This was a revolution in India's cultural history. Starting from the early 15th century the Haridasas contributed largely to Indian music and Kannada Literature.

The most Prominent of the Haridasas, Sri Purandaradasa was the first to prescribe a curriculum for beginners in Karnatic Classical Music, which is adopted even till today. He is therefore known as the "Karnataka Sangeetha Pitamaha" the Doyen of Karnatic Music.

The Haridasa Literature is a medium for mass education of the common man about values, virtues, morals and day to day happenings, and instigating thoughts of an honest and devoted life through songs, thus contributing enormously to social upliftment which was their main intention. It is a cultural revolution by bringing the ancient texts to the common man's reach in local and understandable language; revolution in the art of music by making learning the art of singing simpler. A huge contribution to kannada literature, Dasa Sahitya enriched it by its own style and thousands of new words; it is a part of kannada literature in the keerthane form.

Most universities in Karnataka have dasasahitya in their curriculum; Mysore University, Mangalore University and Hampi university have separate departments on the subject and award M.Phil degrees and Ph.D degrees. Govt. of Karnataka has instituted handsome annual awards in the name of Sri Purandaradasa and Sri Kanakadasa.

People of all religious faiths have contributed and are involved in the propagation of this literature. Dasa Sahitya is therefore an unique literature contributing to education, culture and upliftment of the society.

There is a need to propagate the messages of these great Saint Composers including those of Sri Sripadaraja, Sri Vyasaraja, Sri Vadiraja, Sri Vijayadasa, Sri Jagannathadasa, Sri Gopaladasa and many other great Haridasas. Our Trust intends to meet this requirement through the different sections on this website as well as by organizing music concerts, publication of cds and books without any profit motive.

We are a Registered Charitable Trust , with retired High School Headmasters and Businessmen as our Trustees. All are actively involved in the field of Haridasa Sahitya. One of them is a trained singer in Karnatic Classical Music.

We maintain a Library of more than 600 books on Haridasa Sahitya and about 400 books on related subjects.

A book titled "Dasa Sahithya Kosha" compiled by our Trustee Sri G.Venkatesh has been published by us with the help of this library. The book contains a Shabdakosha or Dictionary of about 15000 difficult words found in the compositions of Hari Dasas and also a brief life history of 372 Hari Dasas. The Shabdakosha is now available at baraha online dictionary as "Dasa Sahitya Kosha" along with other Dictionaries, the link for which is provided here. The entire Life Histories of Hari Dasas section from the book is available in this site.

We have in our support group Sanskrit and Kannada Scholars in the field of Haridasa Sahitya, several amateur and practicing vocalists familiar with the compositions of the Haridasas, publishers of periodicals, examination centres on Haridasasahitya, professionals located overseas and actively engaged in Kannada organisations.

We noticed that several individuals, institutions and universities are doing a lot of useful work in the field of Haridasa Sahitya and that at present the following activities are going on:

• Research for doctoral degrees as well as continuing research by senior scholars and doctoral degree holders Publication of books, periodicals, cd's, cassettes
• Programmes like discourses, lectures, quiz programmes, vocal concerts
• Annual events like celebration of aradhanas, sammelanas/conferences, music festivals, competitions in singing dasara padagalu, presentation of awards, mettilotsava etc.
• Ongoing activities like tutions in singing dasara padagalu, regular recitals by bhajana mandalis, group singing during observance of ekadashi jagarane, maintenance of websites, maintenance of libraries, conducting of examinations by private institutions exclusively on dasa sahitya, inclusion of dasa sahitya in gamaka classes and it's examinations, puppet shows and ballet with roopakas using dasara padagalu
• Organising tours to Haridasa Kshetras on special occasions
• Renovation, development of Haridasa Kshetras and expansion to provide pilgrim facilities

With so many activities going on, it was felt that there is a need to establish a centre to make available the information on all the activities going on in the field.

The main objective of this website is to propagate Hari Dasa Sahitya and to ensure that all information related to the field is available at one place which can be a record for the future.

Salient features of the web site :

a) Lyrics with Audio: One can listen to the singing of the compositions - Kirtanes of various Haridasas and parallelly view the text of these songs in the scripts of 6 different languages.

b) Granthasoochi: We have made available brief introductions of more than 800 books published on Haridasa Literature, which is updated as and how we get more information.

c) Life Histories: Brief Life Histories of 372 Dasas prepared by us are available

d) Magazine: An online magazine called the "Haridasa Sahitya Mahiti Kendra Masa Patrike" is published every month with useful information on the subject

e) Shabdakosha: A dictionary of Haridasa Literature called "Dasa Sahitya Kosha" prepared by us is available on the web site by way of a link to Baraha online dictionary

One can download any information or songs (audio and text) from the web site FREE OF CHARGE