Ravidassias Community

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    The postponement of the Assembly elections in Punjab to February 20 underlines the importance of the Ravidassia community in the state. 

    Image Courtesy:IE

     

    Who are the Ravidassias?

    • The Ravidassias are a Dalit community of whom the bulk — nearly 12 lakhs — live in the Doaba region. 
    • The Dera Sachkhand Ballan, their largest dera with 20 lakh followers worldwide, was founded in the early 20th century by Baba Sant Pipal Das.
      • From 2010, the Dera Sachkhand Ballan started replacing the Guru Granth Sahib with its own Granth, Amritbani, carrying 200 hymns of Guru Ravidas, in Ravidassia temples and gurdwaras.

    Guru Ravidas

    • He was a mystic poet-saint of the Bhakti Movement from the 15th and 16th centuries and founded the Ravidassia religion. 
    • Ravidas was born in Varanasi as a member of an untouchable leather-working caste, and his poems and songs often revolve around his low social position.
      • Some 40 of the poems attributed to Ravidas were included in the Adi Granth (“First Volume”), the sacred scripture of Sikhism.

    Source: IE

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