Dadu

(1554–1603) Sant poet-saint and
founder of the religious organization
known as the Dadupanth. The sants
were a group of central and northern
Indian poet-saints who share several
general tendencies: a stress on individualized, interior religion leading to a
personal experience of the divine; disdain for external ritual, particularly
image worship; faith in the power of the
divine Name; and a tendency to ignore
conventional caste (social order) distinctions. According to tradition, Dadu
was born into a family of cottoncarders, a fairly low-status occupation.
He is also reported to have been born a
Muslim, although based on his poetry
he seems to have been relatively unaffected by Islam. His songs highlight
many of the aforementioned sant
themes. His poems also stress nonviolence (ahimsa), and as a practical application of that principle, vegetarianism.
Another prominent theme is the religious value of work, since despite his
fame he is said to have carded cotton
until his death.
Some of Dadu’s poems give lists and
categories, as if systematizing his ideas
for instruction. This suggests that he
envisioned an established community
of disciples. According to legend, Dadu
met with the Moghul emperor Akbar,
who was so impressed by Dadu’s charisma that he ceased his harming of living
beings. The tale is probably fictitious,
since there are similar stories for many
of the sant poets, which all illustrate the
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Dadu
well-established theme of the temporal
ruler bowing to the spiritual adept. For
further information on traditional
sources, see Winand Callewaert (trans.),
The Hindi Biography of Dadu Dayal,
\1988. See also Moghul dynasty.