Page 78 - SST Class 07

2. ____________ is written in the common Both Hindus and Muslims were
language of Awadhi.
3. Surdas and Mirabai were the devotees of
____________ . opinion. The Hindus wanted to
4. ____________ spread the Bhakti movement in
North India.
5. ____________ was a Rajput princess.
Case Study : Kabir Das
Reliable information about the birth and childhood
of Kabir Das is not known. It is believed that he
was born in the fifteen-sixteenth century to an
unmarried woman who cast him away at the steps
of a tank, when a Muslim Julaha (weaver) adopted
him and brought him up. He is said to be a disciple
of Ramananda .
We can know about the ideas of Kabir Das from his
dohas (couplets) and padas (long poems) which he
sang. These were noted down by his followers and
compiled in the form of Bijak. The Guru Granth
Sahib, the sacred book of the Sikhs, contains about
500 verses from Kabir Das.
The followers of Kabir Das were both Hindus and
Muslims and were called Kabirpanthis . Kabir Das
struck hard at the discrimination of all types and
religious absurdities. He criticised both Hindus and
Muslims for many rituals which were meaningless.
Kabir Das interacted with Sufi saints and shared his
ideas with them.
Kabir Das taught that all people, irrespective of
their religions, were made of the same thing and
were made by the same God. He was against caste
discrimination. He said that it is fruitless to ask
the caste of a saint or a devotee. Not only this, he
wanted his followers to be practical in life, as he
taught them the virtues of honesty, truthfulness,
sweet speech and right action.
The dohas and padas of Kabir Das continue to
inspire us even today.
Just Think!
What was Kabir Das’s religion?
A Legend of Kabir Das
There is a legend about the death of Kabir Das.
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his followers. When he died, his
followers had difference of
cremate his body while the
Muslims wanted to bury his body.
After sometime when they looked Kabir Das
at the body, it had turned into flowers, which the
two communities divided equally between them.
Teachings of Kabir Das
Kabir Das has composed a large number of poems
and couplets. We give only two of them.
,slh ckuh cksfy,] eu dk vkik [kks;A
vkSju dks lhry djs] vkig¡q lhry gks;AA
(You should speak so sweetly that it conquers others’
heart. It should pacify the others as well as yourself.)
dky djS lks vkt dj] vkt djS lks vcA
iy esa ijyS gks;xh] cgqfj djsxk dcAA
(You must do now what you ought to do tommorrow.
Death can come at any hour giving you no time to do it.)
Guru Nanak
Guru Nanak (1469-1539) was a Bhakti saint who
founded the Sikhism . He was born at Talwandi
(now Nankana Sahib in Pakistan). He preached true
love for God. He composed hymns and sang them
to his audience. His followers belonged to different
religions without any consideration
of high or low. His unique way of
treating all people equal was the
langar (community kitchen) in
which all people dined together.
The chief teachings of Guru Nanak
included three principles : Guru Nanak
q Nam-Japna or recite and meditate God’s name,
q Kirt-Karna or do your duty by honest means, and
q Vand-Chakhna or share your income with others.
The teachings of Guru Nanak are in the form of
hymns which have been compiled by Guru Angad in
the form of the Guru Granth Sahib. This sacred book
of the Sikhs also comprises of the hymns by three
other gurus after Guru Nanak and many other
Bhakti saints including Kabir Das.
Guru Nanak was the first guru of Sikhs. He