Hugh Mann at 19:08, 29 March 2024

2024-03-29T19:08:16Z

New page

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2017}}
{{Use Indian English|date=April 2017}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Bhagat Pipa Ji
| image =
| caption = Saint Pipa ji Maharaj <br> ([[Ramanandi Sampradaya|Ramanandi Saint]] & king of [[Gagron Fort|Gagraun garh]] )
| other_names = Raja Pipaji
Pratap Singh (childhood name)
Rao Pipa, Sardar Pipa
Sant Pipaji
Pipa Bairagi
Pipanand Acharya
| Guru = Swami [[Ramananda]]
| spouse = Rani Sita
| children = Raja Dwarkanath
| birth_date = 5 April 1425
| death_date = Unknown (~early 15th century)<ref name=ronald/>
| birth_place = Gagaraungarh, Jhalawar, Rajasthan, India
| occupation = Ruler of Gagaraungarh
| death_place =
| known_for = Being the first Bhakti movement saint from Rajasthan
Darji community's worship Saint Pipa (Pipa Kshatriya Samaj)
Influencing Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhism
His hymns included in the Guru Granth Sahib
|honorific suffix=Sant|native_name=ਭਗਤ ਪੀਪਾ|monuments=Samdari Village, Barmer|Guru=Ramananda}}
'''Bhagat Pipa''', also known as '''Pratap Singh Raja Pipaji''', '''Rao Pipa''', '''Sardar Pipa''', '''Sant Pipaji''', '''Pipa Bairagi''' or '''Pipanand Acharya''',{{Citation needed|date=July 2015}} was a [[Rajput]] King of Gagaraungarh who abdicated the throne to become a Hindu [[mysticism|mystic]] poet and saint of the [[Bhakti movement]].<ref name=johnhawleypipa>John Stratton Hawley (1987), Three Hindu Saints in ''Saints and Virtues'', University of California Press, {{ISBN|978-0520061637}}, pages 63-66, 53-54</ref><ref>Max Arthur Macauliffe, The Sikh Religion: Its Gurus, Sacred Writings and Authors, Volume 6, Cambridge University Press, pages 111-119</ref> He was born in the [[Malwa]] region of North [[India]] (east [[Rajasthan]]) in approximately AD 1425.<ref name="searchgurbani.com">https://www.searchgurbani.com/bhagats/bhagat-pipa</ref>

Pipa's exact date of birth and death are unknown, but it is believed that he lived in the late fourteenth and early fifteenth century.<ref name=ronald/><ref name=jamespipa>James Lochtefeld, "Pipa", The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Vol. 2: N–Z, Rosen Publishing. {{ISBN|978-0823931798}}, page 511</ref><ref name=nirmal/> Born into a warrior class and royal family, Pipa is described as an early [[Shaivism]] (Shiva) and [[Sakta]] (Durga) follower. Thereafter, he adopted [[Vaishnav]]ism as a disciple of [[Ramananda]], and later preached Nirguni (god without attributes) beliefs of life.<ref name="Lorenzen"/><ref name=ronald/> Bhagat Pipa is considered one of the earliest influential [[Sant (religion)|sant]]s of the Bhakti movement in 15th century northern India.<ref name="Lorenzen"/>

==Life==
{{Sikhism sidebar}}
[[File:Saint Kabir with Namdeva, Raidas and Pipaji. Jaipur, early 19century, National Museum New Delhi (2).jpg|thumb|Pipa (rightmost) with other Bhagats of Hinduism/Sikhism, Ravidas, Kabir and Namdev.]]
Pipa was born into a Rajput royal family at [[Gagron Fort|Gagaron]], in the present-day [[Jhalawar district]] of [[Rajasthan]]. He became the king of Gagaraungarh.<ref name=johnhawleypipa/> Pipa worshipped the Hindu goddess Durga [[Bhavani]] and kept her idol in a temple within his palace.<ref name="searchgurbani.com"/> While Pipa was the king Gagaraungarh, he abdicated and became a '[[sanyasi]]' and accepted [[Ramananda]] as his ''guru.'' He then joined Ramananda's [[Vaishnavism]] Bhakti, a movement with a strong monist emphasis based out of [[Varanasi]].<ref name="Lorenzen"/><ref name=ronald>Ronald McGregor (1984), Hindi literature from its beginnings to the 19th century, Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, {{ISBN|978-3447024136}}, pages 42-44</ref>

