The essentials
Kabir (c. fourteenth–fifteenth centuries) is one of the most outstanding saint-poets. His verses have been compiled in three distinct traditions: the Kabir Bijak (preserved by the Kabirpanth in Varanasi and elsewhere in Uttar Pradesh), the Kabir Granthavali (associated with the Dadupanth in Rajasthan), and many of his compositions are found in the Adi Granth Sahib. Kabir described the Ultimate Reality as Allah, Khuda, Hazrat and Pir, but also as Alakh (the unseen), Nirakar (formless), Brahman and Atman. He used the language of yogic tradition and the idea of nirguna (formless) bhakti, and criticised external rituals of both Hindus and Muslims. Later traditions describe him as born a Hindu (Kabirdas) and raised by a Muslim family of weavers (julahas); historians find it difficult to verify such claims.
Key points
- Guru Nanak (1469–1539) was born in a Hindu merchant family in Nankana Sahib, near the river Ravi. He advocated a form of nirguna bhakti and rejected sacrifices, ritual baths, image worship, austerities and scriptures of both Hindus and Muslims.
- For Guru Nanak, the Absolute or "rab" had no gender or form; he proposed remembering and repeating the Divine Name. He expressed his ideas through hymns called shabad in Punjabi.
- He organised his followers into a community with rules for congregational worship (sangat). He appointed his disciple Angad to succeed him.
- Guru Arjan compiled Guru Nanak's hymns along with those of his successors and other religious poets like Baba Farid, Ravidas and Kabir in the Adi Granth Sahib. Guru Gobind Singh added the compositions of the ninth guru, Guru Tegh Bahadur, and this scripture was called the Guru Granth Sahib. He laid the foundation of the Khalsa Panth in 1699.
- Mirabai (c. fifteenth–sixteenth centuries), a Rajput princess from Merta in Marwar, was married against her wishes into the Sisodia clan of Mewar. She defied her husband and in-laws, and recognised Krishna as her lover. Her guru, according to tradition, was Raidas, a leatherworker — a defiance of caste norms.
Common mistakes
- Saying Guru Nanak compiled the Adi Granth himself; Guru Arjan did.