HistoriCity: Ravidas – A cobbler’s son and his religion

In the lead-up to elections, the Ravidassia community in Punjab has been gaining attention once more. They do not identify as either Sikh or Hindu, but instead follow the teachings of Saint Ravidas, also known as Raidas, who was born in Banaras during a time before the Mughal empire took hold. Hagiographies describe Kabir and Ravidas as kindred spirits, with a famous painting from the reign of Emperor Shah Jahan depicting the two prominent Banaras saints - Kabir working on his loom and Raidas meditating in front of a hut, both with rosaries around their necks and exposed upper bodies.

Over time, both Raidas and Kabir have become integrated into Hinduism, although their original anti-Brahminical spirit remains evident in their poetry. Raidas's followers are more organized in Punjab, and they form a cohesive group compared to other regions like Madhya Pradesh and Bihar. Hagiographies assert that Raidas was born into a prosperous Chamar merchant family in Banaras, a period marked by significant social change as the Brahminical system was overthrown by the end of the 12th century in the Ganga plains, including present-day Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

With the rise of the Delhi Sultanate, the provinces were governed by Muslim officials, along with Hindus, during this time of social change. In north India, both Kabir and Raidas were challenging caste-based discrimination. Kabir is regarded as the Guru or teacher of non-elite caste Bhakti saints, while Raidas's journey from being a cobbler's son and an untouchable to becoming a saint follows the familiar arc of rejection by learned Brahmins, performing miracles to gain acceptance, and then humbling Brahmins who acknowledge his saintly status.

Raidas's miracles emphasize the same theme as other Bhakti saints - that devotion, not knowledge of Vedas and Shastras, purity, ritual performance, or birth into an elite caste, is the sole requirement to receive the lord's grace or mukti. Both Kabir and Raidas challenged both Hindu and Muslim orthodoxy, redefining religion itself by delimiting what worship meant.

Raidas's unique contribution was his public acknowledgment of his Chamar caste identity, which his followers continue to take pride in, rejecting the varna-ashram dharma entirely.

The Ravidassia community in Punjab was founded in the early 1900s by Pippal Dass in the village of Ballan, Jalandhar district. This marked the beginning of a century-long journey for the Ravidassias in formally declaring themselves a separate religion. During the 1920s, when identity-based politics was energizing Sikh and other communities asserting their non-Hinduness, the Adi Dharma movement arose as a protest against the discrimination faced by lower-caste Sikhs.

Raidas famously proclaimed that the caste system creates layers of hierarchy and discrimination, preventing equality among lower castes, including Dalits.

The Adi Dharma movement successfully lobbied the British for recognition as a distinct religion in Census exercises and created their own holy book modeled after the Adi Grant, Quran, and Bible, containing teachings attributed to Ravidas, called Adi-Prakash. Ravidas Mandal emerged in 1956, a rechristening of Adi Dharmis seeking to address internal contradictions while also seeking recognition for reservations offered to marginalized communities from Hindu, Sikh, and Buddhist religions.

Today, the Ravidassia sect is primarily represented by the Punjabi branch, consisting of Chamar and other castes from the region. This community places value on ethical teachings of equality and material wealth, with a strong presence in North America, Europe, and other Commonwealth nations like Fiji. Since the late 1970s, Dera Sach Khand Ballan and Seer Gobardhunpur in Banaras, Raidas's birthplace, have become the two most significant ecclesiastical centers for the sect, drawing devotees annually during Raidas Jayanti and Guru Purnima.

The sect also values the concept of "Begumpura," an idyllic city without sorrow conceived by Raidas, comparable to Ram Rajya, an ideal form of governance. Today, Begumpura exists as a Ravidassian symbol, with a train named after this utopian city in 2000.