According to [[Bhaktamal]], a Bhakti movement hagiography, his wife, Sita, stayed with him before and after his abdication when he became a wandering monk.<ref name=nirmal/><ref>Winnand Callewaert (2000), The Hagiographies of Anantadas: The Bhakti Poets of North India, Routledge, {{ISBN|978-0700713318}}, pages 277-278</ref> The hagiography mentions many episodes of his [[sannyasa]] life, such as one where robbers tried to steal his buffalo that provided milk to his companions. When he stumbled into the robbery in progress, he began helping the robbers and suggested that they should take the calf.<ref name=winnand285>Winnand Callewaert (2000), The Hagiographies of Anantadas: The Bhakti Poets of North India, Routledge, {{ISBN|978-0700713318}}, page 285</ref> The robbers were so touched that they abandoned their ways and became Pipa's disciples.<ref name=winnand285/>

In his later life, Bhagat Pipa, as with several other disciples of Ramananda such as [[Kabir]] and [[Dadu Dayal]], shifted his devotional worship from ''saguni'' Vishnu avatar ([[Dvaita]], dualism) to ''nirguni'' ([[Advaita]], monism) god, that is, from god with attributes to god without attributes.<ref name="Winnand"/>{{sfn|Michaels|2004|pp=252-256}}
According to the records found with local bards, 52 Rajput chiefs from clans of Gohil, Chauhan, Dahiya, Chavada, Dabhi, Makwana(Jhala), Rakhecha, Bhati, Parmar, Tanwar, Solanki, Parihar, resigned from their ranks & offices, gave up alcohol, meat & violence; dedicating their lives to the teachings of their Guru & former King.
His date of birth and death is unknown, but the traditional genealogy in Bhakti hagiography suggests he died in 1400 CE.<ref name=ronald/>

==Key teachings and influence==
Pipa taught that God is within one's own self, and that true worship is to look within and have reverence for God in each human being.<ref name=nirmal/>

{{Blockquote|
<poem>
Within the body is the god, within the body is the temple,
within the body is all the Jangamas<ref>A term in Shaiva Hindu religiosity, referring to an individual who is always on the go, seeking, learning</ref>
within the body the incense, the lamps, and the food-offerings,
within the body is the [[Puja (Hinduism)|puja]]-leaves.

After searching so many lands,
I found the nine treasures within my body,
Now there will be no further going and coming,
I swear by [[Rama]].
</poem>
|Sant Pipa, Gu dhanasari|Translated by Vaudeville<ref name="Winnand"/>}}

He shared same views as Guru Nanak, the founder of [[Sikhism]], and Bhagat Pipa's hymns are included in the [[Guru Granth Sahib]].<ref name=jamespipa/><ref name=nirmal>Nirmal Dass (2000), Songs of the Saints from the Adi Granth, State University of New York Press, {{ISBN|978-0791446836}}, pages 181-184</ref>

== In popular culture ==
''Shri Krishna Bhakta Peepaji'' (1923) by [[Shree Nath Patankar]], ''Bhakt Peepaji'' (1980) by Dinesh Rawal are Indian films about the legends of the saint.<ref name="RajadhyakshaWillemen1999">{{cite book|last1=Rajadhyaksha|first1=Ashish|last2=Willemen|first2=Paul|title=Encyclopaedia of Indian cinema|url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopaediaofi0000raja|url-access=registration|accessdate=12 August 2012|year=1999|publisher=British Film Institute|isbn=9780851706696}}</ref>

== References ==
{{Reflist|refs=
<ref name="Lorenzen">[[David Lorenzen]], who founded the Hinduism: Essays on Religion in History, {{ISBN|978-8190227261}}, pages 116-118</ref>
<ref name="Winnand">Winnand Callewaert (2000), The Hagiographies of Anantadas: The Bhakti Poets of North India, Routledge, {{ISBN|978-0700713318}}, page 292</ref>
}}

==Further reading==
* {{citation |last1=Michaels |first1=Alex |title= Hinduism: Past and Present |edition=English translation of the book first published in Germany under the title Der Hinduismus: Geschichte und Gegenwart (Verlag, 1998) |year=2004 |publisher= Princeton University Press |location=Princeton }}
*''Encyclopedia of Sikhism'' by Harbans Singh. Published by Punjabi University, Patiala

==External links==
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ScUnbpB7dQ Exegesis of Bani of Bhagat Pipa - Dharam Singh Nihang Singh]
<br />
{{Writers of Guru Granth Sahib}}
{{Hindudharma}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pipa, Bhagat}}
[[Category:1420s births]]
[[Category:Year of death missing]]
[[Category:Medieval Hindu religious leaders]]
[[Category:Vaishnava saints]]
[[Category:Rajasthani people]]
[[Category:Sikh Bhagats]]
[[Category:People from Jhalawar district]]
[[Category:Writers from Varanasi]]
[[Category:Scholars from Varanasi]]
[[Category:15th-century Indian poets]]
[[Category:Poets from Uttar Pradesh]]
[[Category:15th-century Indian philosophers]]

Bhagat Pipa - Revision history

Hugh Mann at 19:08, 29 March 2024