Sant Ramanand Dass was a leader of

Dera Sach Khand Dera Sach Khand Ballan (), also known as Dera Sant Sarwan Das or Dera Ballan, is a Ravidassia '' dera'' based in the village of Ballan near Jalandhar, Punjab, India. It was founded by Pipal Dass soon after 1900, and it played a role in the A ...

, a socio-religious organization founded by followers of

Guru Ravidas Ravidas or Raidas was an Indian mystic poet-saint of the Bhakti movement during the 15th to 16th century CE. Venerated as a ''guru'' (spiritual teacher) in the modern regions of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya P ...

. His name came to international attention when he was murdered by Sikh radicals at the age of 57 in the 24 May 2009 attack on the Guru Ravidass Temple in

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

Biography

Ramanand Dass was born on 2 February 1952, and he resided at Dera Sach Khand from 1973 onwards, according to RavidassGuru.com. He was the chief editor of Dera Sach Khand's weekly newspaper, ''Begumpura Shaher'', and he received the 20th National Dalit Literary Award from the Indian Dalit Literary Academy in 2004. He was second in command to Dera Sach Khand's current leader, Niranjan Dass, with whom he traveled abroad. On 24 May 2009, Ramanand Dass was injured in an attack by six Sikh militants at a temple in Vienna, Austria. He suffered multiple gunshot wounds, and he died in a hospital early the next day. The attack triggered rioting across much of northern India. He was cremated with full state honors on 4 June 2009, at

, India.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dass, Ramanand Ravidassia Indian murder victims People murdered in Austria 1952 births 2009 deaths Victims of Sikh terrorism 2009 murders in Austria Deaths by firearm in Austria Indian people murdered abroad