Is Kabir Anti-women? An Exploratory Study of Kabir’s Images among Kabirpanthi Women

Abstract

Kabir, the great north Indian saint-poet of the 15th-16th century is, scholars claim, a misogynist. These scholars often cite some anti-women verses from his manuscripts in support of their claim. In these verses, Kabir regards woman as an impediment to the spiritual advancement of man. On the other hand, Kabirpanth, a devotional sect based on the teachings of Kabir, continues to attract a large number of women followers to its fold. Many of these women followers have taken to singing and preaching verses of Kabir, spreading his message among the masses. The presence of a large number of women followers in Kabirpanth raises a whole of host of questions: Why do women choose to become followers of Kabir despite his being critical of them? How do they perceive Kabir? What is their response to anti-women verses attributed to Kabir? Does Kabirpanth try to project a women-friendly image of Kabir in order to attract women followers? How are women treated in Kabirpanth? The present paper, based on the fieldwork we conducted among Kabirpanthi women followers in parts of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar from 2016 to the early months of 2020, seeks to address some of these issues and shows how these women have negotiated with oppressive patriarchal power equations and carved space for themselves both within the Kabirpanth and outside.