Guru Ghasidas
- Taught truth and noble conduct are synonymous with God.
- Worked to eliminate untouchability, emphasized fraternity, social harmony, and women’s rights, and supported widow remarriage.
- Preached ethical and dietary self-restraint and connected with the Kabir Panth.
- A huge mob from the Satnami community set fire to the Superintendent of Police (SP) office building in Baloda Bazar district of Chhattisgarh over police’s handling of a case involving the desecration of a Jaitkhamb, a structure of sacred importance to the Satnamis, in Giraudpuri village last month.
- Unidentified persons vandalised the jaitkhamb near the Amar Gufa in Giraudpuri Dham.
- Giraudpuri is the birthplace of Guru Ghasidas, a 19th-century saint considered to be the founder of the Satnami sect in Chhattisgarh.
- Satnami Sect –
- Satnamis initially comprised mendicants and householders, who defied Mughal emperor Aurangzeb in 1672 but were crushed by his army.
- Ghasidas founded the most significant group of Satnamis in Chhattisgarh.
- Ghasidas was a farm servant from the Chamar caste (Dalit, formerly leather tanners, now farmers).
- “Path of the True Name” provided a religious and social identity to Chhattisgarhi Chamars.
- It defied derogatory treatment of the oppressed and exclusion from Hindu temples.
Dig Deeper: Read about Guru Ghasidas National Park.
