Garibdas

(early 18th c.) Founder of the Garibdasi
religious community. Garibdas was born
in the Rohtak district in what is now the
state of Haryana. Garibdas did not have
a human guru. Instead, he claimed to
have received his religious initiation
from the poet-saint Kabir, who
appeared to him in a dream. Garibdas
was a householder, as were his immediate disciples. Under one of their later
leaders the Garibdasis renounced their
possessions and became an ascetic
community. Garibdas preached and
taught on a number of subjects and was
a well-respected and influential religious reformer.