Haridasa

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The Haridasa (Haridasaru in Kannada) movement is considered as one of the turning points in Indian history. Over a span of nearly six centuries, it gave birth to several saints and mystics who helped shape the culture, philosophy and art of South India and Karnataka in particular by wielding tremendous spiritual influence over the kingdoms that ruled South India.

This movement was powered by the Haridasas (literally 'servants of Lord Hari') and took birth in the 13-14th centuries around Hampi, the regal capital of the Vijayanagara empire. The main objective of this movement was to take the philosophy of Madhvacharya or the Madhwa Siddhanta to the masses.

The movement saw the arrival of great Hindu philosophers, poets and scholars like Sripadaraya, Vyasathirtha, Vadirajatirtha, Purandara Dasa and Kanaka Dasa to name a few. In many ways, though the movement found its roots in Kannada country and later spread in all directions, it was a net result of earlier movements like the Vachanakaras of Veerashaiva movement of northern Karnataka led by Basavanna in the 12th century and the Alvar saints of Tamil Nadu during the 10th century CE.

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[edit] Meaning

The Haridasas were peripatetic saints who considered themselves as slaves of the supreme Lord - Hari. While the movement was mainly one heralded by the Brahmins, it was a devotional one whose ideals and thoughts pervaded all sections of society. Their mystical experiences are grouped into the following types, Svanubhava, Anubhava, Atmanubhava, Brhasakshtkara and Aparoksha Gnana. The Haridasa movement can be considered as a part of a larger Bhakti movement whose devotional inspiration to the masses lasted over a millineum. The word dasa has other interesting connotations in Kannada in that even when read in reverse, dasa becomes sada which means "always". So, Haridasa and Harisada convey the same meaning.

[edit] Early Origin

The earliest origin of this kind of Dharma is steeped in mystery. While there are several legends giving various theores of the place of origin, holy men and kings who espoused this form of devotionalism dating back as early as 9th century, it is well understood that this great Vaishnava religious devotionalism called Dasa Kuta found its organizatonal base and started to produce large congregation of devotees in the middle ages in the Karnataka region, largely due to the Vedanta propounded in South India in the thirteenth century by Madhvacharya of Udupi 1238 - 1317 CE.

The haridasas propogated the Vedanta of Madhvacharya in simple Kannada to make it appealing to the masses, this having arrived at a time when northern India was already under Muslim rule and became the main spiritual force to hold Southern India to a strong Hindu sentiment.

The Haridasas found great patronage in the Vijayanagar kingdom which during its glorious reign ruled over entire Southern India.

[edit] Deities and holy places

Haridasas belonged to the Vaishnava school of Hinduism and worshipped Lord Vitthala, a manifestation of Vishnu and all forms of Lord Krishna. The Vittalanatha temple at Pandharapura on the bank of the river Bhima in present day Maharashtra, the Vittala Swami temples at Hampi in Karnataka and the Shrinivasa temple on Tirumala hills in Andhra Pradesh are considered the holiest of places in the haridasa context.

[edit] Haridasas and Kannada literature

The greatest contribution of the Haridasas has been to Kannada literature. This movement spawned a whole corpus of devotional literature in the form of verses, hymns and musical compositions. This body of literature is called Dasa Sahitya or dasara padagalu in Kannada. The compositions are generally called Devaranamas which literally means 'name of the Lord' and is a composition sung in praise of the Lord (Hari). All these compositions have the concept of Hari Bhakti at its core.

The compositions usually revolved around references to Hindu mythology and the Dvaita philosophy. Some like Purandara Dasa and Kanakadasa also composed several namas with the everyday happenings, morals and virtues as the central theme. All these compositions were in Kannada as the main objective of this movement was to take the Vaishnava philosophy of Madhwacharya to the common man. In doing so, the common people were also educated in countless esoteric concepts in Hindu theosophy drawn from mythology, Puranas, Vedas, Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita and the epics. Similies and metaphors were used to great effect in achieving this and they abound in Dasa Sahitya

The compositions can broadly be classified under one of the following three types -

  • Kavya or poetic compositions
  • Tatva or philosophic compositions
  • General compositions.

[edit] Ankita Nama or nom-de-plume

Each Haridasa had a unique ankita nama with which they 'signed' all their compositions. The nom-de-plumes of some of the most well known Haridasas is listed below.

