The -vacanas' or free-verse lyrics written by four major saints of the great -bhakti' protest movement which originated in the tenth century AD. Composed in Kannada, a Dravidian language of South India, the poems are lyrical expressions of love for the god Siva. They mirror the urge to bypass tradition and ritual, to concentrate on the subject rather than the object of worship, and to express kinship with all living things in moving terms. Passionate, personal, fiercely monotheistic, these free verses possess an appeal, which is timeless and universal.