Swami Haridas was a spiritual poet and
classical musician. Credited with a large body of devotional compositions, especially in the
Dhrupad style, he is also the founder of the Haridasi school of mysticism, still found today in
North India. His work influenced both the classical music and the
Bhakti movements of
North India, especially those devoted to
Krishna's consort
Radha. He is accounted a follower of the
Nimbarka Sampradaya, the major
Vaisnava tradition of exclusive devotion to Radha-Krishna. He was the disciple of
Purandara Dasa, some also believe Bhai Mardana was his teacher Gavai, Sheshadri. 1956.
Sangeetha kalaravinda. Bangalore: Aravinda Publications. and the teacher of
Tansen.
Biography
The details of Haridas's life are not well known. According to one school of thought he was born in 1480 in
Rajpur, near
Brindavan. His father's name was Gangadhar and his mother's name was Chitra Devi. In this version of his life story Haridas is said to have died in 1575. A second school holds that Haridas's father was a
Saraswat Brahmin from
Multan and that his mother's name was Ganga Devi. The family migrated to a village called Khairwali Sarak, near
Aligarh in
Uttar Pradesh. Haridas was born there in 1512 and the village is now called
Haridaspur in his honor. This school holds that he died in 1607.
Swami Haridas spent some time at the
Gwalior court of
Raja Mansingh...
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