KABIR, the most celebrated of the twelve disciples of the Hindu reformer Ramanand. He lived at the beginning of the 15th century (1380 1449). He assailed the whole system of idolatrous worship, and, in a style peculiarly suited to the genius of his countrymen, he ridiculed the learn ing of the pandits, and doctrine of the Shastras. The Bhakta Male gives an account of his birth and life. His doctrines are contained in the Shkh Nidan, and do not differ much from those of the modern Vaishnava sect. The moral code is short, but favourable to morality.
Kabir was equally revered by Hindus and Musalmans. He was the founder of the sect called Kabir Panthi, or Nanak Panthi, from which Nanak, founder of the Sikh, borrowed the religious notions which he propagated with suc cess. Kabir is said to have been a weaver, or a foundling reared by a weaver, and subsequently admitted as a disciple by Ramanand. Another account makes Kabir a Muhammadan by birth, and a weaver by profession. Kabir is also fabled to: have been the son of a virgin widow of a Brahman. Her father was a follower of, and was paying a visit to, Ramanand. Unaware of her condition, Ramanand wished her to the conception of a son, which occurred, but, ashamed of her condition, she bore the child in private and exposed it, but it was found and brought up by a weaver and his wife. His religious views are very ob
scurely laid down, but the latitude of usage which he sanctioned, and his employment of a spoken language, have rendered his writings extensively popular among the lower orders of Northern India. His disciples may be either Muhammadans or Hindus. On his death, the Muhanimadans claimed a right to bury him, the Hindus to burn him, in consequence of which they quarrelled, and placed a sheet over the corpse, which when they with drew, according to a legend, they found the upper part of his body to be metamorphosed into a tulsi plant, the favourite nymphie of Krishna, the lower part into rehan, an odoriferous herb of a green colour, the colour of the prophet Mahom ed. Kabir is said to have been originally styled Inyani, the knowing or wise. He died at Magor, near Gorakhpur, which was endowed by Mansur Ali Khan with several villages. Kabir's doctrines and fame attracted the attention of Sikandar Lodi, emperor of Dehli.— Wilson's Hindu Sects.