Kabir

Who is Kabir?

Kabir was a mystic poet and saint of medieval India, traditionally associated with the city of Varanasi. Little of his life is documented with certainty, and he is claimed by Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs alike; tradition holds that he was raised in a family of Muslim weavers. His verses, composed in a vernacular blend of dialects and known as dohas and pads, sharply criticized empty religious ritual, caste distinctions and the hypocrisy of priests and mullahs, calling instead for direct, inward devotion to a formless divine. His teachings became foundational to the Kabir Panth, a religious community that reveres him, and a substantial body of his verse was incorporated into the Guru Granth Sahib, the scripture of Sikhism. His pithy, paradoxical couplets remain among the most widely quoted in North India and continue to be sung across sectarian lines centuries after his death.

Sources: Rabindranath Tagore (trans.), Songs of Kabir, 1915 · Charlotte Vaudeville, A Weaver Named Kabir, 1993 · Kabir's verses in the Guru Granth Sahib