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 poet who advised a King to give up his life

He was one of the earliest kings of south India. A poet himself, he was famed for his friendship with poets and writers of the age. His friendship transcended territorial boundaries.

Though he waged a running battle with his neighbour, it was only military and political. It never impacted on his friendship with two poets of the region. He corresponded with them regularly and even exchanged poems and writing with them.

One of the two poets joined this king when he starved himself to death. Two other poets also laid down their lives when they heard that the great poet-King was no more. The king had voluntarily given up his life as he as unable to bear his two sons quarreling among themselves and readying for battle to become King.

And who gave the advice to the King to take his own life. None other but one of his poet friends.

This king was Kopperun Chola and he was the King of the Chola Empire during the period of the early Cholas or Cholas of the Sangama period.    

Unfortunately, not much is known about this King. We have to depend on the Sangam literature and other related texts for information about the life and times of  Kopperun. A poem in Purananuru also gives us details about the King.

By the way, Kopperun is himself the subject mater of a number of poems in Purananuru. A poet himself, he is credited with the authorship of a  few poems in the Kurunkoti collection. (Poems  20, 53, 129, 147) and Purananuru (song 215).

The King, by all accounts, was an able administrator and patron of literature and art. He was an intimate friend of many poets of the age, the most notable among them being, Picirantai, Pullār Eyiŗŗiya and Pottiyā.

Though Picirāntai lived in the Pandya kingdom, the other two were natives of  the Chola Kingdom itself. Pullar  is even today renowned for his advice to the Chola king. Kopperun’s friendship with these two poets became a classic example in later literature and has often been quoted.

Like all fairytale stories, this friendship too had a sad end. A number of poems in Purananuru,  in sequence, describe the sad end of this king and of course the friendship.

Kopperun and his two sons decided to go to war with each other over a trivial issue. While both his sons wanted to succeed him to the throne, Kopperun was unwilling to give up his seat.

The two sons joined hands and built an army on take on their father. A distraught Kopperun prepared for war. It was then that Pullar reasoned with him that if he slays his own sons and wins the war then the country would be left without an heir, and on the other hand if he loses, then they would become victors.

“If you win, you also lose and if you lose, you lose everything”, says the poet friend of the King. He then advises the king to take his own life, thereby leaving the issue of  a heir to be resolved by his sons.

The king then decided to end his life committing suicide by the rite of Vadakiruttal, a Tamil custom. The system entails the victim sitting facing north and starving himself to death. Kopperun dies along with several people close to him. But just before he sits for suicide, he sends word to his poet friend, Piciranati that he wants to see him. The poet then was deep in the Pandya kingdom but he hurries back, only to see his friend sit and wait for his death. Piciranati also dies along with the King.

After the king's death, Pottiyar another poet, unable to bear the loss of his patron, sits facing north amidst the heroes' stones and also commits suicide by Vadakirruttal. He reasons that the spirit of the dead king has given him permission to do so.
There is one song in Purananuru and the forty verses of  Kalavali by  Poigayar which gives us details of the king’s life. There are also references to him in the hymns of  Thirugnana Sambanthar,  Thirumangai Aazhvaar and Sundaramurthy Nayanar. His name is also mentioned in the legendary genealogy of the Chola copper plate inscriptions of the tenth and eleventh centuries.

The Thiruvanaikaval, also called Thiruvanaikal temple, a famous Shiva temple in Tiruchirapalli (Trichy) was built by Kopperun.

The structure is dated 1,800 years ago and it is adjacent to the Ranganathaswamy temple at Srirangam.