Ravidas Chalisa narrates a devotional life of Sant Ravidas through his family, Ramananda, debates in Kashi, Ganga and the bracelet episode, the “mind pure” teaching, encounters with other religious figures, imprisonment, and guidance offered to Mira.
The visible Hindi page contains no verses, but verified metadata preserves the complete two-plus-forty-plus-two structure. The translation reports the source’s hagiographic narratives as devotional memory and does not turn them into independent historical claims.
Quick Facts
Ravidas Chalisa Lyrics in English
Read the complete source-linked devotional sequence in simple Roman script.
Opening Dohas
Bandaun vina pani ko,dehu ay mohin jnyan
Pay buddhi ravidas ko,karaun charitr bakhan
Matu ki mahima amit hai,likhi na sakat hai das
Tate ayon sharan men,puravahu jan ki as
Ravidas Chalisa
Jai hovai ravidas tumhari kripa karahu harijan hitakari
Rahu bhakt tumhare tata karma nam tumhari mata
Kashi dhing madur sthana varn achhut karat gujarana
Dvadash varsh umr jab ai tumhare man hari bhakti samai
Ramanand ke shishy kahaye pay jnyan nij nam badhaye
Shastr tark kashi men kinhon jnyanin ko upadesh hai dinhon
Gang matu ke bhakt apara kaudi dinh unahin upahara
Pandit jan tako lai jai gang matu ko dinh chadhai
Hath pasari linh chaugani bhakt ki mahima amit bakhani
Chakit bhaye pandit kashi ke dekhi charit bhav bhay nashi ke
Ral jatit kangan tab dinhan ravidas adhikari kinhan
Pandit dijau bhakt ko mere adi janm ke jo hain chere
Pahunche pandit dhig ravidasa dai kangan purai abhilasha
Tab ravidas kahi yah bata dusar kangan lavahu tata
Pandit jan tab kasam uthai dusar dinh na ganga mai
Tab ravidas ne vachan uchare padit jan sab bhaye sukhare
Jo sarvada rahai man changa tau ghar basati matu hai ganga
Hath kathauti men tab dara dusar kangan ek nikara
Chit sankochit pandit kinhen apane apane marag linhen
Tab se prachalit ek prasanga man changa to kathauti men ganga
Ek bar phiri parayo jhamela mili panditajan kinhon khela
Salig ram gang utaravai soi prabal bhakt kahalavai
Sab jan gaye gang ke tira murati tairavan bich nira
Dub gain sabaki majhadhara sabake man bhayo duhkh apara
Patthar murti rahi utarai sur nar mili jayakar machai
Rahyo nam ravidas tumhara machyo nagar mahan hahakara
Chiri deh tum dugdh bahayo janm janeu ap dikhao
Dekhi chakit bhaye sab nar nari vidvanan sudhi bisari sari
Jnyan tark kabira sang kinhon chakit unahun ka tum kari dinhon
Guru gorakhahi dinh upadesha un manyo taki sant vishesha
Sadana pir tark bahu kinhan tum tako upadesh hai dinhan
Man mahan haryo sadan kasai jo dilli men khabari sunai
Muslim dharm ki suni kubadai lodhi sikandar gayo gussai
Apane grih tab tumahin bulava muslim hon hetu samujhava
Mani nahin tum usaki bani bandigrih kati hai rani
Krishn darash paye ravidasa saphal bhai tumhari sab asha
Tale tuti khulyo hai kara mam sikandar ke tum mara
Kashi pur tum kahan pahunchai dai prabhuta aruman badai
Mira yogavati guru kinhon jinako kshatriy vansh pravino
Tinako dai upadesh apara kinhon bhav se tum nistara
Closing Dohas
Aise hi ravidas ne,kinhen charit apar
Koi kavi gavai kitai,tahun na pavai par
Niyam sahit harijan agar,dhyan dharai chalisa
Taki raksha karenge,jagatapati jagadisha
Ravidas Chalisa Meaning in English
Opening Dohas Meaning
The poet bows to the veena-bearing Goddess for knowledge and asks for understanding to narrate Ravidas’s life.
A servant cannot write the Mother’s limitless greatness and therefore comes to her refuge, asking that people’s hope be fulfilled.
Chalisa Meaning
Victory to Ravidas, who is asked to show compassion and work for the welfare of devotees.
