Dasa Sahitya in Kannada literature belongs to the Bhakti movement of the medieval period (14th – 18th century CE). Dasa denotes a person who surrenders himself to God in complete devotion.
Narahari Tirtha, disciple of Mahdva, was the pioneer of the Dasa literature of the Bhakti movement in Karnataka. Sripadaraya popularized the movement.
The theme of Dasa Sahitya was devotion to Vishnu in an attitude of service and friendship. Dasa Sahitya emphasizes pure devotion as the sole means of realizing God. This needs utter selfishness and detachment from all worldly concerns. The individual’s devotion to Vishnu and Vishnu’s compassion for the yearning individual form the essence of the Bhakti movement of the Haridasas.
Vyasaraya, who lived during the reign of king Krishnadevaraya (16th century CE), trained a band of devotees and initiated them to the Dasa order and exhorted theme to propagate devotion to Vishnu in simple Kannada.
Puradaradasa, a disciple of Vyasaraya, is foremost among the Dasa poets. He is revered as the father of Carnatic music. His advent gave further impetus to the Haridasa movement. His compositions, in thousands, were in Kannada and their devotional appeal is great.
Kanakadasa was the second disciple of Vyasaraya, and he composed Nalacharita, Hari Bhaktisara, Mohana Tarangini, and Raghave Dhanyacharita. He used the signature Kaginele Adikeshava the name of his village deity.
Among the other notable contributors to Dasa Sahitya were Raghavendra Tirtha, Vijayadasa, Prasannavenkatadasa, Gopaladasa and Jagannathadasa.