Editing Kabir (section)

==Early life and background==
The years of Kabir's birth and death are uncertain.{{sfn|Lorenzen|1991|pp=12-18}}{{sfn|Dass|1991|p=14}} Some historians favor 1398–1448 as the period Kabir lived,{{sfn|Hess|Singh|2002}}{{sfn|Dass|1991|p=5}} while others favor 1440–1518.<ref name=britannicakabir/><ref name=lorenzen06>{{cite book |last=Lorenzen |first=David N. |title=Who invented Hinduism?: essays on religion in history |year=2006 |publisher=Yoda Press |location=New Delhi |isbn=8190227262 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SO-YmMWpcVEC}}</ref>{{sfn|Dass|1991|p=106}} Generally, Kabir is believed to have been born in [[iarchive:in.gov.ignca.46892/page/n15|1398 (Samvat 1455)]],<ref name="Machwe_1968">{{cite book
 | last = Machwe
 | first = Prabhakar
 | author-link =
 | title = Kabir
 | publisher = Sahitya Akademi
 | series =
 | volume =
 | edition =
 | date = 1968 
 | location = New Delhi
 | pages = 14–15
 | language =
 | url = http://archive.org/details/in.gov.ignca.46892/page/n15/mode/2up
 | doi =
 | id =
 | isbn =
 | mr =
 | zbl =
 | jfm = }}</ref>{{Rp|14–15}} on the full moon day of [[Jyeshtha (month)|Jyeshtha month]] (according to the historical Hindu calendar [[Vikram Samvat]]) at the time of [[Brahmamuhurtha|Brahmamuharta]]. There is a considerable scholarly debate on the circumstances surrounding Kabir's birth. Many followers of Kabir believe that he came from ''Satloka'' by assuming the body of light, and incarnated on a lotus flower and claim that the rishi Ashtanand was the direct witness of this incident, who himself appeared on a lotus flower in the [[Lahartara Pond]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kabir |first=15th cent |url=https://archive.org/details/bijakofkabirtran00kabiuoft/page/3/mode/1up |title=The Bijak of Kabir; translated into English |last2=Ahmad Shah |date=1917 |publisher=Hamirpur, U.P |others=Robarts - University of Toronto}}</ref> 

A few accounts mention that Kabir, in the form of in infant, was found at Lahartara Lake by a Muslim weaver named Niru and his wife Nima, who raised him as their child.{{sfn|Lorenzen|1991|p=7}}

Kabir is believed to have become one of the many disciples of the Bhakti poet-saint Swami [[Ramananda]] in Varanasi, known for devotional [[Vaishnavism]] with a strong bent to [[monism|monist]] [[Advaita Vedanta|Advaita]] philosophy teaching that God was inside every person and everything.{{sfn|Tinker|1990|p=[https://archive.org/details/southasiashorthi0000tink/page/75 75]–77}}{{sfn|Pande|2010|p=77}}{{sfn|McGregor|1984|pp=43–44}} Early texts about his life place him with Vaishnava tradition of Hinduism as well as the Sufi tradition of Islam.{{sfb|Rizvi|1983|p=412|loc= "The author of the ''Dabistan-i Mazahib'' placed Kabir against the background of the legends of the Vaishnavite ''vairagis'' (mendicants) with whom he was identified, but a contemporary of his, Shaikh 'Abdu'r-Rahman Chisti, combined both the ''Bairagi'' and the ''muwwahid'' traditions about Kabir in his ''Mir'atu'l-asrar'' and also made him a Firdaussiya Sufi."}} According to Irfan Habib, the two manuscript versions of the Persian text ''[[Dabestan-e Mazaheb]]'' are the earliest known texts with biographical information about Kabir.<ref name=ihabib>{{cite journal|author = Irfan Habib| title= A Fragmentary Exploration of an Indian Text on Religions and Sects: Notes on the Earlier Version of the Dabistan-i-Mazahib| journal= Proceedings of the Indian History Congress| volume=61| year=2001| pages= 479–480| jstor= 44148125}}</ref> The ''Dabestan-e-Mazaheb'' states Kabir is a "Bairagi" (Vaishnava yogi) and states he is a disciple of Ramanand (the text refers to him repeatedly as "Gang"). 

Kabir's family is believed to have lived in the locality of [[Kabir Chaura]] in [[Varanasi|Varanasi (Banaras)]]. ''Kabīr [[matha|maṭha]]'' ({{lang|sa|कबीरमठ}}), a ''maṭha'' located in the back alleys of Kabir Chaura, celebrates his life and times.{{sfn|Schomer|McLeod|1987|p=291}} Accompanying the property is a house named ''Nīrūṭīlā'' ({{lang|sa|नीरू टीला}}) which houses Niru and Nima graves.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.kabirchaura.com/math/math11.htm |title=Jab Mein Tha Tab Hari Nahin' Ab |publisher=Kabirchaura.com |access-date=12 July 2012}}</ref>