Purandara Dasa

Purandara Dasa
200px Father of Carnatic Music ‌ ಕರ್ನಾಟಕ ಸಂಗೀತ ಪಿತಾಮಹ
Background information
Native name	ಪುರಂದರ ದಾಸ
Birth name	Srinivasa Nayaka ‌ ಶ್ರೀನಿವಾಸ ನಾಯಕ
Born	1484 Kshemapura, near Tirthahalli, Shivamogga district, Karnataka
Origin	Kshemapura, Shivamogga, Karnataka state, India
Died	1564 Hampi, Karnataka state, India
Genres	Carnatic music
Occupation(s)	Carnatic vocalist

Purandara Dāsa (Kannada: ಪುರಂದರ ದಾಸ) (1484–1564) is a prominent composer of Dasa sahithya, a poetic form of the Madhwa philosophy. He is widely referred to as the Pitamaha (lit, "father" or the "grandfather") of Carnatic Music in honour of his significant contribution to Carnatic music. He formulated the basic lessons of teaching Carnatic music by structuring graded exercises known as Swaravalis and Alankaras, and at the same time, he introduced the Raga Mayamalavagowla as the first scale to be learnt by beginners in the field. He also composed Gitas (simple songs) for novice students.

Purandara Dasa addressed social issues in addition to worship in his compositions, a practice emulated by his younger contemporary, Kanakadasa. Purandara Dasa's Carnatic music compositions are mostly in Kannada; some are in Sanskrit. He signed his compositions with the ankita (pen name), "Purandara Vittala" (Vittala is one of the incarnations of the Hindu god, Vishnu).

Biography

Inscriptional evidence suggests Purandara Dasa was born in 1484 CE in Kshemapura, near Tirthahalli, Shivamogga district, Karnataka state. According to other opinions, his native town was Purandaraghatta in Karnataka, or Purandaragad near Pune, but the latter is considered a historical mistake - connecting his "pen name" (his ankita) with a location that mainly served as a military encampment in the 15th and 16th century. The only son of Varadappa Nayaka, a wealthy merchant, and Leelavati, he was named Srinivasa Nayaka, after the Lord of the Seven Hills. He received a good education in accordance with family traditions and acquired proficiency in Kannada, Sanskrit, and sacred music. At age 16 he married Saraswatibai, said by tradition to have been a pious young girl. He lost his parents at age 20, thereby inheriting his father's business of gemstones and pawning. He prospered and became known as "navakoti narayana" (abundantly rich man; owner of nine crores).

According to popular belief, he was led to devote himself to musical composition by a miraculous incident which made the heretofore greedy and miserly merchant realize the worthlessness of his attachment to worldly possessions. A poor man (Lord in disguise) wanted to perform the sacred thread ceremony (upanayana) for his son and came to Srinivasa's wife for money. She gave him her nose ring to sell, and the man sold the nose ring to Srinivasa himself. The miserly Srinavasa lent the man his money. Meanwhile, his wife was worried about what to say to her husband, so she prayed to her favorite deity, who gave her a nose ring just like the one she had just given away. When Srinivasa hurried home, anxious to know if the nose ring was hers, he was bewildered seeing her wear the same one. She confessed what had happened, and he was converted to belief in the virtue of a charitable life. At 30 years of age, he gave away all his wealth to charity and together with his family left his house to lead the life of a wandering minstrel to proselytise religion. In his very first song composition, he laments his wasted life of indulgence. It begins with the words 'Ana lae kara' in the Shuddha Saveri raga, set to Triputa tala.

In the course of his wandering he met the holy sage Vyasatirtha, guru of Krishnadevaraya, the emperor of Vijayanagara kingdom. According to Prof. Sambamoorthy, Srinivasa had his formal initiation at the hands of Vyasatirtha in 1525 when he was about 40 years old, with the name Purandara Dasa bestowed on him. Purandara Dasa traveled extensively through the length and breadth of the Vijayanagara empire in Karnataka, Tirupati, Pandharapura composing and rendering soul stirring songs in praise of god. He spent his last years in Hampi and also sang in Krishnadevaraya's durbar. The mantapa (mandap) in which he stayed is known as Purandara Dasa Mantapa (mandap) in Hampi. He died in 1564 at the age of 80. There are around 4.75 lakh kirtanas attributed to him. According to legend, he desired to make 5 lakh keerthanas (songs). Being unable to do it, he requested his younger son to complete them. His son Madhwapathi told his father that he could do this in his next janma(birth). It is believed that he was reborn as the famous Vijayadaasa—birthplace is Cheekalparvi village near Maanvi town, Raichur district in Karnataka State—and completed the remaining 25 thousand keerthanas as promised. Most his songs are in praise of Lord Narayana and other Devatas. Due to this, he is believed to be an avatar of Narada.

