Kabir and His Followers

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Among medieval saints and sadhus of India, Kabir occupies a prominent place. With each passing century since his death, his name and fame have gained more lustre and the wise utterances and couplets of this rustic philosopher are recited and quoted, with equal reverence, both in peasants' huts as well as in the mansions of the rich.

Who was Kabir and why is he revered both by the Hindus and the Muslims of India? It goes to the credit of the British Scholar that he chose Kabir as the subject for his Thesis of Doctorate from London University In the twenties of this century which was later revised by him and given the shape of the present Volume. It is perhaps the best treatise existing on the life and doctrines of Kabir in English.

Who was Kabir? The traditional date of his birth is AD 1398 on a Monday in the bright half of the month of Jyeshtha. He lived to be 119 years 5 months and 27 days and died in AD 1518 at Maghar not far from present Gorakhpur in Basti District. He predicted the precise date and time of his end. His Hindu disciple, Raja Bir Sinha and Muslim disciple Nawab Bijli Khan wanted to perform his funeral rites according to their respective faiths. When the door of his hut was opened nothing was to be found except two sheets and some flowers. The two disciples divided the flowers and two sheets between them. Raj Bir Sinha took his portion to Benares where he cremated it and buried the ashes at a spot what is now known as the Kabir Chaura' and the Nawab buried his portion at Maghar where a shrine was built in his memory.

This rugged philosopher hated the superstitious practices of both Hindus and Muslims who were vehemently chastised by him. Like Socratese of old amongst the Greeks, he tried to penetrate behind the conventionalities of speech and popular Ideas of the reality of things.

IN sending out this book for publication I have to express my thanks to very many persons who have helped me in obtaining information about various matters connected with Kabir and the Kabir Panth. This has been gathered from many places. There are other points on which I should have liked to have obtained information, but the Kabir- panthi centres are widely scattered and not always in accessible places; and it has not been possible to visit more than a few of them.

There are many matters in connection with the literature which still need elucidation; and if some day a competent Hindi scholar with sufficient leisure to make a critical study of the texts should be forthcoming, he may be able to throw light on some of these problems.

In spelling Hindi words and names, it is not easy to be consistent. If one keeps strictly to the transliteration of them as they are spelt and pronounced in Hindi, the form may sometimes appear strange to those who are accustomed to see them in the Sanskritized form which is generally adopted in books on Indian subjects. I have, therefore, had to use my discretion even at the risk of some inconsistency. In the case of place names and Indian words that are familiar in their Anglicized form, e.g. 'Sanskrit,' 'Hindi,' the diacritical marks have been omitted.

Book's Contents and Sample Pages