Dadu Dayal

Dadu Dayal (Devanagari: दादू दयाल, , 1544–1603) was a poet-saint religious reformer who spoke against formalism and priestcraft, and was active throughout Rajasthan.

Etymology "Dadu" means brother, and "Dayal" means "the compassionate one". The word Dādū is also a Rajasthani term to refer to a grandfather. Dadu's name may have been a distorted version of Dāūd or a diminutive of Allāhdād, names of Muslim origin.

Life

There are three main hagiographies on Dādū Dayāl. The Dādūjanmalīlā was written soon after Dādū Dayāl's death by his disciple Jangopāl, and Bhaktmāl was written by Rāghavdās in 1660. There exists a text entitled Sant gun sāgar purportedly written by Mādhavdās during Dādū Dayāl's life, however this is inauthentic and the text in reality likely dates to the early 19th century.

Dadupanth

Dadu Dayal later moved to Naraina, near Jaipur, Rajasthan, where he gained a group of followers, forming a sect that became known as the Dadupanth. The Dadupanthis had a tradition that was known as Khalsa, being inspired by the Sikh tradition.

Dadu Anubhav Vani

Dadu's compositions in Braj language were recorded by his disciple Rajjab and are known as the Dadu Anubhav Vani, a compilation of 5,000 verses. Another disciple, Janagopal, wrote the earliest biography of Dadu. Dadu alludes to spontaneous (sahaja) bliss in his songs. Much of the imagery used is similar to that used by Kabir, and to that used by earlier Sahajiya Buddhists and Nath yogis. Dadu believed that devotion to God should transcend religious or sectarian affiliation, and that devotees should become non-sectarian or "Nipakh". He said the following about that:

Dadupanthi Thambas

Dadu had 100 disciples that attained samadhi. He instructed additional 52 disciples to set up ashrams, 'Thambas' around the region to spread the Lord's word.

Dadu spent the latter years of his life in Naraiana, a small distance away from the town of Dudu, near the city of Jaipur.

Five thambas are considered sacred by the followers: Naraiana, Bhairanaji, Sambhar, Amer, and Karadala (Kalyanpura). Followers at these thambas later set up other places of worship.

Dadupanthi Martial Akharas

Armed martial akharas were first likely formed by the Dadupanthi Guru Jait Sahib (1693–1734 CE) when he recruited armed Naga sadhus. In 1733, Dadupanthis were tax paying farmers in Jaipur State, and martial Naga Sadhus were employed to enforce the payment of taxes. In 1793, Dadupanthis and Jaipur State had an agreement under which Dadhupanthis provided 5000 armed soldier sadhus to defend the Jaipur State. During the 1857 rebellion, Dadupanthis acted as mercenaries who helped the British Raj.

Prominent Dadupanthis

Present status Dadupanth has continued in Rajasthan to the present-day and has been a major source of early manuscripts containing songs by Dadu and other North Indian saints.