixed Islamic names for God (Allah, Khuda), Vedantic ideas (Brahman, Atman, nirakar) and yogic terms (shabda, shunya).

  • He used sant bhasha and ulatbansi to reach weavers, artisans and other ordinary people outside priestly control.

  • This shows bhakti and sufi ideas meeting in Awadh. They were not two separate worlds.

  • Survival without an institution. Kabir built no organisation. His poems lasted because three separate communities kept them: the Kabirpanth, the Dadupanth and the Sikh Adi Granth.

  • The collections overlap but differ in wording.
  • This shows how oral poetry changes as different groups pass it on.

Related concepts

Read more

Sources

  1. 1Class 12, Ch 2 "Bhakti-Sufi Traditions" (primary)
  2. 2Bijak of Kabir (rare books)indianculture.gov.in · tier 1
  3. 3Kabir and His Followers, Religious Life of India (rare books)indianculture.gov.in · tier 1
  4. 4Kabirkids.britannica.com · tier 3