01Why Maghar
In the Kashi of Kabir’s day it was said that whoever dies in Kashi wins liberation, and whoever dies in Maghar is born next as a donkey. Kabir, old, left Kashi and came to Maghar to die. In a verse kept in the Guru Granth Sahib he says that he spent his whole life in Shiva’s city and at the hour of death rose and came to Maghar, and asks what the place can matter if Rama dwells in the heart. Sant tradition places his passing in 1518, though other dates are given.
02Flowers under the sheet
The Kabirpanthi katha tells that when Kabir left the body, his Hindu followers wished to cremate him and his Muslim followers to bury him. When they lifted the sheet they found only flowers, and each side took half. So at Maghar there is a samadhi, kept by Kabirpanthi sadhus, and beside it, in the same compound, a mazar. The town also has the cave where Kabir is said to have sat in sadhana. Each January, at Makar Sankranti, a fair gathers on the Ami river.
The life of this place
- 1518 (sant tradition)Kabir leaves the body at Maghar.
Maghar is on the Gorakhpur–Basti road, about 30 km west of Gorakhpur.
