Harikatha

What it is

Harikatha brings several arts into one telling: speech, poetry, music, drama, dance and philosophy. The performer narrates a religious subject, sings it, acts it out and comments on it. One Haridāsa leads. One or more co-singers take up the songs and enlarge them, and a mridangam player keeps time; the lead storyteller holds a pair of small cymbals to mark the beat. Any Hindu theme can be chosen. Scenes from the epics and the deeds of saints come up often, and the narration branches into side plots and anecdotes that throw light on the main tale.

Origins and history

The form is old, and it reached its present shape within the Bhakti movement, around the 12th century. Purandara Dasa and Kanaka Dasa belong to its famous early Haridāsas. In Hindu mythology the first singer is the sage Narada, who sang for Vishnu; Lava and Kusha, the twin sons of Rama, are said to have sung the Ramayana in his court at Ayodhya. A Telugu branch arose in coastal Andhra in the 19th century through Ajjada Adibhatla Narayana Dasu, whose kāvyas and prabandhas turned it into an art of its own.

What it means

Those who keep Harikatha say its purpose is not amusement alone. It is meant to plant devotion, to press truth and right conduct into the mind, and to teach listeners about the Ātman, the self, by way of story. Knowing the self, in this teaching, is the road to liberation. At its height the form was a popular entertainment, and through that entertainment people took in religious and cultural values. The songs stay in the memory long after the plot fades, so a performance is instruction and worship at once.

Today and change

Harikatha Kalakshepam remains common in Andhra, alongside Burra Katha. Haridāsas who move from village to village singing devotional songs during the Dhanurmaasam period before Sankranti are an old practice. In the 20th century Saraswati Bai, a woman performer, opened a field that Brahmin men had held alone; F. G. Natesa Iyer wrote in 1939 that Brahmins and non-Brahmins now walked freely on ground once forbidden. Later exponents include Vishaka Hari and T S Balakrishna Sastry. Paruthiyur Krishna Sastri left the art for the Pravachan style, and a praised rendering tells of the saint Tyagaraja.

How Harikatha is kept

A Haridāsa takes the lead. The chosen story opens the performance, and the telling moves between spoken narration, song and comment. Co-singers repeat and enlarge the songs, a mridangam player holds the rhythm, and the lead taps a pair of cymbals. Side plots and anecdotes are woven in to bring out a point in the main tale. An evening can run for hours, and listeners sit through it as an act of devotion as much as for pleasure. In villages, Haridāsas also walk from place to place singing devotional songs.

When and where

There is no single date. Harikatha is given at temples, festivals and family gatherings through the year, and a performance can last an evening. One season belongs to the wandering singers: during Dhanurmaasam, the period that comes before the Sankranti festival, Haridāsas go from village to village with devotional songs.

It is strongest in South India: Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, Karnataka, Kerala and the Tamil country, and it is also kept in Maharashtra. In Andhra the Kalakshepam form is still widely performed, and the Telugu branch began in coastal Andhra. Ayodhya belongs to its mythology, as the court where Rama's sons sang, and Tenali is the home town of a much praised performer.

What Harikatha means

The story is never only a story. For those who keep Harikatha, the tale of a saint or a god mirrors the listener's own life, and the songs are meant to move the heart towards devotion. Truth and righteousness are the lesson held up, and behind the lesson sits the teaching about the Ātman, the self, and the way out of bondage. A performance is therefore instruction and worship together.

Questions people ask about Harikatha

See also

PulikaliPainted tigers and leopards dance through Thrissur on the fourth day of OnamBhangraA Punjabi harvest dance, first kept by farmers and now performed worldwideGhazalA short rhyming poem of love and parting, recited and sung from Arabia to South AsiaQawwaliDevotional Sufi singing from South Asia, led by hereditary parties at shrines

Good reading and sources

• She paved the wayThe Hindu, Article
• She paved the wayThe Hindu, Article

• Harikatha on WikipediaEncyclopedia
• More photos on Wikimedia CommonsPhotos and video
• Wikidata recordOpen data

It may contain mistakes. Traditions differ from one family, village and community to the next, and the people who keep them know them best. If something is wrong, tell us. Last refreshed 2026-10-09.