Bhagat Ramanand
Teacher of Varanasi to whom Kabir, Ravidas, Dhanna, Pipa and Sain are traditionally linked.
Ramanand was a Vaishnav teacher of Varanasi in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, to whom the north Indian Bhakti movement owes much. He opened devotion to all castes and taught in Hindi rather than Sanskrit.
Tradition makes him the guru of a remarkable circle of saints: Kabir the weaver, Ravidas the leatherworker, Dhanna the farmer, Pipa the king and Sain the barber, though the dates do not all fit together. His one hymn in the Guru Granth Sahib says that he went to worship at the temple with sandal and incense, but found God in his own heart.
Whether or not he taught them all, he stands at the head of the line of devotion that led towards the Gurus.
Connected
Weaver-poet of Varanasi and the largest contributor among the bhagats. Mocked hypocrisy in both Hindu and Muslim religion.
Leather worker of Varanasi who wrote of Begampura, a city without sorrow or caste. Revered across Punjab today.
Jat farmer from Rajasthan whose simple devotion is told in a much-loved story of feeding God at a stone.
A king of Gagron who gave up his throne. His hymn says the body itself is the temple.
A royal barber. Tradition holds that God took his place at court while he was lost in devotion.