Bhagat Ravidas
Leather worker of Varanasi who wrote of Begampura, a city without sorrow or caste. Revered across Punjab today.
In their words
Famous linesਬੇਗਮ ਪੁਰਾ ਸਹਰ ਕੋ ਨਾਉ ॥ ਦੂਖੁ ਅੰਦੋਹੁ ਨਹੀ ਤਿਹਿ ਠਾਉ ॥
بیگم پرا سہر کو ناو ॥ دوکھ اندوہ نہی تہ ٹھاو ॥
Begampura, 'the city without sorrow', is its name. There is no pain or anxiety in that place.
Rag Gauri, Guru Granth Sahib, page 345
Ravidas was a chamar, a leatherworker, of Varanasi, probably in the fifteenth or early sixteenth century: a man of the lowest caste in a holy city ruled by Brahmins. He worked at his trade all his life and sang of a God who had no regard for birth.
His most famous hymn describes Begampura, the city without sorrow, where there is no tax, no fear, no second or third class, and where he who walks with Ravidas is his friend. Forty of his hymns are in the Guru Granth Sahib. Tradition says that Mirabai, the Rajput princess-poet, was his disciple.
In Punjab, where Dalits make up nearly a third of the population, the Ravidassia community holds him in the highest honour, and his birthday is a major festival. Dera Sachkhand Ballan near Jalandhar and countless Ravidas gurdwaras keep his teaching alive, and for many Dalit Punjabis his Begampura is the clearest picture of a just society ever drawn.
Connected
The scripture of the Sikhs and their eternal, living Guru: 1,430 pages of hymns by six Gurus and some thirty other saints, set in 31 ragas.
Weaver-poet of Varanasi and the largest contributor among the bhagats. Mocked hypocrisy in both Hindu and Muslim religion.
Teacher of Varanasi to whom Kabir, Ravidas, Dhanna, Pipa and Sain are traditionally linked.
Bhagat Ravidas at work as a shoemakerMuseum Rietberg, Zurich · photo Master of the first generation after Manaku and Nainsukh of (Wikimedia Commons) ↗