22 A HISTORY OF HINDI LITERATURE the year 1425. On becoming a disciple of Ramananda he abdicated his sovereignty and became a mendicant. Dhand, the Jat, is said to have been born in 1415. Se7i was a barber at the court of the Raja of Rewah. Of these three disciples of Ramananda only a few hymns have been preserved in the Adi Grarith. Bhawa7ia7id, another disciple, is the reputed author of an explana- tion in Hindi of the Vedanta system of philosophy in fourteen chapters called the Amrit Dhar. Rai Das was the cha7nar disciple of Ramananda, and attained great celebrity as a devotee. More than thirty of his hymns have been preserved in the Adi Graiith. The following, in which he describes his relation to God, is a specimen : —
- If Thou art a hill, then I am Thy peacock ;
If Thou art the moon, then I am Thy chakor ; God, if Thou break not with me, I will not break with Thee ; If I break with Thee, whom shall I join ? If Thou art a lamp, then I am Thy wick ; If Thou art a place of pilgrimage, then I am Thy pilgrim. 1 have joined true love with Thee ; Joining Thee I have broken with all others. Wherever I go there is Thy service ; There is no other Lord like Thee, O God. By worshipping Thee Death's noose is cut away. Rav Das singeth to obtain Thy service."^ Kabir.— The greatest of the disciples of Ramananda, whether as a poet or a religious leader, was the Muhammadan weaver Kabir (1440-1518). According to legend he was really the son of a Brahman widov/, who, in order to conceal her shame, exposed the infant in the Lahar Tank near Benares, where it was dis- covered by Niru, the Muhammadan weaver, and his wife Nima, and brought up by them as their own child. Another version gives an entirely miraculous account of his birth. Even as a boy he is said to have given offence both to Hindus and Muhammadans. The former he angered by putting on a sacred cord though of low caste, and the latter by using Hindu names for God 1 Macauliffe, " The Sikh Religion," Vol. VI. p. 331.
