Saint of the down-trodden

Sant Guru Rabidas

GURU Rabidas was born in village Gobardhanpur near Varanasi in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India, on a Magh fullmoon (February 9-10, 1376 CE), to cobber parents -- Raghuram and Raghurani.
Cobblers belong to the lowest rung of the Hindu caste system, and more than 600 years ago they were treated as "untouchables" by those belonging to the higher rungs of the four-rung system. Being an untouchable child, Rabidas was barred from entering a school.
But he was a born learner and a genius. He could comprehend the scriptures by hearing from enlightened saints and others around him, while being active in the family trade with his father. He was a very quick learner of that community trade, too. But he self-educated and enlightened himself to be a superb composer of hymns and author of commandments to free his community from the inhuman bondage imposed by the upper castes. His followers called him "Sant," meaning saint.
He was born in a poor family. Nonetheless, he rose to the position of great honour through a life of simplicity and piety. However, observing the gross injustice all around him, he happened to be more a humanist than a religious leader. In fact, he worked more for establishing human rights in whole of the society than preaching religious sermons. He saw that religion was already there -- more than one -- but very little of humane considerations.
He was moved by the suffering of the neglected masses, who constituted a major portion of the society. He wanted to remove the unjust discrimination in a non-violent way -- through persuasion. He struggled all through his life for equality and unity in society. He always envisaged a humane society in place of a caste-ridden one.
Sant Guru Rabidas was also revered and adored by many others beyond his community for his broader view of the society and humane approach in preaching his philosophy. He left this mundane world for the hereafter in 1527 CE, giving the vast community of cobblers his name and dignity to live with.
Since then, the cobbler community of the sub-continent has been known as "Rabidas community" worldwide. A sizeable number of the Rabidas community also live in Bangladesh, distributed across most parts of the country. The seeds of change for the better that the Guru sowed for the community have led many through their pursuit of enlightenment and perseverance to positions considered much higher than their community trade.
But the majority in the community still suffers due to lack of attention of the authorities concerned. On this great occasion of Sant Guru Rabidas Ji Maharaj's anniversary, one hopes the authorities concerned as well as the human rights groups and civil society as a whole would extend their cooperation to the suffering section of humanity.

Master Kanailal Rabidas Mohanto is Director General, Bangladesh Guru Rabidas Dham Mission.