Panchvani

(“Five Voices”) Manuscript collection
compiled by the Dadupanth, a religious
community founded by the northern
Indian poet-saint Dadu (1554–1603).
The collection contains the works of five
different devotional (bhakti) poet–
saints: Dadu, Kabir, Namdev, Ravidas,
and Hardas. Rajasthan’s desert climate
has helped to preserve these manuscripts, some of which date from the
early seventeenth century. The Panchvani
manuscripts are among the earliest
written sources for these poets, which
makes them an important resource for
the historical study of northern Indian
devotional poetry. For further information on the literary resources of the
Dadupanth, see Winand Callewaert
(trans.), The Sarvangi of the Dadupanthi
Rajab, 1978; and The Sarvangi of
Gopaldas, 1993.