Kabir

Kabir (कबीर) (1440 - 1518)(better known as Kabira) was an Indian Mystic who preached an ideal of seeing all of humanity as one. He was known to be a weaver and later became famed for scorning religious affiliation, seen as a threat to both Muslim and Hindu elite. His monist philosophies and ideas of loving devotion to God are expressed in metaphor and language from both the Hindu Vedanta and Bhakti streams and Muslim Sufi ideals.

Was Kabir Hindu or Muslim?

It is a fruitless endeavor, indeed one that Kabir himself disliked, to classify him as Hindu or Muslim, Sufi or Bhakta. The legends surrounding his lifetime attest to his strong aversion to communalism.

Related Topics:
Hindu - Muslim - Sufi - Bhakta

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In fact, Kabir always insisted on the concept of Koi bole Ram Ram Koi Khudai..., which means that someone may chant the Hindu name of God and someone may chant the Muslim name of God, but God is the one who made the whole world.

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His birth and death are surrounded by legends. He grew up in a Muslim weaver family, but some say he was really son of a Brahmin widow who was adopted by a childless couple. When he died, his Hindu and Muslim followers started fighting about the last rites. The legend is that when they lifted the cloth covering his body, they found flowers instead. The Muslim followers buried their half and the Hindu cremated their half. In Maghar, his tomb and samadhi still stand

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side by side. http://www.cs.colostate.edu/~malaiya/kabir.html

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Another legend surrounding Kabir is that shortly before death he bathed in both Ganga and Karmnasha to wash away both his good deeds and his sins.

Related Topics:
Ganga - Karmnasha

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