Harihara (poet)

Harihara (or Harisvara) (ಹರಿಹರ) was a noted Kannada poet and writer in the 12th century. A native of Halebidu in modern Hassan district, he came from a family of accountants (Karnikas) and initially served in that capacity in the court of Hoysala King Narasimha I (r.1152–1173 CE). Later, he moved to Hampi and authored many landmark classics. Among his important writings, the Girijakalyana written in champu metre (mixed prose-verse) is considered one of the enduring classics of Kannada language. Harihara, although one of the earliest Veerashaiva writers, was not part of the famous Vachana literary tradition. He wrote under the patronage of King Narasimha I. He wrote his magnum opus, the Girijakalyana ("Marriage of the mountain born Goddess") in the Kalidasa tradition, though employing the old Jain champu style, with the story leading to the marriage of God Shiva and his consort Parvati in ten sections. Harihara brings out his ability for narration while describing the lamentation of Rati for Kama, and the intense love and devotion of Parvati for Shiva. Though known for his magnum opus, his poetic talent found complete expression in his lyrical and narrative ragale poems. It was Harihara who popularised the ragale (couplets in blank verse), a metre native to Kannada language. In a deviation from the norm of the day, Harihara avoided glorifying famous mortals and continued the Jain tradition of "glorifying the spirit" and the "conquest of evil within oneself". So against eulogising earthly mortals was Harihara, legend has it that he physically abused his protégé Raghavanka for writing about King Harishchandra in the work Harishchandra Kavya (c. 1200). Shivaganada ragale Harihara is credited with a collection of more than one hundred poems in the ragale metre called the Nambiyanana ragale (also called Shivaganada ragale or Saranacharitamanasa–"The holy lake of the lives of the devotees", c. 1160) after the saint Nambiyana.