Carnatic Music & Sri Purandaradasar

|| Hari Sarvothama Vayu Jivothama ||
|| Sri Raghavendra Gurubyo Namaha ||

|| namah sripAdarAjAya namastE vyAsa yOgine namah purandarAryAya vijayAryAya te namaha ||

Aradhane of Sri Purandaradasaru:

Sri Purandara Dasaru (1480-1564) who is hailed as Daasa Sreshtam Dayanidim is no exception and in all his Keertanas, Suladis and Uga bhogas he has highlighted several aspects of Sri Madhva philosophy. Aradhane of Shri Purandaradasaru is celebrated on 01st Feb 2022(Pushya,Uttarayana,Amavasya) throughout bharatha desha. It is said Lord came down from Vaikunta to take his dear devotee and thus Purandaradasar after his sangeetha seva disappeared in Purandara Gadde at Hampi, and continuing his service as Sri Narada at vaikunta.

Difficulty in learning Carnatic Music:

Due to difficulty in learning Sangeetha(Carnatic music) the great art was declining in India especially during 14th century, people felt very tough to learn and practice as a result. Sri Purandaradasaru knowing the same decided to bring the guidelines/rules of learning music and restructured the learning method, and he brought in Balapadam(lessons) such as “Saralivarisai”, “Billari Geetham”, “Jantavarisai”, “Suladhis” etc for the students who are aspiring to learn Carnatic Music. This has been still in practice and followed even now which made everyone to learn the great art easily by the grace of Dasaru. This was the great work of Naradar avatara Sri Purandara Dasarus to Carnatic Music and we should ever remember the service of Purandara Dasar. Hence he is always called as the Pithamahar of Carnatic Music.

Compositions of Sri Purandaradasaru:

Sri Purandara Dasaru has composed nearly 4,75,000 songs. Sri Vyasarayaru,his teacher himself has called his verses as “Purandaropanishat”.How great is Sri Purandara Dasaru talents?He has also said, among the devotees of Hari,Purandara Dasa is the greatest! It is usually rare that Guru acknowledge greatness of his shishya but it has happened to Dasaru, where great Gyanin Vyasarajaru has praised his shishya Purandara Dasaru.

List of Sri Purandaradasaru compositions:

In one of his songs Sri Purandara Dasaru(“vasudevana namavaliya kalipdhiyanu vyasa rayara dayadhindha bannipennu”) has acknowledged the total count of his compositions as 4,75,000 adding to that he has clearly said all those composed are only because of his Guru Vyasa Tirtha’s blessing, otherwise it would not have been possible. Dasaru in of his songs say without Gurus grace salvation is never possible, and this statement proves that Dasaru had high respect and bhakthi on his gurugalu.

Service of Purandara Dasaru:

It is unfortunate that we only have 1000s of his compositions though about 95% of the ones are lost or missed post fall of Vijayanagar kingdom. It is said Purandaradasaru had composed songs on all Indian languages(Kannada, Tamil,Telegu,Marati etc) his majority of songs are written in Kannada language. It is not possible to compose 4,75,000 songs by a normal soul and it is only possible for Naradaru rishigalu to do the same as per orders of Lord Shri Harih.

All his songs are reflection of Vedas/sastras/puranas and Brahma sutras. Every song has inner meaning and he has taken great measure to write for aspiring souls who want to attain salvation. Let us remember this while singing the song and pray Purandara dasaru to bless us with Gyana/Bhakthi and Vairagya.

In every Song he has brought the Supremacy of Lord shri Harih and greatness of his guru Acharya Madhva’s Dvaita philosophy. Without Vayu devara anugraha moksha is something never possible is his concept.

Saint Tyagaraja and Sri Purandara Dasaru:

Saint Sri Thyagaraja(1767-1847) is considered to be famous composer of Carnatic Music songs. He composed songs from the age of 13. He had great knowledge in Vedas,Sastras etc and his songs brought essence of philosophy and it conveyed the beauty of Lord in every verse.

In his Prahlada Bhakta Vijaya he starts the magnificent work by offering respects and namaskaram to Sri Purandaradasar.

durita vrAtamul(e)llanu pari mArceDi hari guNamula bADucun(e)puDun
paravaSuDai velayu purandara dAsuni mahimamulanu dalaceda madilOn

Meaning: “I remember in my mind on the greatness of shri Purandara dAsa who shines in a state of joyfulness, he always sings the virtues of Lord Shri Harih , which transforms all evil-some destiny and gives moksha to the deserving souls.”

Stamp of Shri Purandara Dasaru:

In the year 1964 during 400th year Aradhane of Sri Purandaradasar the postal stamp was released to respect his service to Carnatic/Spirituality,

Drawing Sri Purandara dasaru:

I enjoyed watching the below youtube video by Savyasachi, and hereby would like to share the URL below

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