Walking In The Footsteps Of Kabir

On her first visit to Varanasi, Radhika Tandon navigates the chaos of faith and finds traces of the city that once inspired the famous bard.

- Radhika Tandon

FLYING INTO VARANASI, my head filled with magazine-induced images of ash-smeared holy men and diyas floating on the river at dusk, I expect to land in another era. Instead, my first impression is of a dusty, chaotic, largely unremarkable northern town. Bicycles, bulls, and rickshaws jostle in a harrowing stream on narrow roads, accompanied by an almost overwhelming din. This is about as far from nirvana as I can imagine.

Along the riverbank, in the warren of alleys around the ghats, and in the peaceful lanes of Kabir Chaura, I begin to glimpse the Varanasi of my imaginings. In town for a music festival, I embark on a quest to find traces of the poet Kabir, who called this city home. The most outspoken figure of the Bhakti movement, the mystic and bard Kabir lived in Kashi (as Varanasi was once known) 500 years ago. His influence is casually pervasive in the city’s culture and conversation. As I saunter in the by-lanes of the modern Varanasi and learn more about the poet, the Kashi of lore seeps under my skin.

There are contradictory versions of Kabir’s origins. Historians disagree on his year of birth, though consensus is that he taught and wrote in the early 15th century. The story goes that he was born to an unwed Brahmin mother, who abandoned him beside a tank called Lahar Talao, after which he was raised by a Muslim family. Modern scholars dismiss these claims. It is likely that he was born into a Julaha family (one that converted to Islam only a generation or two before), which would explain his lack of knowledge of orthodox Islam and his familiarity with the tenets of Nathism, a Hindu sub-sect. Kabir followed no one religion. He was critical of both Hinduism and Islam, questioned the adherence of both to scripture and rituals, and was reviled for his views in his time. Yet, the various origin myths are believed to be efforts of both communities to claim him after his death.