Question

Who was Kabir? How do we know about him?

Answer 1

Hint: The period after the 13th century shows the new emerging wave of bhakti tradition and movements in North India. this was an age when Islam, brahminical Hinduism, Nathpanths, Sufism, and various strands of Bhakti influenced one another. The same period saw the rise of an influential Saint who is famously known as Kabir.

Complete answer: Kabir was one of the most influential saints of the 15th and 16th centuries in India. He was brought up in a family of Muslim weavers near the city of Banaras. Teachings were based on complete indeed vehement and rejection of major religious traditions. During his life, he rejected the external form of worship of both brahminical Hinduism and in Islam and the dominance of the priestly classes and the caste system. Kabir during his life believed in the Hindu Muslim unity and drew most of his followers from these two communities. Though there are very little reliable information and sources about his life, through his vast collection of verses which were called rakhis and pads we came to know about his ideas. These are rakhis and pads work composed by him and sung by the wandering bhajan singers. Some of his bhajans were later preserved in the Guru Granth Sahib, bijak and panch Vani.

Note: Kabir believed in the formless supreme God and priest people the path to salvation can only be achieved through bhakti or devotion. The language of his poetry was a form of Hindi that was widely understood and spoken by the ordinary people. Sometimes he also used cryptic language which was usually hard to understand and follow.