Bhakti poets imagined utopian cities where Untouchables faced no segregation

Evidence

The utopianism that Ambedkar is charged with was very much part of the tradition of the anticaste movement. The poetry of the Bhakti movement is replete with it. Unlike the nostalgia-ridden, mythical village republics in Gandhi’s ‘Ram Rajya’ (the reign of Lord Ram), the subaltern Bhakti sants sang of towns. They sang of towns in timeless places, where Untouchables would be liberated from ubiquitous fear, from unimaginable indignity and endless toil on other peoples’ land. For Ravidas (also known as Raidas, Ruhidas, Rohidas), that place was Be-gham-pura, the City without Sorrow, the city without segregation, where people were free to go wherever they wanted: Where there is no affliction or suffering Neither anxiety nor fear, taxes nor capital One who shares with me that city is my friend. — Ambedkar, B R, Annihilation of Caste_ The Annotated…, 118

Categorization

• DEFINE: Introduces Be-gham-pura as the City without Sorrow from Ravidas’ poetry.