The hymn names the devotee Rahu as his father and Karma as his mother.
His home is placed near Kashi at Mandur, and the source remembers the social exclusion attached to his birth community.
At twelve years of age, devotion to Hari is said to fill his mind.
He becomes a disciple of Ramananda, receives knowledge, and grows in renown.
He debates scripture in Kashi and offers instruction to learned people.
As an immense devotee of Mother Ganga, he sends a small coin as an offering.
A pandit carries it away and offers it to Mother Ganga.
Ganga extends her hand, receives it many times over in honour, and praises the devotee’s greatness.
The pandits of Kashi are astonished by the acts of one who breaks worldly fear.
A jewel-studded bracelet is then given, marking Ravidas as the rightful recipient.
The message asks the pandit to give it to the devotee who has belonged to the Mother across births.
The pandit reaches Ravidas and fulfils the wish by presenting the bracelet.
Ravidas then asks him to bring the matching second bracelet.
The pandit swears that Mother Ganga did not give another one.
Ravidas speaks, and the anxious pandits become hopeful about what will follow.
He teaches that where the mind remains pure, Mother Ganga dwells even within the home.
Placing his hand into the small water vessel, he draws out the second bracelet.
The embarrassed pandits withdraw and return along their separate paths.
From this account comes the saying that if the mind is pure, Ganga is present even in the basin.
Another dispute arises when a group of pandits arranges a further test.
They declare that whoever can set Shaligram afloat in Ganga will be known as the stronger devotee.
Everyone goes to the riverbank to float the sacred images in the water.
The others sink midstream, causing immense sorrow among those assembled.
Ravidas’s stone image remains afloat, and gods and people are pictured raising acclaim.
His name resounds as the city reacts intensely to the event.
The source narrates a bodily sign involving milk and the display of an innate sacred thread.
Women and men are amazed, and learned observers lose their usual composure.
Ravidas engages Kabir in a debate about knowledge and leaves even him astonished.
He gives instruction to Guru Gorakh, who recognizes him as an exceptional saint.
Sadana Pir debates at length and also receives teaching from Ravidas.
Sadana the butcher accepts inward defeat, and news reaches Delhi.
Sikandar Lodi becomes angry after hearing a distorted account concerning religious identity.
He summons Ravidas and tries to persuade him to adopt Islam.
Ravidas does not accept the demand and is confined in prison.
Within the hagiographic story, Ravidas receives Krishna’s vision and sees his hopes fulfilled.
The locks break and the prison opens; the line associates that release with Sikandar’s change of power.
Ravidas is returned to Kashi with authority and honour.
He becomes the guru of Mira and Yogavati, women remembered here as coming from a skilled Kshatriya lineage.
Through profound instruction he carries them beyond the ocean of worldly existence.
Closing Dohas Meaning
Ravidas’s deeds are called limitless, beyond the full reach of any poet who tries to sing them.
A devotee who contemplates the Chalisa with discipline is placed under the protection of the Lord of the world.
Ravidas Chalisa: Bhakti, Dignity, and Remembered Life
The hymn belongs to hagiography: it teaches through remembered wonders, debates, conflict, and recognition. Its central social movement is from exclusion toward dignity grounded in devotion and knowledge.
Some lines make historical and interreligious claims in compressed poetic form. The English meanings attribute those claims to the source and avoid using them to disparage any community.
Main Themes in the Ravidas Chalisa
Inner purity outranks social status and external display, crystallized in the basin-and-Ganga teaching.
Knowledge is shared across boundaries as Ravidas speaks with pandits, Kabir, Gorakh, Sadana Pir, Mira, and political authority.
How to Read the Ravidas Chalisa
Follow the forty main units as a sequence of remembered episodes rather than isolating miraculous lines from their ethical theme of dignity.
Read disputed historical claims as part of this particular devotional poem and keep interfaith reflection respectful and evidence-aware.
Frequently Asked Questions
The complete opening, forty-unit narrative, and closing pair remained in verified post_meta fields.
The episode teaches that inward purity makes even an ordinary basin spiritually meaningful.
No. This page identifies them as narratives preserved in the devotional source rather than independently proven history.
Devotion, knowledge, and human dignity are repeatedly placed above exclusion, pride, and coercion.