Ravidas
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Guru Ravidas Jī |
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|---|---|
Ravidas
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| Born | uncertain, ~1450 Varanasi, India |
| Died | uncertain, ~1520 Varanasi, India |
| Honors | Venerated as a Sant in Ravidassia religion and having hymns included in the Guru Granth Sahib |
Ravidas was a North Indian mystic poet-sant of the bhakti movement during the 15th to 16th century CE. Venerated as a Guru (teacher) in the region of Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Maharashtra, the devotional songs of Ravidas made a lasting impact upon the bhakti movement. He was a poet-saint, social reformer and a spiritual figure. He is considered as the founder of 21st-century Ravidassia religion, by a group who previously were associated with Sikhism.
The life details of Ravidas are uncertain and contested. Most scholars believe he was born about 1450 CE, in a family that worked with dead animals and their skin to produce leather products, making them an untouchable Chamar caste. Tradition and medieval era texts state Ravidas was one of the disciples of the Brahmin bhakti sant-poet Ramananda.
Ravidas' devotional songs were included in the Sikh Scriptures, Guru Granth Sahib. The Panch Vani text of the Dadupanthi tradition within Hinduism also includes numerous poems of Ravidas. Guru Ravidas Ji taught removal of social divisions of caste and gender, and promoted unity in the pursuit of personal spiritual freedoms.
His name often includes the honorific Bhagat, sometimes spelled as Ravidass, Raidas, Rohidas and Ruhidas.
The details of Ravidas' life are not well known. Most scholars state he was born about 1450, and died about 1520.
Ravidas 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 Asthan. Mata Ghurbinia was his mother, and his father was Raghuram. His parents belonged to a leather-working Chamar community, whose profession involved processing dead animals and their skins, which made them untouchable. While his original occupation was leather work, he began to spend most of his time in spiritual pursuits as a Vaishnava Hindu in the Ramananda tradition. Thereafter he spent most of his life in the company of Hindu saints, sadhus and ascetics.
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