Kabir and the Avatars

Authors

  • David N. Lorenzen Colegio de México

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.13135/1825-263X/5783

Abstract

The Indian religious poet Kabir (d. ca. 1518) often referred to his God using Vaishnava names, names that refer to the Hindu god Vishnu. Kabir also uses names for God that are not specific to Vishnu and even uses Muslim names. Vishnu is said to have been incarnated in several earthly avatars. The most important are Krishna and king Ramachandra. A traditional list names ten avatars. Kabir often refers to these earthly avatars, but he minimizes their importance in various ways such as emphasizing the fact that they all died. Most modern scholars have taken Kabir’s use of Vaishnava vocabulary to identify him as a Vaishnava, albeit an unorthodox one. Kabir’s rejection of the avatars and his focus on a supreme God without form or personality tends to put this identification in doubt.

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Author Biography

David N. Lorenzen, Colegio de México

David N. Lorenzen is an emeritus professor in El Colegio de México, a government sponsored research institute and college in Mexico City. Most of his published research has been on the history of religious movements in India. Some of his publications are listed in the bibliography here. A full curriculum and publication list are available on the internet site academia.edu.

He can be reached at: lorenzen@colmex.mx

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Published

2021-04-28

Issue

Vol. 25 No. 1 (2021): Kervan

Section

Articles

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