Dasakuta was one of two divisions (along with Vyasakuta) of Haridasas, a group within the Bhakti movement, one of the monotheistic Hindu religious devotional movements focusing on the spiritual practice of loving devotion to a God, called bhakti. This generally means the worship of Lord Vishnu.

History

During the rule of the Vijayanagar Empire in South India in the 12th and 13th centuries CE, the Haridasa movement spread from the area of modern Karnataka. The Lingayatism movement (the term is derived from Lingavantha in Kannada), spread the philosophy of Basavanna, a Hindu reformer. The Vyasakuta were required to be proficient in the Vedas, Upanishads and other Darshanas. The role of the Dasakuta was to convey the message of Madhvacharya through the Kannada language to the people. Some of the prominent saints of Dasakuta are Purandara Dasa, Kanaka Dasa, Vijaya Dasa and Jagannatha Dasa.