Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
There is a city, and its name means "the place without sorrow."
No suffering or anxiety lives there.
There are no crushing taxes, no goods seized, no burdens laid on anyone.
There is no fear there, no stain, no falling down.
This is Ravidas's most famous song — Begampura, "the City Without Sorrow." It is one of the great visions of a just world in all of world literature: a place with no suffering, no unfair taxes, no fear, no one crushed by burdens. Ravidas, a leather-worker by trade, imagines the world as it should be — and as it truly is in the Beloved's presence. It is both a spiritual vision (the state of a soul at rest in the One) and a bold social dream of dignity for all. Note the Persian/Urdu words (begam, khiraaj) — Ravidas draws on the Islamic world's language too, weaving traditions together.
If you could design a city where everyone felt safe and free, what would it be like?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI