“Learning, reading, recitation, the ancient books are all corrupt…” (Dharwadker, 2003) This saying, attributed to the 15th century Indian poet-saint named Kabir, would seem to throw a cloud over all academic ventures, not least of the entire research trip I am currently engaged in. But rather than spending all of my time in India in ancient archives, I am trying to discover how modern members of the Kabir Panth (a sect in North India devoted to the saint) view the central figure in their tradition. People have been telling stories and writing books about Kabir since before he died. However, I argue that when someone says or writes “Kabir said…” or “Kabir did…” it is not just a narration of a story or moral, but it is intimately intertwined with relationships of class and power. I am trying to discover how modern devotees of Kabir view him, what sort of ‘Kabir’ they construct, and for what purposes. I intend to find out how the stamp of Kabir’s name and authority is applied today by members of his following.
Varanasi was the city where Kabir lived and preached; today it is the home of the largest Kabir Panth center in India, the Kabir Chaura Math. I have spent the first two months in Varanasi acclimatizing myself to the routines in and around the Math. I will soon begin to conduct formal interviews with local members of the lay and monastic community. I am trying to speak with as wide a range of people as possible; pilgrims from faraway places and locals, regular attendees and festival-goers, people who work at the Math and people who beg there, and people who have never been to the Math but may live or work nearby. I aim to find out the social, economic, and religious backgrounds of those who come, as well as their motivations for coming. Do they feel devotion, duty, inspiration, or something else? Why do they think Kabir warrants such feelings and actions?
My wife and I are also currently planning a month-long trip around Rajasthan and Gujarat to visit other, smaller Kabir Panth centers there. After the Fulbright Conference in Jaipur, we’ll head south to Jodhpur, Ahmadabad, Baroda, Jamnagar, and Mumbai. Once we return to Varanasi, I also plan to visit other places of worship unrelated to the Kabir Panth; I want to know what sort of Kabir is presented in Hindu temples, Muslim mosques, Sikh gurudwaras, and anywhere else I can find. I want to find as many different images of Kabir as I can, along with reasons that people might present the saint in such different ways. This research will be combined with some previous historical work I have done when I return to the U.S. and used for my Master’s thesis, as well as possible publication later on.