Purandara Dasa and Carnatic music

Purandara Dasa systematized the method of teaching Carnatic music which is followed to the present day. He introduced the raga Mayamalavagowla as the basic scale for music instruction and fashioned series of graded lessons such as swaravalis, janti swaras, alankaras, lakshana geetas, prabandhas, ugabhogas, daatu varase, geeta, sooladis and kritis. Another of his important contributions was the fusion of bhava, raga, and laya in his compositions. Purandara Dasa was the first composer to include comments on ordinary daily life in song compositions. He used elements of colloquial language for his lyrics. He introduced folk ragas into the mainstream, setting his lyrics to tunes/ragas of his day so that even a common man could learn and sing them. He also composed a large number of lakshya and lakshana geetas, many of which are sung to this day. His sooladis are musical masterpieces and are the standard for raga lakshana. Scholars attribute the standardization of varna mettus entirely to Purandara Dasa.

The itinerant dasas who succeeded him are believed to have followed the systems he devised, as well as orally passing down his compositions.According to traditional sources his compositions number as many as four lac and seventy five thousand. But not more than 700 compositions are accessible now.

Purandara Dasa was a vaggeyakara (performer), a lakshanakara (musicologist), and the founder of musical pedagogy. For all these reasons and the enormous influence that he had on Carnatic music, musicologists call him the "Sangeeta Pitamaha" (grandfather) of Carnatic music.

Purandara Dasa had great influence on Hindustani music. The foremost Hindustani musician Tansen's teacher, Swami Haridas also a Saraswat Brahmin was Purandara Dasa's disciple. Purandara Dasa's compositions are equally popular in Hindustani music. Hindustani music legends such as Bhimsen Joshi, Madhav Gudi and Basavaraj Rajguru have made them more popular in recent years. In the pure Carnatic tradition, Madras Lalithangi and her illustrious daughter M.L.Vasantha Kumari have rendered yeoman service in propagating the compositions of Purandara Dasa; both were considered as authorities on Purandara Dasa. M.L.Vasantha Kumari was awarded an honorary doctorate by Mysore University for her contributions to Purandara Dasa's music. Young and well known artists such as Puttur Narasimha Nayak, Pandit Venkatesh Kumar, Nagaraja Rao Havaldar, Ganapathi Bhatt, Vidyabhushana, flautists Prapanchand performing Purandara Dasa's compositions and other dasa sahitya songs in Carnatic as well as Hindustani music concerts. Of latest, Mysore Ramachandracharya is highly propagating dasa sahitya through his programs. Tirumala Tirupathi Devasthanams is also propagating the dasa krithis through the Dasa Sahitya Project. He also composed the first 'Lullaby' songs in Carnatic music such as 'Thoogire Rangana' 'Gummana Kareyadere' etc., which led to creation of many other similar songs later by others.

Film director and playwright Girish Karnad made a documentary film titled, Kanaka-Purandara (English, 1988) on the two medieval Bhakti poets of Karnataka.

Philosophy

Purandara Dasa has explained the essence of Madhwa Phylosophy, Vaishnavism, in simple Kannada. His Keerthanas have simple lessons on leading a noble life.

Casteism
Purandara Dasa fought the evils of casteism through his songs. In his song aavakulavaadarenu aavanadarenu aatma bhavavariyada mele he wonders what is the use if one does not understand the spirit of humanism whatever caste or status one might be accredited to. In the same song when relating to cows of different colours and sugarcane of different shapes he emphasizes that one's birth cannot merely decide the highness or lowness of any individual. He asks will the sweetness of a crooked sugarcane be also crooked or will the milk of cows of many a colour be also of many colours.
Untouchability
Purandara Dasa has made some forceful expressions on untouchability which was dogging the society. His strength comes perhaps from the support of his guru Vyasathirtha with the backing of powerful king Krishnadevaraya of Vijayanagara himself. In one such song Holaya horagihane oorolagillave he opines that an individual should not be branded untouchable on the basis of his/her birth in any specific caste, however it is rather his conduct which should make him untouchable if at all he can be called so. The usage of the word untouchable is not used in the limited context of physical contact with the person, it is the worthlessness of the association with that person which is highlighted here. This is evident by the subsequent expressions in the song which says that one who does not practice self-discipline is untouchable, one who plots against his own government is untouchable, similarly one who shirks charity while having wealth is untouchable,one who poisons to eliminate his opponents is untouchable, one who does not use soft language is untouchable,one who prides over his purity of caste is untouchable and finally one who does not meditate on Purandara Vittala is untouchable. Dasa’s message is loud and clear rejecting untouchability in our society. He uses the name of Purandara Vittala to imply any God. This is evident from his other songs on various Gods and Goddesses. Similar ideas were expressed by many other poets also.

