Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Kabir's Birthplace

Saint Kabir Das is widely acknowledged as one of the great personality of the Bhakti movement in North India. Kabir was born to a Brahmin widow at Lahartara near Kashi modern day Varanasi. The widow abandoned Kabir to escape dishonor associated with births outside marriage. He was brought up in a family of poor Muslim weavers Niru and Nima. Vaishnava saint Ramananda accepted Kabir as his disciple; when Ramananda died, Kabir was 13 years old. Kabir's family is believed to have lived in the locality of Kabir Chaura in Varanasi. Kabīr maṭha (कबीरमठ), a maṭha located in the back alleys of Kabir Chaura, celebrates his life and times. Accompanying the property is a house named NIRU TILA(नीरू टीला) which houses Niru and Nima's graves. He is one of the medieval Indian saints of Bhakti and Sufi movement whose compositions figure in Sikh Scripture, the Guru Granth Sahib. From among all of them, Kabir's contribution is the largest, 227 Padas in 17 ragas and 237 slokas. Under each raga or musical mode marking a section of the Holy Book, Kabir's hymns appear at the head of Bhagat Bani, a generic name for the works of contributors other than the Gurus.














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