A Column That Does Not Exist: The Ravidassia Demand Before Census 2027
Summary
Thousands of members of the Ravidassia community gathered at Phagwara in Punjab to renew a long-standing demand: a distinct 'Ravidassia religion' category in the Census of 2027.
●The community follows Guru Ravidas, a saint-poet of the North Indian Bhakti movement who lived between the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries, was born near Varanasi into a family of cobblers and tanners belonging to a caste historically subjected to untouchability, and preached the equality of caste and class — articulating the vision of Begampura, a city without sorrow, fear or discrimination.
●The community is concentrated in Punjab's Doaba region, across Jalandhar, Kapurthala, Hoshiarpur and Nawanshahr, with a principal sacred site at Goverdhanpur in Varanasi.
●The assertion of a separate religious identity accelerated in 2010, when the Dera Sachkhand Ballan severed its long association with Sikhism and declared a distinct Ravidassia religion — a step precipitated by an attack on a Ravidassia congregation in Vienna in May 2009 in which the senior spiritual leader Sant Ramanand was killed.
●The community argues that it now possesses its own scripture, places of worship, symbols and practices, but no corresponding option on the enumeration form.
Guru Ravidas was a saint-poet of the North Indian Bhakti movement, generally placed between the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries, born near Varanasi into a family of cobblers and tanners belonging to a caste historically subjected to untouchability.
●He rejected caste hierarchy and ritual formalism, followed the nirguna (formless, abstract) rather than saguna (image-based) devotional path, and articulated the vision of Begampura — literally a city without sorrow, imagined as a place free of fear, taxation and discrimination, and read by scholars as one of the earliest utopias in Indian thought composed from below.
●Forty of his hymns are included in the Guru Granth Sahib; the Ravidassia community's own scripture is the Amrit Bani of Guru Ravidas, comprising about 200 hymns.
●The community is concentrated in Punjab's Doaba region — Jalandhar, Kapurthala, Hoshiarpur and Nawanshahr — with its principal sacred site at Goverdhanpur in Varanasi, the saint's reputed birthplace.
●Institutional separation crystallised in 2010, when the Dera Sachkhand Ballan declared a distinct Ravidassia religion, following an attack on a Ravidassia congregation in Vienna in May 2009 in which Sant Ramanand was killed.
●In the Census, religion is recorded by enumeration; six religions have dedicated codes, while others are recorded under 'other religions and persuasions'.
The demand is not for a new identity but for the schedule to record one that already has a scripture, shrines and a separation dated to 2010.
◎ In Simple Words
The Ravidassias follow Guru Ravidas, a saint who lived several centuries ago and taught that caste should not divide people. He himself came from a community treated as untouchable. Most Ravidassias live in a part of Punjab called Doaba. In 2010 their main religious centre declared itself a separate religion, no longer part of Sikhism. They now have their own holy book, temples and symbols — but when the government counts the population, there is no box for 'Ravidassia'. So they are recorded as something else. They want that changed before the next Census in 2027.
Factual Pointers
Practice · 2 questions
With reference to Guru Ravidas, consider the following statements:
1. He was a saint-poet associated with the Bhakti movement in North India.
2. He followed the nirguna tradition of devotion to a formless divine.
3. His hymns are included in the Guru Granth Sahib.
Which of the statements given above are correct?
The term 'Begampura', associated with Guru Ravidas, refers to:
Social Justice & Inclusion
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