Amarkantak, where Kabir once Mediated

Seven km away from Amarkantak (in Madhya Pradesh) is Kabir Chabutra (Kabir's Corridor) which is a place of pilgrimage for the Kabir-panthis (followers of the medieval saint poet Kabir). Kabir had spent a considerable period of time in the place while he was on his way to preach the gospel of love and unity among the different sections of the society. He is said to have meditated at Kabir Chabutra.

Early Life

Nothing much can be said with certainty about the life of Kabir. Differences still persist among scholars about his date of birth. He lived either towards the close of the fourteenth century or in the first quarter of the fifteenth century.

Kabir's name is from the Koran (sacred book of Islam) and he was born in Banaras. A legend says that he was an illegitimate child of a brahmana widow. From fear of being exposed to odium and ridicule of the society she left him on the side of a tank in Banaras. Here he was found and brought up by a Muslim weaver and his wife.

Death

He died in Magahar where a quarrel took place among his followers over his funeral rites for the body: Hindu - style cremation or Muslim -style burial.

Kabir Das and Humanism

Some of the mediaeval saint-poets of India were more modern than the moderns and foremost among them was Kabir. He is the mid-day sun of humanism. Man is the highest truth and there is no truth beyond him- Indian humanists had realised this truth much earlier than the Europeans.

Kabir's humanism was nothing short of a form of radicalism. Standing by his profound conviction that God cannot be seen, named, described, he was opposed to priestly ritualism , or external formalities, both of Hinduism and of Islam.

Rabindranath's translation of Kabir's poem's bears testimony ti the fact that Kabir's relevance to today's context cannot be ignored or soft-pedalled. Kabir's followers have codified his non-sectarian teachings and raised his memory to an object of worship.

Traditionally he is being represented to have been a disciple of Rananad, the famous Vaishnava saint.

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