Vaishnavism, Shaivism and Minor Religious Systems v1.c4.s19.1

v1.c4.s19.1

§ 57. The few particulars that have come down to us about the birth and life of Kabīr are these. He was the son of a Brāhmaṇa widow who cast him away as soon as he was born, to hide her shame, near the Lahar Tank in Benares. A Mahomedan weaver of the name of Nīrū was passing by the way with his wife Nīmā, when the latter saw the child and carried it home. He was nurtured and brought up by her and her husband Nīrū, and Kabīr, when he had grown up, followed the occupation of a weaver. He showed leanings towards the Hindu faith, and the idea of making Rāmānanda his Guru, or preceptor, arose in his mind. But he conceived it not possible that that sage should receive a Mahomedan as his disciple and therefore had recourse to a contrivance. He laid himself down on the Ghāṭ, or pavement on the Ganges, at which Rāmānanda bathed very early in the morning. On the way Rāmānanda trampled on the boy and exclaimed: "Rāma, Rāma! What poor creature is it that I have trampled upon?" Kabīr rose up and received the exclamation "Rāma, Rāma" as a Mantra communicated to him by Rāmānanda, and he understood that he had thus been made a disciple. Another account is that, being trampled on, Kabīr rose up and cried aloud, when Rāmānanda told him to be quiet and go on uttering the name of "Rāma". Considering that he had thus been accepted as a pupil, Kabīr went on with his adorations of God, proclaiming that he was the disciple of Rāmānanda. Some Hindus went to the latter and asked him whether he had initiated Kabīr. Thereupon Kabīr was sent for and asked by Rāmānanda, when it was that he had been initiated. Kabīr mentioned to him the incident of his having been trampled upon on the Ghāṭ. Then Rāmānanda remembered the matter and clasped Kabīr to his breast. Since that time Kabīr regularly attended at his master's Maṭha and joined him in his disputations with the Paṇḍits. For some time Kabīr lived at Manikapur, as is mentioned in one of his Ramainīs. There he heard of the fame of Shaikh Taqqī and of twenty-one Pīrs. He heard their discourses, condemned their teachings and said: "Oh Shaikhs, of whatever name, listen to me; open your eyes and see the origin and the end of all things and their creation and dissolution". In one of the books of this sect, Shaikh Taqqī is represented as an enemy of Kabīr and a Pīr, or the religious guide, of Sikandar Lodī. At his advice the emperor persecuted Kabīr and used various methods to destroy him. But Kabīr miraculously escaped death and was eventually reconciled to Sikandar Lodī, who received him into his favour. Kabīr died at Maghar, and there was a dispute between the Hindus and the Mahomedans as to the disposal of his dead body, which was covered by a sheet of cloth. When the sheet was removed, the body had disappeared, and in its stead there was a heap of flowers. The Mahomedans took one half of the quantity and buried it at Maghar and erected a tomb over it, and the Hindus took their share to Benares, where it was burnt. Kabīr had a wife of the name of Loi, a son of the name of Kamāl, and a daughter of the name of Kamālī. But there are miraculous stories as to how Kabīr came by them.