Saint Purandara Dasa

Life History of Purandara Dasa

Inscriptional evidence shows Purandaradasa was born in 1484 AD in Ksemapura, near Tirthahalli, Shivamogga district.[1] He was the only son of Varadappa Naik, a wealthy merchant. He was named Srinivasa, after the Lord of the Seven Hills. He received good education in accordance with family traditions and acquired proficiency in Kannada, Sanskrit, sacred lore, and in music. Some scholars had proposed that Purandaradasa was born in Purandaragad near Pune. But it has been argued that this is a historical mistake connecting the “pen name” (ankita) of the dasa with the name of a location which mainly served as a military encampment in the 15th and 16th century where neither Kannada could have been popular nor any commercial activity, much less a jewellery business, could have flourished.[2]

When he was sixteen years old, Srinivasa married Saraswatibai, a pious god-fearing girl. He lost his parents when he was 20. Srinivasa inherited his father’s business in precious stones and pawn-broking, and in the course of a short time, he expanded it and amassed immense wealth, thereby earning the appellation ‘Navakoti Narayana’.

When he was at the zenith of his business, Providence enacted the now-famous ‘nose-ring’ episode, to make the greedy and miserly merchant realise the worthlessness of his attachment to worldly possessions. The shock treatment marked a turning point in his life. Giving away all his wealth to charity, he left his house with his wife and children to lead the life of a wandering minstrel to spread the gospel of God. He was only 30. In his very first song after the incident, he laments his wasted life of indulgence.

In the course of his wandering he met the holy sage Vyasaraya. According to Prof. Sambamoorthy, Srinivasa had his formal initiation at the hands of Vyasaraya in 1525 when the former was about 40 years old, and that the name Purandaradasa was bestowed on him by Satyadharma Teertha, a later occupant of the Vyasaraya Mutt.

Purandaradasa travelled extensively through the length and breadth of the Vijayanagara empire, composing and rendering soul-stirring songs in praise of God.

Purandaradasa spent his last years in Hampi. The mandapa in which he stayed is known as Purandaradasa Mandapa. He took sanyasa towards the close of his life. He joined his Maker in 1564.

Additional Information Purandara dAsa is often referred to as KarnATaka sangIta pitAmaha. Other haridAsas have hailed him as “dAsarendare purandara dAsarayya and guru purandara dAsa

The text of a number of Purandara dasa’s compositions is available here: purandara-compositions Since the original meTTu of most of his compositions is lost, the rAgas are just indicative. Some of the compositions are sung in different rAgas too.

Most of the lyrics have been taken from Sri Lakshman Ragade’s database, with suitable corrections applied