Kathauti Mein Ganga — In Benaras with Kabir and Ravidas
Join Amit Basole for the second episode of this series, in which we explore how the histories of the values enshrined in our Constitution find resonance in the poetry of the Bhakti tradition
We journey to the ancient, timeless city of Varanasi, its ghats washed by the river Ganga, to find ourselves enmeshed in the warp and weft of Kabir’s verse. Kabir the weaver venerates the Almighty without question, but equally, he scorns the hollowness of rituals in society that clutter the path to this sacred union. His poetry is simple and accessible, yet pungent with wit and incisive with insight. And though provocative, it resounds with wisdom and truth of a kind that many of his contemporaries, even his detractors, dared not confront.
Within this city of brick and stone, which also goes by Benares and Kashi, is ensconced a place of dreams, a utopia where the working class is free and spared from taxation, and where society is not riven by caste or stigma. Begumpura (literally, a city without sorrow) is a realm in the imagination of another of Varanasi’s most illustrious sons — Ravidas the leather-worker. A famous parable, which engendered the phrase after which this episode is titled, goes that the saint-poet equated the water in his humble tanner’s bowl (kathauti) to the sacred waters of the Ganga.
Join Amit Basole for the second episode of this series, in which we explore how the histories of the values enshrined in our Constitution find resonance in the poetry of the Bhakti tradition.
Credits:
Akshay Ramuhalli, Atif Anwar, Bijoy Venugopal, Bruce Lee Mani, Narayan Krishnaswamy, Prashant Vasudevan, Riju R Krishna, Sananda Dasgupta, Seema Seth, Shraddha Gautam, Supriya Joshi and Velu Shankar
Further reading
Books:
Akath Kahani Premi Ki by Purushottam Agarwal | Amazon
Seeking Begumpura — The Social Vision of Anti-caste Intellectuals by Gail Omvedt | Internet Archive | Goodreads | Amazon
Kabir legends and Ananta-das’s Kabir Parachai by David Lorenzen (PDF) | Archive.org
Ramaini, Beejak of Kabir — Nawal Kishore Press (PDF) | Archive.org
Kashi Ka Itihas by Dr Motichandra (PDF) | Archive.org
Acknowledgements & YouTube resources:
Tera Mera Manwa | Kaluram Bamaniya | Kabir Project
Walking with Sunrise in Varanasi (Binaural Ambience Sounds) 4K ASMR
‘Koi Nahin Apna’ by Vishnu Khuprao Deshmukh
Soulful Kabir Bhajan | Kalaam-e-Kabir with Shabnam Virmani | Jashn-e-Rekhta
Chadariya Jhini re Jhini | Mukhtiayar Ali | Kabir Project
Kabir by Abida Parveen Popular Kabir Songs 2015
Bhala Hua Mori Matki Phuti | Farid Ayaz, Abu Muhammad Qawwal and Party
Interview with Farid Ayaz | Kabir Project
Documentary: Hans Akela — Kumar Gandharva
Kabir: Then and Now — Lecture by Purushottam Agarwal (video)
Ravidas Guru | Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan Qawwal and Party
Begumpura | Bhai Nirmal Singh Khalsa
Pravachan on Sant Ravidas (video)
YouTube Shorts
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/SLfcjvdDuhw
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/KFiA7Hnlp_Y