The harbinger of goodwill
G.B.S.N.P VARMA
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Haridasu brings glad tidings from the sun, tells the stories of the earth, asks of your welfare.
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Songs of Haridasu Keeping tradition alive.
In the misty mornings of Dhanurmasam, he walk with the sunbeam. In an age of hi-fi sound systems, this bare-foot balladeer, warbles from the heart. Sings for the soul. The gajjelu on his ankles set the tempo of the song. Chidatalu squeezed through his left fingers give the beat. Tambura on his right shoulder lets out twangy tunes. His forefinger metes the strings and his thumb supports it.
With his long strides on the streets he covers a lot of ground. With the Akshaya Patra balanced on his head, he keeps the perennial supply of food. With his songs he covers an epic time. And he has an old Allwyn watch with black dial on his left wrist. Timeless yet timely.
Meet Haridasu Bejawada PeddiRaju. He is 55 years old and tall.
The tradition of singing Harinama goes a long way back, Pandavas gifting the Akshaya Patra to haridasulu, and king Bali getting a boon from Lord Hari. From then on, haridasulu have been the custodians of this ancient lore, the oral history passed from generation to generation. “My ancestors were haridasulu, and we would go behind them with talam. That’s how we learnt singing these keertanalu,” he says. Theirs is a way of life. There may be around 50,000 haridasulu around the state.
He worries about the tradition getting lost. “We aren’t asking for alms, but people give us because we sing Lord’s name and we enquire about their general welfare.” Whatever they get, they set apart a portion of that for annadaanam. “Generally we go to Sri Rama temple in Bhadrachalam, taking all these portions and give it to feeding devotees who visit the temple.” Or, they conduct annadaanam in the temple nearby.
Bread and butter
Cost of living bites them. “With costs going up, our way of life has no attraction for our youngsters. They go into small businesses and jobs.” He pleads for “recognition from the TTD and the Government,” for "pensions, houses for older people" of their community.
He is a hearty man, with kind eyes, neatly cropped hair, flecked with gray at the temples and gaunt cheeks, and an expressive mouth. Wearing yellow sash and white dhoti and red silk wrapper around his waist, he does on an average 40km a day on barefoot and up to 4pm in the afternoon. When this season gets over, “we do small businesses like hawking plastic things, exchanging steel ware for old clothes etc.” He has two sons and one daughter. One is a haridasu and another is doing a small business. The daughter’s married off.
As a part of Indian tradition that has the genius for coaxing modernity and its gadgets to its service, PeddiRaju is open to recording his heavenly songs on cassettes and CDs. He can be contacted on 9441516371.
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Bangalore
Chennai and Tamil Nadu
Delhi
Hyderabad
Thiruvananthapuram
