247. Rai Das: 15th Century

Rai Das also known as Ravi Das probably lived in 15th century but not much is known about him. Tradition hold it that he was a tanner by profession and hence occupied a very low position in the caste hierarchy as the members of this caste handled dead animals. 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. While objecting to the notion that caste plays a fundamental role in an individual’s relationship to God, Ravidas contrasted his own lowliness to the exalted place of the divine: God, he said, was finer than he, as silk was to a worm, and more fragrant than he, as sandalwood was to the stinking castor oil plant. In relation to God, all persons, no matter what their castes, are “untouchables,” and “A family that has a true follower of the Lord is neither high caste nor low caste, lordly nor poor.” Ravidas’s charisma and reputation were such that Brahmans (members of the priestly class) were said to have bowed before him. His songs are filled with reference to his despised occupation but along with this is an expression of gratitude that one so lowly has been given the power to teach others including the proud Brahmins, the true path.