Guru Ravidas
2022 JAN 19
Preliminary >
Art and Culture > Philosophies > Religion
Why in news?
- Accepting a demand by the Punjab Government and various political parties, the Election Commission of India has postponed State Assembly polls in view of Guru Ravidas Jayanti.
About Guru Ravidas:
- Ravidas, or Raidas, was an Indian mystic poet-saint of the bhakti movement and founder of the Ravidassia religion during the 15th to 16th century.
- The life details of Ravidas are uncertain and contested. Scholars believe he was born in 1450 CE in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh.
- The text Anantadas Parcai is one of the earliest surviving biographies of various Bhakti movement poets which talks about the birth of Ravidas.
- Ravidas's devotional verses were included in the Sikh scriptures known as Guru Granth Sahib.
- The Panch Vani text of the Dadupanthi tradition within Hinduism also includes numerous poems of Ravidas.
- He is believed to be a disciple of the bhakti saint-poet Ramanandaand, a contemporary of the bhakti saint-poet Kabir.
- One of his famous disciples of Ravidas was Mirabai.
His teachings:
- He taught removal of social divisions of caste and gender, and promoted unity in the pursuit of personal spiritual freedom.
- He gained prominence due to his belief in one God and his unbiased religious poems.
- Among Ravidas’s moral and intellectual achievements were the conception of “Begampura”, a city that knows no sorrow; and a society where caste and class have ceased to matter.
About Ravidassia religion:
- Guru Ravidas belonged to an untouchable caste and suffered a lot of atrocities as a result. However, the saint chose to focus on spiritual pursuits and he also founded the Ravidassia religion.
- The Ravidassias are a Dalit community of whom the bulk — nearly 12 lakh — live in the Doaba region.
- The Dera Sachkhand Ballan, their largest dera with 20 lakh followers worldwide, was founded in the early 20th century by Baba Sant Pipal Das.
- Once closely connected with Sikhism, the dera severed these decades-old ties in 2010, and announced they would follow the Ravidassia religion.
- From 2010, the Dera Sachkhand Ballan started replacing the Guru Granth Sahib with its own Granth, Amritbani, carrying 200 hymns of Guru Ravidas, in Ravidassia temples and gurdwaras.
PRACTICE QUESTION:
Consider the following statements about Guru Ravidas:
1. He advocated for abolition of the caste system and openly despised the notion of a Brahminical society.
2. He founded the Ravidassia religion.
3. His devotional poems were included in ‘Guru Granth Sahib’
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 and 3 only
(c) 1 and 3 only
(d) 1,2 and 3
Answer