From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Guru Ravidas
, also spelt as
Raidas
, was an
Indian
saint
and poet of 15th century. He belonged to a family of
leather
workers, he even claimed to be an
achhoot
or untouchable. Some of his verses found place in
Guru Granth Sahib
, the main text of
Sikhism
.
Mirabai, a
Rajput
lady of a royal family of
Rajasthan
, was one of the followers of Guru Ravidas. They follow his teachings and consider him their
Guru
, the teacher.
Guru Raidas wrote poems in
Braj
Bhasha. A few of his poems are "
ab kaise chutey ram nam
", "
aasi Lal tujh binu
".
Guru Raidas refuted the prevalent
Caste
System of the time and stated that all people were equally cared upon by god. He also, like many contemporary Bhakti saints, refuted complex Brahminical Rituals and Sacrifices, in favour of true and complete devotion to god by means of song, dance, or
japa
(simple chanting of god's name).