Guru Ravidas was a 15th-16th century saint whose teachings emphasised devotion to a formless God. He belonged to the chamar community of leather workers.

Ronki Ram, a professor emeritus at the Institute for Development and Communication, Chandigarh, and an eminent scholar of Guru Ravidas, told The Indian Express that the saint neither renounced his religion nor abandoned his hereditary occupation. In doing so, his life itself became a form of peaceful social protest at a time when the Bhakti movement sought to challenge social hierarchies.

While he rejected ritualism and idol worship, accounts say he wore the sacred thread (janeu) and applied the tilak on his forehead. Professor Ram said these actions symbolically challenged the upper castes’ monopoly over religious symbols.

Guru Ravidas became widely revered through his devotional poetry and reformist philosophy. He wrote in Sadhukari, a language that blended Awadhi, Braj, Khari Boli, Punjabi, Rajasthani and Sanskrit. According to Professor Yog Raj Angrish, who heads the School of Punjabi Studies at Panjab University, his verses were simple and easy to sing. “While Kabir’s poetry is marked by rhetoric, resistance and poetic deconstruction, Ravidas writes with philosophical depth and humility,” Angrish said.

One of his best-known hymns declares: “Naam tero aarti majan Murare; Har ke Naam bin jhoothe sagal pasaare” (O Lord, Your Name is my worship and my sacred ablution. Without the Divine Name, all other religious displays are false.) As his fame spread, he attracted followers cutting across caste lines.

UP CM Yogi Adityanath, along with Sant Niranjan Das and other dignitaries, pays tributes at the statue of Sant Ravidas at Seer Govardhan village, in Varanasi, July 29. (PTI Photo)

Another central idea underlying his philosophy was of Begumpura, an ideal society founded on principles of equality, justice and freedom. Modern scholars, including Gail Omvedt, have described it as one of the earliest visions of a casteless and classless society.

Raising Dalit consciousness

Guru Ravidas occupies a unique place in Sikhism. Forty of his hymns (shabads) and one shloka are included in the Guru Granth Sahib, the Sikh scripture regarded as the eternal Guru, alongside the compositions of Kabir, Sheikh Farid and other Bhakti and Sufi saints. Professor Sarabjit Singh of Punjabi University said these saints lived before Guru Nanak Dev, who carried forward many of their ideas.

Professor Ram described him as one of the earliest voices of Dalit resistance, who transformed personal experience into a universal message of equality without advocating hatred or revenge. His influence became particularly visible during Punjab’s Ad Dharm movement of the 1920s, which adopted Guru Ravidas as its patron saint to champion an independent social and political consciousness.

As he put it, “Aisa chahoon raaj main jahaan milai sabhan ko ann; chhot bado sab sam basai, Ravidas rahai prasann” (I long for such a kingdom where everyone has enough to eat, where the small and the great live as equals; then Ravidas shall be content).”

Guru Ravidas remains the foremost spiritual figure for millions of Dalits. His followers, the Ravidassias, are a Dalit community of whom the bulk — around 12 lakh — live in the Doaba region, which includes districts such as Kapurthala, Hoshiarpur, Nawanshar and Jalandhar. The community separated from Sikhism in 2010 and follows its own scripture. Its growing political influence is reflected in the prominence of institutions such as Dera Sachkhand Ballan and in recent visits by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other national leaders.