The Haridasis of Karnataka

Talk of Women Haridasas or rather Haridasis and the first name that comes to out mind is Helavanakatte Giriamma and  Harapannahalli Bheemavva.

What many tend to forget is that apart from these two Haridasis-yes they should be called so if the men can be called Haridasas-there are a host of others who are credited with more than 7,000 compositions.

A majority of these women writers were Haridasis and Vaggeyakara.

One of the first Haridasi was Galgali Avva who wrote under Ankita Rama. She lived from 1670 to 1760 and her compositions on the Pandavas are unique and distinguish her from others of her ilk.

She had an apt disciple, Bhagamma who was also called Prayagavva.

Harapanahalli Bheemavva (1823-1903) was introduced to Dasa Sahitya by her grandfather who always sang Dasara Padagalu for her. She was given the Ankita Bheemesh Krishna by Narada.

She has many compositions on Hari, Krishna, Prana Devaru. She is famous even today for her Harati Hadagalu.

One of  her best works is on the Dasavathara and it is called Stuthi Mallike. Many of her compositions are on Madhwa philosophy. In one of her compositions, while describing Krishna’s Rasa Leela, she speaks of more than 70 types of saris, including, Uppada, Kornad, Benares, Chanderi and varieties of Paithani.

Yadugiriamma (1828-1908) was another Vaishnava poetess. Her collection of songs was brought out in 2003 under the title. “Yadugiriammanavara Krutigalu”.

She was a versatile writer and she knew Sanskrit apart from Kannada, Telugu and Tamil. She visited several pilgrim places and wrote about them. Her compositions on  Melkote, Tirupati, Srirangam are evocative. She gives us a visual description of  the various festivals of the Srirangam temple and Ranganatha.

She was a master of composition and this is shown when she gives the gist of the Ramayana in 100 stanzas of two lines each. This is the Ramayana Mangalam. It is a composition in 55 stanzas and it is classified as one of her 52 dheerga kritis or long compositions.

Yadugiriamma’s compositions are similar to the Neeraattam pasurams that we see in the Divya Prabandham. Her compositions on Andal are superb.

Yadaugiriamma’s Ankita was Venkata or Venkatakrishna.

Another outstanding poetess is Nanjangud Thirumalamba (1889-1982). She was married, as was the custom during those times, at the age of 10 and was widowed at the age of 14. She then educated herself and learnt to read and write Kannada, Telugu and Tamil all by herself.

A doughty woman, she began a journal in 1916. She published 28 books in 20 years. One of her stories became controversial. Here, the housewife reforms her philandering husband, who apologises to her. This story incensed Masti Venkatesha Iyengar who objected to the idea of a husband apologising to his wife. He then wrote an essay criticising Thriumalamba’s story and this can be seen in  Vimarse, Volume IV, a collection of Masti’s critical writings.

Masti’s trenchant criticism led to Thirumalamba being ostracised by the literary world until the late 1970s. Thirumalamba died in 1982 at the ripe age of 93.

Helavanakatte Giriyamma (1691-1725) is perhaps the most famous among all of the Haridasa poetess of Karnataka. She was born in Ranebennur. Her Ankitha was Helavanakatte Ranga.

Her Udhalikana Kathe has 448 charanas and Chandrahasana Kathe has 355 charanas. The Kannada Adhyayana Aamsthe (Institute of Kannada Studies, University of Mysore) has published a book on her called “Helevankatte Giriammana Hadagalu in 1987. It was edited by T. K. Indubaayi.

Udupi Yashodamma was popularly known as Bhajane Yashodamma as she was regularly performing bhajans in temples n and around Udupi for four decades. She was a well-known Harikatha, bhajan and harmonium artiste.

There are several other women poetess or Haridasis. Some of them include, Turadagi Timmamma (Her ankita was Hoohoor Esha), Orevaayi Lakshmidevamma who wrote under the pen name  Narasimhavithala, Tulasabai who was also called sunadarabai and her Ankita was Shreevenkatesh.

