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Guru Ghasidas: A thinker in the mould of Raidas and Kabir

Just as imaginary tales were woven to prove that Kabir and Raidas were Brahmins, Dr Hiralal Shukla used a myth to show that Guru Ghasidas had descended from a Brahmin family, writes Kanwal Bharti

GURU GHASIDAS (18 DECEMBER 1756 – 1836)* 

Guru Ghasidas drew on the ideological tradition of the Satnami sect, which, in turn, was rooted in the “Begumpur” ideology of Raidas – an ideology that envisages a classless and caste-less egalitarian society.

Raidas writes:

Ab hum khoob vatan ghar paya, ooncha kher sada man bhaya

Begumpura shahar ko nau, dukhu-andohu nahin tihi thau

Na tasvees khiraju na malu, khaufun khata na tarsu juvalu

Aavadaan raham oujood, jahan gani aap basai mabood

Kaem, kaem sada patisahi, dom na soma ek sa aahi

Joyee sail kare soyee buave, haram mahal tako atkave

Kah Ravidas khalas chamara, jo ham sahri su mitu hamara[1]

READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE: Guru Ghasidas: A thinker in the mould of Raidas and Kabir

 

About The Author

Kanwal bharti

Kanwal Bharti (born February 1953) is a progressive Ambedkarite thinker and one of the most talked-about and active contemporary writers. Dalit Sahitya Kee Avdharna and Swami Achootanand Harihar Sanchayita are his key books. He was conferred with Dr Ambedkar Rashtriya Award in 1996 and Bhimratna Puraskar in 2001

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