Haridas

Swami Haridas has a highly significant place in the music of north India, for the era in which he lived was an extremely active and productive one. Therefore, Haridas found a fecund environment to give of his best to society. He may not be considered a pioneerin creating new forms of music, but was certainly a strong force in the spread of dhrupad.

Near the brija land of Mathura and Brindavan, at Gwalior, Rajan Man Singh Tomar, one of the most respected and generous patrons of dhrupad, reigned for nearly three decades from 1486. Under his enlightened support, Haridas found a creative atmosphere for growth and his efforts were the cause of the production of many songs in the brij dialect, modelled on those of Vidyapati. In Tomar's court were a galaxy of musicians such as Bakshu, Bhanu and Baiju and he was eulogised by Tansen of whom he was a patron.

The details of Haridas's life are not well known. There are two schools of thought. According to one, he was born in 1480 in Rajpur, near Brindavan. His father's name was Gangadhar and his mother's name was Chitra Devi. At the age of twenty-five, the youth was initiated into sanyasa (a form of wandering aesceticism) by a man named Asudhir, who belonged to the Nimbarka tradition. In this version of his life story, Haridas is said to have died in 1575.

The 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. The schools agree that at the age of twenty-five the young man became a sanyasi, but this school holds that he died in 1607.

In any case, the significant fact was that from a very young age Haridas was drawn to a life of a hermit and became a sanyasi. He shifted his residence to Brindavan, the playground of the Immortal Cowherd, Krishna and his lover, Radha. There he built his asram (hermitage) in Nidhuvan and sang his songs of the love of Radha-Krishna.

Swami Haridas's compositions may strictly be classed as Vishnupadas, that is, songs in praise of Lord Vishnu and of Vishnu's popular eighth avatar, Lord Krishna. But even his prabhandas which 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 such other forms. There are about 128 songs attributed to him, of which eighteen are philosophical and a hundred and ten devotional. The former are known as Siddhanta pada and the latter as Keli mala.

Haridas was deeply learned and widely acquainted with the music of his time. He describes Radha and Krishna's sporting beautifully: "Two beams of light are playing. Unique are their dance and music. Ragas and raginis of heavenly beauty are born. The two have sunk themselves in the ocean of raga". Besides such descriptions, mention is found in his works of stringed instruments like kinnari, aghouti, of drums such as mridanga, daff. He also mentions the ragas of Kedara, Gouri, Malhar and Vasant.

Swami Haridas was not only a great musician but also a great teacher. The best known of his pupils was Tansen, one of the 'nine gems` of Akbar's court. Tansen's tutelage with Swami Haridas is still a matter of tradition and popular belief; there is no incontrovertible proof that this relationship ever took place. Also, neither Tansen's life nor his style of language show the same type of religious depth possessed by Haridas. There is also a popular account that the renowned dhrupad singer and composer, Baiju, was a contemporary of Tansen and a student of the swami. This, however, is doubtful.

The respect that Swami Haridas has received is not merely because of his musical genius, but also due to the literary beauty and the simplicity of his dhrupads. Overall, his music and language were inspired by the mystic experience of bhakti and he is considered one of the leading figures in the bhakti movement and music.

Swami Haridas belonged to the tradition of madhura bhakti - Adoration expressed in erotic terms. It is said that he was deeply affected by the teachings of the Andhra philosopher and bhakta, Nimbarka (13th century), who sojourned in the north, spreading the gospel of Radha-Krishna love. He propounded the philosophy of bheda-abheda: "the simultaneous difference and non-difference". But Haridas's theology goes further and embraces not merely the Love of Krishna and Radha but also the witnessing of the Love, a state of mind called rasa . This aspect of rasa, is the theme of all his songs and teachings. In such an ecstatic condition of trance he sings of the play of Krishna among the bowers of Brindavan; that is why his Lord is known as Kunj bihari (kunj = bower, bihari = one who wanders). 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".

Swami Haridas began the Haridasi school of mysticism and had many spiritual disciples. The better known ones were Vitthal, Vipul, Viharin Deva, and Krishna Das who fostered his tradition of devotional music. The main feature of school was that it was congregational. Groups of devotees came together and sang of the Lord of Brindavan. In the brij district, this congregation is called samaj and is like the sankeertan of Bengal and the bhajani gosti of south India.