Dadu (1554–1603), a sant poet-saint, created a religious order.
Rajasthan, the desert state where Dadu is said to have resided, has the strongest Dadupanth.
The Dadupanth emphasizes theological themes common to sant poet-saints, such as the rejection of ritual and image worship in favor of an interior quest for a formless god, a conviction in the relative unimportance of traditional caste distinctions, and a confidence in the power of the holy Name.
It also promotes nonviolence (ahimsa), vegetarianism, and the religious importance of labour, all of which were very significant to Dadu himself.
The Dadupanth has always been a modest group in terms of numbers, but their document collections have made them historically significant.
Because they comprise the works of five separate religious (bhakti) poets: Dadu, Kabir, Namdev, Ravidas, and Hardas, these volumes are known as the "five voices" (panchvani).
The arid environment of Rajasthan has aided in the preservation of ancient manuscripts, some of which date back to the early seventeenth century.
The Panchvani manuscripts are among the oldest sources for all of these poets, making them a valuable resource for the study of northern Indian devotional poetry's history.
See Winand Callewaert (trans. ), The Sarvangi of the Dadupanthi Rajab, 1978; and The Sarvangi of Gopaldas, 1993, for further information on the Dadupanth's literary treasures.
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