Message from Kabir land: ‘Being ‘kattar’ to one’s religion is good’

“Saheb Bandagi”. A woman devotee greets Sant Ram Saran Das even as she bends to touch his feet. He stops her midway and gently repeats the two words. This unique salutation at this small temple in this part of UP, just 110 km from Ayodhya and 30 km from Gorakhpur, arrests one’s attention. But this is not just another temple. ‘Saheb’ here is this holy site’s ‘presiding deity’ -- Kabir, whose ‘samadhi’ it houses since his demise in 1518.

The same salutation can be heard a few paces away at another holy structure on this campus on NH 27, connecting Lucknow and Gorakhpur. It has Kabir’s ‘mazaar’ (grave) having a peaceful co-existence with his adjacent ‘samadhi’ for the past 500 years. It celebrates the 15th century saint’s life in their own way, without conflict. The campus came into the present form in the 19th century. Now, the outer walls of the campus have Kabir’s couplets (dohe) written on them.

Voice Of Sanity
“It’s annual urs at the mazaar held on 27 Rajab every year. This year, it fell on March 1,” says Khadim Husain Ansari, the caretaker of ‘Kabir Saheb Ka Mazaar’. He belongs to the family of Ali Bijli Shah, who, he claims, brought Kabir from Kashi, where he spent his entire life, to Maghar, where he passed away.

It was said then that those who die in Kashi go to heaven while those who breathe their last in Maghar go to hell. A reformer, Kabir came to Maghar in his last years to explode the myth. But was there a dispute over his last rites between his Hindu and Muslim followers which resulted in the construction of a mazaar and a samadhi side by side? Ansari doesn’t confirm it, nor deny it, but makes sure to add “now there is no dispute.”

“Followers of Kabir are all over the world. They come in droves on special occasions here,” he says. The mazaar holds annual urs, the temple celebrates Kabir Festival in January and Kabir Jayanti in the Hindi month of Jyeshtha. PM Narendra Modi came here in June 2018 on the occasion of Kabir’s 500th death anniversary. Two Presidents -- APJ Abdul Kalam and Ram Nath Kovind -- have also visited this Kabir Sthal.

Everyday, hundreds of devotees visit both the mazaar and samadhi. Just like Kabir’s teachings and verses, the rituals here are very simple. “People come here to offer ‘chadar’ at the mazaar,” says Anasri. “At the temple, it’s Chauka aarti in the morning and then we recite Kabir’s bhajans and perform aarti,” says Das.

They may have different sets of rituals and celebrations but both Ansari and Das are Kabir Panthis. Just like over 4 crore ‘Kabir Panthis’ across the world, they have imbibed the teachings of Kabir that guides one to aspire for ‘Satogun’ (purity and goodness). Both Ansari and Das abstain from ‘maans-madira’ (non-vegetarian food and liquor). “This is the way of life our generations have followed,” Ansari says.

“The villages around Kabir Chaura in Maghar have almost 50:50 Hindu-Muslim population but we have never witnessed any conflict, not even during elections when the atmosphere remains so surcharged,” Ansari says.

It’s Poll Time
The Lok Sabha constituency named after Kabir comprises parts of three districts -- Ambedkarnagar, Sant Kabir Nagar and Gorakhpur, and came into existence in 2009 after the delimitation exercise. Here, sitting MP Praveen Nishad, the son of Nishad party chief, is facing a tough contest from fellow casteman Laxmi Kant alias Pappu Nishad of SP. Nadeem Ashraf is BSP’s nominee.

Laxmi Kant is a former SP MLA who won from Mehdawal in 2012 and was appointed a minister in the Akhilesh govt. However, he was denied a ticket in both 2017 and 2022 state polls. Akhilesh, however, has reposed his faith in him to wrest the seat which SP has never won in the past. In 2019, Praveen Nishad defeated SP-BSP combine’s Bhishm Shankar Tiwari, the son of Gorakhpur strongman Harishankar Tiwari, by just 10,000 votes. Tiwari had won the seat in 2009. A battle of two Nishads this time is heading to the wire. In neighbouring Basti, sitting MP Harish Dwivedi is up against a formidable challenge from familiar rival and veteran Ram Prasad Chaudhary, who had won the erstwhile Khalilabad parliamentary seat in 1989 on a Janta Party ticket. Thereafter, he won the Kaptanganj assembly seat five times in a row between 1993 and 2017, first time on an SP ticket and then as a BSP candidate. He also served as a minister in Mayawati govt. In 2019, he was a candidate of SP-BSP alliance against Dwivedi and polled just 30,000 less votes than him. Just after the 2019 polls, Mayawati sacked him for anti-party activities and he joined SP.

Ask Anasri about the present MP and his prospects, and he fondly goes down the memory lane, recalling former MP Sharad Tripathi, who served the constituency between 2014 and 2019. He passed away in 2021 after prolonged illness. “He was a people’s man. Had he been a candidate, I would have campaigned for him,” he says.

Message From Kabir Land
“In UP, voting on the communal lines is very common. On what lines does Maghar vote?” “We don’t vote for any party, but the personality,” says Ansari. Das, sitting just 50 metres away at the temple, echoes the sentiments.

Then, on a cue, Ansari goes on “Nowadays we see a distorted form of ‘kattarta’ (fanaticism). We call a person ‘kattar’ Hindu or ‘kattar’ Muslim to decry them. Agar koi apne dharm ke prati kattar ho jaye to insan ban jaaye (If one becomes devoted to one’s religion one will become a true human being) because no religion teaches hate.”
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