Swami Ramanandacharya

Ramananda (IAST: Rāmānanda) was a 14th-century Vaishnava devotional poet saint, who lived in the Gangetic basin of northern India. The Hindu tradition recognizes him as the founder of the Ramanandi Sampradaya, the largest monastic Hindu renunciant community in modern times.

Quotes

 * Ramananda brought to northern India the religious revival which Ramananda had initiated in the south. This movement was “in part a reaction against the increasing formalism of the orthodox ‘cult, in part an assertion of the demands of the heart as against the intellectualism of the Vedanta”,’ and was kept alive by a number of famous saints in the direct line of descent from Ramanuja to Ramananda... Ramananda travelled widely and studied deeply. At Varanasi he joined in philosophical discussions with learned Muslims and Brahmans.” It was there that he passed most of his years, teaching and preaching... Thus, although born and bred in the old conservative Brahman atmosphere, he broke the shackles of orthodoxy and admitted into his new sect of Bhakts all men without distinction. His disciples came from all castes, from both sexes and even from among the Muslims. Thus he gave absolute social equality to all, even the privilege of study- ing the scriptures. All previous thinkers, more or less, had accepted the institution of Caste. But Ramananda had nothing to do with it. Indeed he may be said to have begun what is known as the religious renaissance in Medieval India.
 * K.S. Lal, Twilight of the Sultanate (1963) p. 293-4