Kabir
(AD 1319-1447; AH 800-81)
Kabir was born near the holy city of Varanasi or Benares. He is regarded as the poet-saint, closely associated with the bhakti or Hindu devotional movement in India.
It is said the Kabi was raised by Muslim weavers and trained by Hindu masters. As such, his personal philosophy combined concepts from both religions, although he rejected the ide of religion itself, as well as the notion of sects.
Virtually illiterate, Kabit was an oral Hindi poet. His works were passed on in songs and are often sung in temples and qawwali gatherings. His poems are found in the Adi Granth (literally, The First Book), an early compliation of the Sikh scriptures.
Kabir's poetry is much loved by Sufis and he himself is regarded as a Sufi poet in Hindi. The Bijak (Seedling), a compliation of poetry, is considered his most important work, though he is famous for his Dohas, couplets in the Hindi form which lend themselves to oral transmission.
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