Example Poem: Good - he became an ascetic-Hari Dasa

Purandaradasa says how his wife made him Hari devotee and renounce all his crores of wealth and became an ascetic.

• ಆದದ್ದೆಲ್ಲ ಒಳಿತೆ ಆಯಿತು
• (Aadaddella oLitE aayitu)

Kannada version in en-letters

English version

ಆದದ್ದೆಲ್ಲ ಒಳಿತೆ ಆಯಿತು by: Purandardasu ;ರಚನೆ: ಶ್ರೀ ಪುರಂದರದಾಸರು ರಾಗ : ಪಂತುರಾವಳಿ ; ತಾಳ : ಆದಿತಾಳ Aadaddella oLitE aayitu namma Shreedhara seve maadalu sadhana sampattayitu; Dandige betta hidiyodakke mande maachi naachutalidde, Hendati santati saavirvaagali Dandige betta hidisidaLyya GopaaLa butti hidiyodakke. Bhupatiyante garvisutidde, Aa patnee kula saavirvaagali, GopaaLa butti hidisidaLayya; TuLasi male haakuvudakke Arasanante naachutalidde, Sarasijaksha Purandhara ViTTala TuLasi male haakisidnayya ! (from Dasara Padagalu collection by G.V.Shastri free from copyright) For kannada text see-Talk:Purandara Dasa

Whatever happened, happened for good. by: Purandardasu Raga (Tone) : panturavali; Tala:Aadi. -- Whatever happened happened for good A way to serve the God imbibed with all wealth ! To hold the carrying-stick on my shoulder $, I had bent my head with shyness, She like my better-half emerge in thousands, Who made me carry the shoulder-stick.! To stretch my hand with begging bowl, I was abashed with pride like a king , This wife like lineage come out in thousands! She made me to hold out the begging bowl! To wear a Tulasi garland, I hesitated In shyness like a crowned king , Made me wear the wreath of TuLsi He , the God Vittala of Purandara - with lotus eyes $(a stick on shoulder with weight on two ends) Tulasi : Ocimum tenuiflorum plant - warring the Garland of its leaves like an ascetic !!

Salutations

Tirupati Tirumala Devasthanam is propagating and popularising the literature of Purandara Dasa under the Dasa Sahitya Project. A statue of Purandaradasa was dedicated at the foot of Tirumala in Alipiri.

Compilations of Purandara Dasa's lyrics

• Gaja Vadana Beduve Gowri Thanaya A popular Purandara Dasa composition in Carnatic Raagam Hamsadhwani
• Jackson, William J. 2002. Songs of Three Great South Indian Saints. Oxford India. ISBN 0-19-566051-X
• KavyaPremi. 1996. Purandara Daasa Haadugalu. Dharwad: Samaja Publishers. Contains ca. 225 songs; in Kannada language.
• List of Songs in Kannada at WikiSource- [1]

See also

• Haridasa
• Shri Madhvacharya
• Vyasathirtha
• Kanakadasa
• Annamacharya
• Shishunala Sharif
• Puttur Narasimha Nayak
• Dvaita Philosophy
• List of Carnatic composers
• List of Carnatic musicians
• List of Carnatic instrumentalists

References

• Gavai, Sheshadri. 1956. Sangeetha kalaravinda. Bangalore: Aravinda Publications.
• Iyengar, Masti Venkatesha ("Srinavasa"). 1964. Purandara Daasa. Bangalore: Bangalore Press.
• Iyer, Panchapakesa. 2006. Karnataka Sangeetha Sastra. Chennai: Zion Printers.
• Kamath, Suryanath. 1980. A concise history of Karnataka from prehistoric times to the present. Bangalore: Jupiter Books.
• Kassebaum, Gayatri Rajapur. ‘Karnatak raga’ (2000). In
• Sharma, B.N.K. 2000. History of the Dvaita School of Vedanta and Its Literature. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass. ISBN 81-208-1575-0.
• Dr. Vasudev Agnihotry "Purandaradasaru mattu Shri Mad Bhagavata Ondu Toulanika Adhyayana" Ph.D Osmania University Hyderabad, India 1984 Publisher: Samskriti Prakashana Sedam. Keertana Vidya nagar sedam 58522 dist gulbarga Karnataka

External links

• The life history of Sri Purandara Dasa in Kannada language
• Annual Purandara Dasa and Thyagaraja Aradhana in D.C., Maryland and Virginia
• Bhagyada Lakshmi Baaramma A popular Purandara Dasa composition in Sri Raagam
• Lyrics and translation of Purandaradasa compositions
• The Hindu online. 2006-10-20. Friday Review Chennai and Tamil Nadu. Columns : An authority on Purandara Dasa