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[edit] Haridasas and Carnatic music

The contribution of the Haridasas to Carnatic music has also been immense. The Haridasas' heralded a renaissance in the world of Indian classical music and developed the Carnatic music tradition as a distinct art form from the Hindustani style.

Purandara Dasa
Purandara Dasa, one of the foremost of Dasas is known as the Karnataka Sangeeta Pitamaha or the Grandsire or Carnatic Music for his invaluable contributions to the art form. He was an extremely prolific composer and is said to have composed as many as 475,000 songs, though only few hundreds are available today. He composed several Keertanes which had been developed by Annamacharya and which later served as the foundations for the Kriti form, elaborated and perfected by the later Trinity. He also consolidated theory of music and laid down a framework for imparting formal training in this art form. The structure and lessons he forumulated 400 years ago are still used as the foundation for all students of Carnatic music. With this

Apart from Purandara Dasa, several other Dasas have composed songs adhering to the same musical and philosophical traditions. Some like Kanakadasa, Jagannathadasa, Vijayadasa and Vittaladasa are well known while there were several other lesser known names. Their compositions usually fell in one of the following categories - Padagalu or Devaranamas, Kritis, Ugabhoga, Suladi, Vruttanama, Dandaka, Tripadi, Pattadi, Sangathya and Ragale. All these forms of composition have survived and are very popular in South India, especially in the state of Karnataka.

Though these compositions were composed adhering to the Karnataka or the Carnatic style of music, these compositions are also sung in the Hindustani style by several Hindustani musicians especially from the state of Karnataka and Maharashtra. Stalwarts of Hindustani music from Karnataka like Bhimsen Joshi and Gangubai Hangal have been at the forefront of popularising these compositions in the Hindustani music world also.

[edit] Famous Haridasas

While the Haridasa movement is attributed to Kannada country, language and the dasa kuta there in, a few Haridasas hailed from outside present day Karnataka also. Some like Jayatirtha who hailed from Pandarapura in Maharashtra and Sri Naraharitirtha (a direct disciple of Madhvacharya) who is considered by some as the founder of the movement hailed from either Andhra Pradesh or Orissa. Others feel Sripadaraya was the real founder of the movement, a century later.

Famous haridasas during the Vijayanagar empire period were,

Sripadaraya, Vyasatirtha and Vadirajatirtha are called yathi trayaru or the 'three great saints' in Haridasa movement. The center of their activity in the 15th and 16th. century was Hampi in the Vijayanagar empire.

Later the Haridasa movement would gain another impetus in the 17th and 18th. centuries in and around Raichur District and the great saints from this era were Vijayadasa, Gopaladasa, Jagannathadasa, Prasanna Venkatadasa, Praneshadasa, Venugopaladasa, Mahipathidasa, Mohanadasa, Helevanakatte Giriamma and Harapanhalli Bhimavva.

The history of the haridasa movement from the 14th century to the present day is the history of spreading Haribhakti to the common man and in that purpose has contributed immensely to Kannada literature. Both the Haridasa and Veerashaiva movements pervade the length and breadth of Karnataka and exert ennobling influences upon the neighboring provinces of Andhra Pradesh and Tamilnadu.

[edit] Famous compositions

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In the present day, the haridasa lineage is being made available all over in the world by the famous Bangalore scholar Dr.Aralumallige Parthasarathy. Dr. Aralumallige Parthasarathy is a scholar of international repute. His writings and lectures on Daasasahithya, Indian heritage, Indian culture, Indian values,Geetha, have been read and listened by millions of people in different parts of the world with rapt attention.They are functional and transformational with contemporary relevance.His first visit to USA was in 1995 where he delivered 54 lectures and in1997 he delivered 100 lectures. Hindu University of America-Florida has hailed his lecture tours to USA as a renaissance movement of Indian values on the soil of America.He is the author of over 40 Books on Indian Values, Haridasa Sahitya and modern Management techniques. He has more than 15 Audio CD's and Cassettes on Indian Values , Management aand Haridasa Sahitya.Most of his books give the complete details about the life and times, messages, compositions of the entire Haridasa Lineage.His book 'Purandara Samputa'explains the life and times of one the greatest saints 'Purandara' and lsits a huge collection of his songs.

[edit] Reference

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