9. Statistics of the sect.
About 600,000 Kabīrpanthis were returned in the Central Provinces in 1911, this being equivalent to an increase of 19 per cent since the previous census. As this was less than the increase in the total population the sect appears to be stationary or declining in numbers. The weaving castes are usually Kabīrpanthis, because Kabīr was a weaver. The Brāhmans call it ‘The weaver’s religion.’ Of the Panka caste 84 per cent were returned as members of the sect, and this caste appears to be of sectarian formation, consisting of Pāns or Gāndas who have become Kabīrpanthis. Other weaving castes such as Balāhis, Koris, Koshtis and Mahārs belong to the sect in considerable numbers, and it is also largely professed by other low castes as the Telis or oilmen, of whom 16 per cent adhere to it, and by Dhobis and Chamārs; and by some castes from whom a Brāhman will take water, as the Ahīrs, Kurmis, Lodhis and Kāchhis. Though there seems little doubt that one of the principal aims of Kabīr’s preaching was the abolition of the social tyranny of the caste system, which is the most real and to the lower classes the most hateful and burdensome feature of Hinduism, yet as in the case of so many other reformers his crusade has failed, and a man who becomes a Kabīrpanthi does not cease to be a member of his caste or to conform to its observances. And a few Brāhmans who have been converted, though renounced by their own caste, have, it is said, been compensated by receiving high posts in the hierarchy of the sect. Formerly all members of the sect took food together at the conclusion of each Chauka or service conducted by a Mahant. But this is no longer the case, and presumably different Chaukas are now held for communities of different castes. Only on the 13th day of Bhādon (August), which was the birthday of Kabīr, as many Kabīrpanthis as can meet at the headquarters of the Guru take food together without distinction of caste in memory of their Founder’s doctrine. Otherwise the Kabīrpanthis of each caste make a separate group within it, but among the lower castes they take food and marry with members of the caste who are not Kabīrpanthis. These latter are commonly known as Saktāha, a term which in Chhattīsgarh signifies an eater of meat as opposed to a Kabīrpanthi who refrains from it. The Mahārs and Pankas permit intermarriage between Kabīrpanthi and Saktāha families, the wife in each case adopting the customs and beliefs of her husband. Kabīrpanthis also wear the choti or scalp-lock and shave the head for the death of a relative, in spite of Kabīr’s contempt of the custom. Still, the sect has in the past afforded to the uneducated classes a somewhat higher ideal of spiritual life than the chaotic medley of primitive superstitions and beliefs in witchcraft and devil worship, from which the Brāhmans, caring only for the recognition of their social supremacy, made no attempt to raise them.
[1] Westcott, Op. cit. p. 3.
[2] Op. cit. p. 12.
[3] Kabīr and the Kabīrpanth, pp. 115 and 116.
[4] Raipur District.
[5] The description of the Chauka service is mainly taken from Bishop Westcott’s full and detailed account.
[6] Ficus glomerata.