Ravidas, also known as Raidas, Sant Ravidas and Guru Ravidas, was a poet-saint of the Bhakti movement who lived in Varanasi in about the 15th and early 16th centuries. Born into a leather-working family of a caste then treated as untouchable, he taught devotion to a formless God and the equality of all people. About forty of his hymns are included in the Guru Granth Sahib, the Sikh scripture. He is honoured by Hindus, by Sikhs and by the Ravidassia community, which since 2010 has described itself as a separate religion; this page sets out those traditions side by side.

Key facts
LivedAbout the 15th and early 16th centuries (exact dates are not known)
PlaceVaranasi; tradition names Seer Govardhanpur as his birthplace
FamilyLeather workers (Chamar caste), as his own hymns say
LanguageSant Bhasha, an early form of Hindi used by the North Indian saint-poets
WorksAbout 40 hymns in the Guru Granth Sahib; other songs in Rajasthani and Hindi collections
Known forNirguna bhakti (devotion to God without form); the vision of Begampura, a city without sorrow
Remembered onRavidas Jayanti, Magh Purnima (January or February)

Life

Little about Ravidas's life can be fixed with certainty. Later hagiographies, such as Anantadas's Raidas Parchai (about 1600), tell of his life in Varanasi, his work as a shoemaker, and his devotion. Tradition makes him a contemporary of Kabir, and the Rajasthani poet-saint Mirabai is said in several traditions to have regarded him as her guru. Scholars treat these links as tradition rather than established fact.

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His own hymns are the surest evidence. In one hymn in Raag Malar in the Guru Granth Sahib (Ang 1293), he says his family worked with leather and carried dead cattle around Benares, and that the Brahmins of the city now bow before him because he has taken refuge in God's name. He did not hide his birth; he made it part of his message that devotion, not caste, gives a person worth.

Caste in his time

In the Varanasi of his day, people of leather-working castes were treated as ritually polluting, kept apart from others and excluded from temples and learning. Ravidas's hymns speak directly about this exclusion. His life and words became, centuries later, a source of pride and of organised movements for dignity among communities that had faced caste discrimination, especially in Punjab and Uttar Pradesh.

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His hymns and the Begampura vision

Ravidas sang of a God without form, reached through love and the remembrance of the divine name rather than ritual. About forty of his compositions were included by Guru Arjan in the Adi Granth (1604), which became the Guru Granth Sahib.

The best known is the Begampura hymn, in Raag Gauri (Ang 345). Ravidas describes Begampura, "the city without sorrow": a place without suffering or anxiety, without taxes or fear, where no one is ranked second or third, and where people go where they please. It is read as a picture of the spiritual home of the devotee and also as a vision of a society without caste. An English translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa is on srigranth.org with the original text.

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One saint, several traditions

  • Hindu traditions honour him as Sant Ravidas or Raidas, one of the great saints of North Indian bhakti, and his songs are sung in Hindu devotional gatherings.
  • Sikhs honour him as Bhagat Ravidas, one of the bhagats (devotees outside the line of the Sikh Gurus) whose hymns are in the Guru Granth Sahib.
  • The Ravidassia community. Many followers in Punjab and abroad, organised around deras such as Dera Sachkhand Ballan near Jalandhar, revere him as Guru. After an attack on a Ravidassia congregation in Vienna in May 2009 in which Sant Ramanand was killed, Dera Sachkhand Ballan declared a separate Ravidassia religion in January 2010, with its own scripture, the Amritbani, made up of hymns of Guru Ravidas. Not all followers of Ravidas joined that step, and some continue to identify as Sikh or Hindu. Ravidassia leaders have asked for a separate religion category in India's census.
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HinduTone includes Ravidas in its Famous Hindus section because Hindus widely honour him as a bhakti saint. That is not a claim that he belongs only to Hindus: the Ravidassia religion, and Sikhs, honour him in their own ways, and their self-descriptions are given above as they state them.

Remembrance

Ravidas Jayanti falls on Magh Purnima, the full moon of Magha (January or February). The largest gathering is at the Shri Guru Ravidas Janam Asthan temple at Seer Govardhanpur in Varanasi, where pilgrims, many from Punjab, gather each year. Gurdwaras and Ravidassia temples hold kirtan and processions.

Frequently asked questions

Who was Guru Ravidas?

A Bhakti poet-saint of Varanasi in about the 15th and early 16th centuries, born into a leather-working family, who taught devotion to a formless God and the equality of all people.

How many hymns of Ravidas are in the Guru Granth Sahib?

About forty.

What is Begampura?

The "city without sorrow" of Ravidas's hymn in Raag Gauri (Guru Granth Sahib, Ang 345): a place without suffering, taxes, fear or rank.

What is the Ravidassia religion?

A religion declared by Dera Sachkhand Ballan in January 2010, with the Amritbani of Guru Ravidas as its scripture. Not all followers of Ravidas belong to it.

When is Ravidas Jayanti?

On Magh Purnima, the full moon of the month of Magha.

Sources

  • Sri Guru Granth Sahib, Raag Gauri, Ang 345 (Begampura) and Raag Malar, Ang 1293, original text with English translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa, srigranth.org.
  • Winand M. Callewaert and Peter G. Friedlander, The Life and Works of Raidas (Manohar, 1992).
  • Outlook India, "Why Ravidassias Want A Separate Religion In The Census, And Why It Matters" (15 July 2026).
  • The Wire, "Dera Ballan sect head writes to Modi, seeks separate Ravidassia Dalit identity".

Last reviewed: 12 November 2026.

Related: Famous Hindus · Mirabai · Tulsidas · Surdas