Dadu Dayal

Indian saint Dadu Dayal (Devanagari: दादू दयाल, Saint Dādūdayāl, 1544–1603) was a poet-saint religious reformer who spoke against formalism and priestcraft, and was active throughout Rajasthan. Etymology "Dadu" means brother, and "Dayal" means "the compassionate one". The word Dādū is also a Rajasthani term to refer to a grandfather. Dadu's name may have been a distorted version of Dāūd or a diminutive of Allāhdād, names of Muslim origin. Life Modern painting of Dadu Dayal There are three main hagiographies on Dādū Dayāl. The Dādūjanmalīlā was written soon after Dādū Dayāl's death by his disciple Jangopāl, and Bhaktmāl was written by Rāghavdās in 1660. There exists a text entitled Sant gun sāgar purportedly written by Mādhavdās during Dādū Dayāl's life, however this is inauthentic and the text in reality likely dates to the early 19th century. Dādū Dayāl was born into the Piñjārā/Dhuniyā caste, but later sources attempted to portray him as a Brahmin. According to Jangopāl, he was born in Ahmedabad. However, other sources do not attest to this, nor did Dādū Dayāl have any impact on the city during his lifetime. Dādū Dayāl