Swami Haridas

Popularly known as a saint musician of north India, Swami Haridas is said to be the incarnation of Lalita Sakhi, a dear friend of Radha. He had a very strong influence on the style of music in north India. He is especially credited with composing a large number of devotional songs and also the Dhrupad compositions. Swami Haridas is supposed to be the Guru of the famous musician Tansen. He also started the Haridasi School of Mysticism that had many students. To know about the life history of this famous singer, check out Swamy Haridas biography.

There is not much proof about the birth of Swami Haridas. There are conflicting theories regarding the same among two famous schools of thought. Some say he was born in 1480 A.D in a place called Rajpur near the Brindavan. Some others say that his father was a Saraswat Brahmin who migrated to Uttar Pradesh from Multan. Swami Haridas was said to have been born there in 1512 A.D and the place is known as Haridaspur. He is said to follow the Nimbark Sampradaya, which is one of the most important fields for Bhakti.

Raja Mansingh Tomar of Gwalior, who was one of the greatest patrons of Dhrupad, provided immense support to Haridas to pursue music and create extraordinary compositions. He was impressed by renowned musicians present in the court like Bakshu, Bhanu and Baiju. Most of the songs of Haridas were composed in the Brij dialect. His compositions are classified as Vishnupadas, which are songs in praise of Lord Vishnu and his eighth incarnation as Lord Krishna.

The songs that are not in the praise of Lord Krishna are also known as Vishnupadas because of its composition, which is similar to Dhrupads. He is credited with around 128 songs out of which 110 are devotional and 18 are philosophical. He was also a renowned teacher and one of his most famous disciples was Tansen, who was a renowned musician and one of the 'Nine Gems' in the court of Emperor Akbar.

Swami Haridas is considered to be a genius because of the literary beauty and simplicity of his compositions. He was highly inspired by the mystical experience of devotion of Lord and that pure devotion is what reflects in his music. That is how he became one of the leading figures in Bhakti movement and devotional music. The Haridasi School of Mysticism had many students and it was basically a group of devotees of various cultural and traditional backgrounds. All these devotees sang in the praise of the Lord of Brindavan.