Swami Haridas
Swami Haridas was an Indian musician. He was regarded a musician saint because of his strong influence on
North Indian classical music and
bhakti for
Radha (
Krishna). He is said to be the incarnation of Lalita Sakhi who was the dear friend of
Radha. He is credited with a large body of devotional compositions including Dhrupad compositions. He is considered to be the
Guru of
Tansen. Swami Haridas also developed the Haridasi school of mysticism and had many spiritual
disciples.
According to one school of thought he was born in
1480 A.D. in Rajpur near
Vrindavan. According to another school of thought Haridas' father was a Saraswat Brahmin from
Multan. The family migrated to a village called Khairwali Sarak, near
Aligarh in
Uttar Pradesh. Haridas was born there in
1512 A.D. and the place is now called
Haridaspur.
He was the one to discover the
Nidhi Vana that is said to be the garden where Radha and Krishna do
rasas with their friends. He made Krishna appear from the land of Nidhi vana in the form of an idol named Bankey Bihari ji which is still worshipped in Vrindavan. Swami Haridas is said to be the follower of Nimbark sampradaya one of the major sampradaya for Bhakti.
His
samadhi is still in Seva Kunj, Vrindavan.
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Bankey Bhihari Temple Website
