Swami Haridas (IAST:Svāmī Haridāsa, also speltSvāmī Haridās) was an Indian spiritual poet andclassical musician. He was a Court musician ofRaja Man Singh Tomar ofGwalior and is credited with a large body of devotional compositions, especially in theDhrupad style. He is also the founder of the Haridasi school of mysticism which is still found today inNorth India. His work influenced both the classical music and theBhakti movements ofNorth India, especially those devoted toKrishna's consortRadha.
There are rival versions of the biography of Haridās, since his following was divided in the 1600s among the hereditary householder gosvāmīs and ascetic sādhus. Modern scholars state that he lived in the 1500s. The gosvāmīs claim he was born inHaridāspur and that his father was fromMultān, but the sādhus claim he was born in Rājpur next toVr̥ndāvan. The gosvāmīs claim that his father was Aśudhir, aSārasvat Brahmin, but the sādhus claim that Haridās was aSanathya Brahmin and that Haridās was only the pupil of Aśudhir, not his son. The gosvāmīs claim that Haridās was once a married man but later became a sādhu in theViṣṇusvāmī sampradāya, but the sādhus claim that Haridās was never married and that he was a member of theNimbārka sampradāya. Modern scholars state that Haridās was likely not initiated into any sect and that he followed his own independent devotional path of sakhībhāva inNidhiban, although he might have been influenced by the two sects. It is in Nidhiban that he discovered the deityBāṅke Bihārī, whose worship was later managed by a priest named Jagannāth. The gosvāmīs and sādhus agree that the gosvāmis are the descendants of Jagannāth, who the gosvāmīs claim was the younger brother of Haridās, but the sādhus claim was merely a Sarasvat priest who attended Haridās' Kr̥ṣṇa idol. His most prominent ascetic follower was Viṭṭhal Vipul.[1][2]
Haridās composed Braj Bhasha poetry, collected in two works calledAṣṭadaś Siddhānta and theKelimāl. Haridās sung in thedhrupad style, and the content of his work solely consisted of describing and praising the forestlīlās ofKr̥ṣṇa-Kuñjbihārī andRādhā-Śyāmā.[1]
According to popular tradition Haridās was the teacher ofMiyān Tānsen, who sang at the court ofAkbar, however scholars consider this to be unlikely.[3][1][2]