Other Haridasis are: Nadigara Shantibai (Her pen name was  Shanti), Radhabai (Venkatavitala Raghavendra), Sarasabai ( Ramavallabhavittala), Namagiriyamma (Guru Prasanna Venkata Vittala), Rangamma (Balakrishna), Gundamma ( Rukmaneeshavittala), Amabai (Gopalakrishna Vittala)

Kalasada Sundaramma (Kalimardana Krishna), Nidaguruki Jeevubai (1897-1983- Kamalanabhavithala), Venkatasubbamma ( Venkatasubbi), Kalasada Sundaramma (Mookambike), Chechamma (Sheshakka) Maruti Odeya, Kamalabai  (Gurujayesha Vittala), Saraswati Bai (Sri Srinivasa), Saraswati Raajawade ( Giribale), Padmavati Kolara (Krishnaveni), Sarpaadi Ganagamma (Ganagajanaka), Rukmini Bai Rotti (Rukminikrishna), Maniyamma (Venugopala), Doddi Sudhabai (Kapila), Lakshmibai Badasheshi (Koppara Narasimha), Shanatabai Maski (Venkatavittala), Lakshmibai Bannigola (Lakumipriya), Chandoobai (Giri Venkatesh).

Many of these poetess wrote about common things of life just as Purandara Dasa did. All of them were devotees of  Hari and their compositions are as evergreen today as they were when composed. 

The first woman Haridasa poet

There here have been close to four hundred Haridasas in Karnataka and these poets-composers have left behind a rich treasure trove of literature spanning several centuries and touching almost all genres of literature.

However, the Haridasas have mainly concentrated on Hari and sung his glory. Talk of  Dasas and the first name that come to our mind is Purandara and the rest such as Kanaka, Vijaya, Jagannatha, Vaikunta follow.

However, what many people do not know is that apart from the Haridasas, there are nearly a hundred Hari Dasis or women writers who equalled their male counterparts in composing hymns, Devarana Namas, Suladis and other forms of poetry.

They have left behind a vast body of Bhakti literature. Unfortunately, only a few of the Hari Dasis such as Helavanakatte Giriyamma, who wrote under the pen name of  Helavanakatteranga, have gained recognition.  

There are several other women Kannada poets and composers of the Bhakti tradition but their names are almost forgotten and barring students of Kannada language and literature and a few research scholars, they remain unheard of.

Among the first Hari Dasais was Galagali Akka (1670-1760). She can be classified as the first Madhwa women poet and certainly among the first Haridasis.  

As her name suggest, she belonged to the Galagali family and her original name Rama. She was the daughter of a village accountant.

Mudgalacharya, a 95-year-old scholar, saw Rama and enchanted by her beauty,  married her. She was just 12 then. He died eight days after the marriage, leaving Rama a widow.

Rama, however, did not lose heart. She began learning shastras and Devarana Namas and quickly mastered them. Her five grown up step sons began tutoring her in Madhwa Siddantha and Madhwa Sampradaya apart from Shastras. She soon began taking part in religious discussions and contests and helped her step sons defeat other scholars in debates. She was honored by the Peshwas, the Wodeyars and others.

What sets aside the compositions of Rama is the manner in which she treats her subject. In one composition on Krishna, she voices the embarrassment that the God feels when he sees he has married so many women.

Today, we have 263 songs and compositions of Rama or Galgalli Akka, as she was affectionately called. Some of  her compositions are Muyyada Haddu which deals with Gowri Pooje: Bheegara Haadu, which as the name itself suggest deals with events after a Hindu wedding: Sringara Tara Tamya, which gives us an exquisite description of various ornaments worn by women. She spent her last few days in Shurpali, near Jamkhandi in Bagalkot district, which was her ancestral home.One of her famous disciples was Bhagavva.