Kabir: The Articulator Par Excellence of Indigenous Indian Modernity

Kabir lives in legends which are numerous and demand history-rooted readings, considering the vibrant complexity of the time during which he lived and ‘spoke’. One such reading of the popular (one of the most popular, as even illiterate north Indians know it and love to recount it when the truth and falsity of denominational religious faith is under discussion) legend, about Kabir’s death in the year 1518 causing friction amongst his Hindu and Muslim disciples on the question of his last rites, contradicts the builtup image of Kabir as a stand-alone ultra-revolutionary religious reformer fighting a losing battle against the religious and cultural practices of a ‘medieval’ society frozen in time. The Hindus, who insisted on cremation, were led by Raja Virsingh Baghel; and the Muslims, who wanted burial, were led by Nawab Bijli Khan. When these two members of the then feudal families from Kashi and Magahar are historically juxtaposed with Raja Pipa of Rajasthan and Brahmin Suratigopal from southern India, one gets what may be called the real ‘mainstream’ Kabir.