Ravidas

History glossary

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

Meaning

Ravidas, also called Raidas, was a nirguna bhakti saint-poet. Nirguna bhakti means love for a God with no form and no image. He came from a leather-working caste, and his hymns are included in the Adi Granth Sahib of the Sikhs. He matters because a man from a caste treated as "untouchable" became a respected religious teacher. Some traditions even name him as the guru of a Rajput princess, Mirabai.

Explanation

Background: the new nirguna path

  • From about the 14th century, a new group of saint-poets taught nirguna bhakti.
  • They wrote in local languages, not Sanskrit. So ordinary people, including "low caste" groups and women, could take part.
  • They rejected the middle-men of religion: priests, temples, idols, pilgrimages and fasts.
  • Ravidas belongs to this group of saints, along with Kabir.

Who he was: a leather worker as a teacher

  • He was a leather worker by caste. Upper castes treated this work as "polluting", so the caste was seen as "untouchable".
  • In the caste order, such a person could not teach religion, and certainly not to an upper-caste person.
  • His standing as a saint broke this rule.
  • His hymns were sung and respected far beyond his own community.
  • This showed that bhakti judged a person by devotion, not by birth.

The Mirabai link

  • Some traditions say Mirabai's preceptor (guru) was Raidas, a leather worker.
  • Mirabai was a Rajput princess of Merta in Marwar, married into the Sisodia clan of Mewar.
  • Why this story matters:
  • A princess accepting a so-called "untouchable" as her guru was a direct attack on caste rules.

  • It fits Mirabai's wider defiance: she refused her husband, left her in-laws and became a wandering saint.

  • This comes from devotional tradition, not from court records. So treat it as "according to some traditions", not as proven fact.

Result: a place in the Adi Granth

  • Guru Arjan, the fifth Sikh guru, compiled the Adi Granth Sahib. Britannica dates the compilation to 1604 [2].
  • It holds the hymns of Guru Nanak and his four successors. It also holds hymns by three saints who were not Sikh gurus: Baba Farid (a sufi), Ravidas/Raidas and Kabir.
  • These hymns are called gurbani (the word of the guru), and they are in several languages.
  • Later, Guru Gobind Singh (the tenth guru) added Guru Tegh Bahadur's hymns, and the book became the Guru Granth Sahib. So Ravidas's hymns are still recited in Sikh worship today.

Time, place and evidence

  • Period: He is usually placed around the 15th–16th centuries, the same broad period as Kabir and Mirabai. His exact dates are not certain.
  • Place: He is traditionally linked with Varanasi in north India, the same region where Kabir's followers kept the Kabir Bijak.
  • Key people around him: Mirabai (named in some traditions as his disciple), Kabir (another nirguna saint whose hymns sit beside his in the Adi Granth) and Guru Arjan (who compiled the Adi Granth).
  • How we know about him:
  • His hymns preserved in the Adi Granth Sahib, compiled in 1604 according to Britannica [2]. This is the most solid evidence.
  • Oral devotional tradition, such as Mirabai's bhajans, which were sung long before they were written down. This is where the guru–disciple story comes from.
  • Like Kabir's life stories, these are devotional memories. They are not official records, so details such as dates and teachers are open to doubt.

Don't confuse with

  • Kabir: Kabir was linked with the julahas (weavers who had recently converted to Islam), and his verses survive in the Bijak and the Granthavali. Ravidas was a leather worker. Both have hymns in the Adi Granth.
  • Mirabai: Mirabai was a saguna devotee who loved Krishna, a God with a form. Ravidas was a nirguna saint. In some traditions he is her guru, not her follower.
  • Sikh gurus: Ravidas was not one of the ten Sikh gurus. He is one of the outside saints, like Baba Farid and Kabir, whose hymns Guru Arjan included in the Adi Granth.
  • Baba Farid: Baba Farid was a sufi (a Muslim mystic). Ravidas was a bhakti saint. Both appear in the Adi Granth.

Prelims Hooks

  • Ravidas = Raidas, a nirguna saint from a leather-working caste.
  • The saints in the Adi Granth Sahib who were not Sikh gurus: Baba Farid, Ravidas/Raidas, Kabir.
  • Adi Granth was compiled by Guru Arjan (5th guru), in 1604 according to Britannica [2].
  • Some traditions say Mirabai's guru was Raidas. Trap: Ravidas was a saint, not one of the ten Sikh gurus.
  • Saint and caste pairs: Ravidas → leather worker; Kabir → julaha weaver.
  • His hymns are part of the gurbani, which is in several languages.

Mains Points

  • Bhakti as a challenge to caste.
  • A leather worker became a saint whose hymns entered the holy book of the Sikhs.
  • In some traditions a Rajput princess, Mirabai, accepted him as her guru.

  • Both show bhakti putting devotion above birth. Use this in answers on the social impact of the bhakti movement.

  • The Adi Granth as a shared heritage. Guru Arjan placed hymns by a sufi (Baba Farid), a weaver (Kabir) and a leather worker (Ravidas) beside those of the gurus. This is a strong example of give-and-take between faiths and castes in medieval India.

  • Sources and memory. The Ravidas–Mirabai link survives mainly through oral bhajans and devotional tradition. Like the late life stories of Kabir, it tells us what devotees believed and valued, more than what can be proven. This is a useful example in a question on hagiography and oral tradition as historical sources.

Related concepts

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Sources

  1. 1Class 12, Ch 2 "Bhakti-Sufi Traditions" (primary)
  2. 2Guru Arjanbritannica.com · tier 3