Ravidassias

Ravidassias Latest News

Recently, members of the Ravidassia community gathered in Punjab to renew calls for a longstanding demand for the creation of a separate “Ravidassia religion” category in the Census. 

About Ravidassias

• The Ravidassias are a Dalit community which follows a spiritual path based on the teachings of Shri Guru Ravidas.
• They live in the Doaba region of Punjab, which includes districts such as Kapurthala, Hoshiarpur, Nawanshar and Jalandhar.
• Key Features of Ravidassias Community
  • Holy Book: The Ravidassia community adopted the Amrit Bani of Guru Ravidas as its holy book which contains 200 hymns of Guru Ravidas.
  • Concept of Begampura: It is an ideal concept given by Guru Ravidas which explains a city without sorrow, fear, or inequality.
  • Sacred Site: Seer Goverdhanpur in Varanasi (Uttar Pradesh)is one of the most important pilgrimage locations of the Ravidassia tradition.

Who was Guru Ravidas?

• Guru Ravidas (1377-1527 C.E.) was a renowned saint known for his contributions to the Bhakti movement.
• Guru Ravidas is also known as Raidas, Rohidas, and Ruhidas.
• Ravidas is traditionally seen as a student of the bhakti-poet Ramananda. 
• He is also thought to have lived around the same time as poet Kabir
• Philosophy and Teachings
  • The core of Guru Ravidas’s philosophy was the rejection of the caste system and the promotion of human rights and dignity. 
  • He envisioned a society called ‘Beghumpura’ (a city without sorrow), where there is no suffering, no fear, and no discrimination.
  • He emphasised the philosophy of spiritual freedom.
  • He abandoned the saguna (with attributes, image) forms of supreme beings and focussed on the nirguna (without attributes, abstract) form of supreme beings.

Source: IE

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