Ravidas
c. 1450 – c. 1520
Ravidas was a North Indian mystic poet-saint of the Bhakti movement, active in the Varanasi region during the 15th and early 16th centuries. Born into a leather-working community, he preached spiritual equality and devotion to a formless God, and his hymns were later included in the Sikh scripture Guru Granth Sahib. He is the central figure of the modern Ravidassia religious tradition.
Lived at the same time
Well-documented people whose lives overlapped with Ravidas.
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Life events
Ravidas was born in the village of Seer Goverdhanpur near Varanasi; his exact birth year is disputed among scholars.
Ravidas belonged to a community of leather workers regarded as untouchable, an identity he addressed openly in his poetry.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgLater hagiographies name the bhakti teacher Ramananda as Ravidas's guru, though the connection is not historically certain.
Ravidas continued to practice his hereditary trade of making and mending leather footwear while teaching devotion.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgRavidas composed bhakti poetry declaring that devotion, not caste or ritual status, determined a person's worth before God.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgIn a famous composition Ravidas described Begampura, an imagined city without sorrow, taxation, or social hierarchy.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgLater devotional tradition holds that the Rajput princess and poet Mirabai regarded Ravidas as her spiritual teacher.
Ravidas is believed to have died in the early 16th century, though the year and place of his death are disputed in the sources.