Dadu Dayal (1544-1603) was a saint from Rajasthan, India. "Dadu" means brother, and "Dayal" means "the compassionate one".

Like Kabir, Dadu came from one of the many poor artisan castes that had tried to create Hindu-Muslim unity. He lived in the Jaipur region of Rajasthan, most probably as a pinjari, a cotton carder.

He gathered around himself a group of followers, which became known as the Dadu-panth. This organization has continued in Rajasthan to the present-day, and has been a major source of early manuscripts containing songs by the North Indian saints.

Dadu's compositions were recorded by his disciple Rajjab. Another disciple, Janagopal, wrote the earliest biography of Dadu.

Dadu alludes to the bliss of Sahaja in his songs. Much of the imagery used in his songs is similar to that used by Kabir, and similar also to that used by the earlier Sahajiya Buddhists and Nath yogis.

• THE HINDU BIOGRAPHY OF DADU DAYAL