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. Hit Harivansh Mahaprabhu,
Hariram Vyas, Rupa Goswami, Sanatana Goswami, Mahaprabhu Vallabhacharya,
Vitthalnath (Gusainji), were his contemporaries.

He had many pupils, Tansen being one of them.[1]

Contents

1 Biography
2 Songs of Swami Haridas
3 Popular culture
4 See also
5 References
6 External links

Biography

Details of Swami Haridas's life are not well known. According to one school of
thought he was born in 1512 near Khair in what is now Uttar Pradesh. His father's
name was Shri Ashudheer 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.[2] The family migrated to a village called Khair wali 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. He was
disciple of Shri Ashudheer Maharaj, also his Father who followed the Nimbarka
Sampradaya , He is Said to be the Avatar of Shri Lalita Sakhi.He was a disciple of
Bhai Mardana ji(a master who played Rabab with Guru Nanak Dev ji). He was deeply
learned and widely acquainted with the music of his time. Mention is found in his
works of stringed instruments such as the kinnari and aghouti, and of drums such as
the mridang and daff. He mentions the ragas of Kedar, Gauri (raga), Malhar and
Basant. Swami Haridas is said to have been the teacher of Tansen, one of the 'nine
gems` of Akbar's court, and the renowned dhrupad singer and composer Baiju.

He later shifted his residence to Vrindavan, the playground of the immortal cowherd
Krishna and Radha. There he built his ashram (hermitage) in Nidhivan and sang his
songs of the love of Radha-Krishna. Following the example of Swami Shribhatta,
Haridas continued to praise the Lord until the Lord manifested himself as Sri Banke
Bihariji. Swami Haridas' spiritual disciples included Vitthal and Krishna Das who
fostered his tradition of devotional music. Groups (samaj, like the sankeertan of
Bengal and the bhajana goshti of South India) of devotees came together and sang of
the Lord of Vrindavan.

His samadhi (tomb) is in Nidhivan, Vrindavan.[citation needed]

Songs of Swami Haridas

Haridas's compositions may be classed as Vishnupadas. Even his prabandhas that do

not refer to Krishna have come to be known as Vishnupadas, perhaps because of the
mystic source of his music but also because they are musically constructed in a
manner similar to dhrupads. He is also said to have written tirvats, ragamalas and
other forms. There are around 128 compositions attributed to him, of which eighteen
are philosophical (siddhanta pada) and a hundred and ten devotional (keli mala).

He describes Radha and Krishna's sporting:

Two beams of light are playing -

 Unique their dance and music.
Ragas and raginis of heavenly beauty are born,
The two have sunk themselves in the ocean of raga.

Swami Haridas belonged to the tradition of madhura bhakti - Adoration expressed in

conjugal imagery.

Haridas's theology embraces not merely the Love of Krishna and Radha but also the
witnessing of the Love, a state of mind called rasa. In an ecstatic condition of
trance he sings of the play of Krishna among the bowers of Vrindavan. More than
Krishna, Radha was the central personality of all his poems.

He says:

Who knows of the quality of things more than Radha?

If anyone has any knowledge at all, it is by her grace.
None knows the beauty of raga, tala and dance as Radha does.

Popular culture

An annual classical music festival, Swami Haridas Sangeet Sammelan is held every
year in Mumbai since 1952.
See also

Music of India
Hindustani classical music
Achintya Bheda Abheda

References

Bonnie C. Wade; Professor of Music Bonnie C Wade (1998). Imaging Sound: An

Ethnomusicological Study of Music, Art, and Culture in Mughal India. University of
Chicago Press. p. 113. ISBN 978-0-226-86840-0.

Reginald Massey; Jamila Massey (1996). The Music of India. Abhinav

Publications. p. 53. ISBN 978-81-7017-332-8.

External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Swami Haridas.

[1]
Bankey Bhihari Temple, Vrindavan
Bankey Bhihari Temple Website
Postage stamp on Swami Haridas

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