[Footnote 604:  See Bhandarkar, Vaishn. and Saivism, pp. 66 ff., Grierson in Ind.  Ant. 1893, p. 226, and also in article Ramanandi in E.R.E.; Farquhar, J.R.A.S.1920, pp. 185 ff.  Though Indian tradition seems to be unanimous in giving 1299 A.D. (4400 Kali) as the date of Ramanand’s birth, all that we know about himself and his disciples makes it more probable that he was born nearly a century later.  The history of ideas, too, becomes clear and intelligible if we suppose that Ramanand, Kabir and Nanak flourished about 1400, 1450 and 1500 respectively.  One should be cautious in allowing such arguments to outweigh unanimous tradition, but tradition also assigns to Ramanand an improbably long life, thus indicating a feeling that he influenced the fifteenth century.  Also the traditions as to the number of teachers between Ramanuja and Ramanand differ greatly.]

[Footnote 605:  One of them is found in the Granth of the Sikhs.]

[Footnote 606:  Ramanand’s maxim was “Jati pati puchai nahikoi:  Hari-ku bhajai so Hari-kau hoi.”  Let no one ask a man’s caste or sect.  Whoever adores God, he is God’s own.]

[Footnote 607:  Bhattacharya, Hindu Castes and Sects, p. 445.]

[Footnote 608:  Thus we have the poems of Kabir, Nanak and others contained in the Granth of the Sikhs and tending to Mohammedanism:  the hymns wherein Mira Bai, Vallabha and his disciples praised Krishna in Rajputana and Braj:  the poets inspired by Caitanya in Bengal:  Sankar Deb and Madhab Deb in Assam:  Namdev and Tukaram in the Maratha country.]

[Footnote 609:  See Beames, J.A. 1873, pp. 37 ff., and Grierson, Maithili Christomathy, pp. 34 ff., in extra No. to Journ.  As.  Soc.  Bengal, Part I. for 1882 and Coomaraswamy’s illustrated translation of Vidyapati, 1915.  It is said that a land grant proves he was a celebrated Pandit in 1400.  The Bengali Vaishnava poet Chandi Das was his contemporary.]

[Footnote 610:  See Grierson, Gleanings from the Bhaktamala, J.R.A.S. 1909 and 1910.]

[Footnote 611:  Modern Vernacular Literature of Hindustan, 1889, p. 57.]

[Footnote 612:  Similarly Dinesh Chandra Sen (Lang, and Lit. of Bengal, p. 170) says that Krittivasa’s translation of the Ramayana “is the Bible of the people of the Gangetic Valley and it is for the most part the peasants who read it.”  Krittivasa was born in 1346 and roughly contemporary with Ramanand.  Thus the popular interest in Rama was roused in different provinces at the same time.

He also wrote several other poems, among which may be mentioned the Gitavali and Kavittavali, dedicated respectively to the infancy and the heroic deeds of Rama, and the Vinaya Pattrika or petition, a volume of hymns and prayers.]

[Footnote 613:  See Growse’s Translation, vol.  I. pp. 60, 62.]

[Footnote 614:  Ib. vol.  III. p. 190, cf. vol.  I. p. 88 and vol.  III. pp. 66-67.]