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PURANDHARADASA (1484-1564)

Purandharadasa, the Kannada saint-musician, was actually a Maratha by birth. He was born in a village near Pune in 1484, the son of a banker.

As a boy, he learnt music and Sanskrit; growing up was married to Saraswatibai, got involved in making money.

Suddenly One day, due to a miracle, the young banker renounced everything and left for Pandharpur and got initiated into asceticism. He travelled to various temples and pilgrim centres all over India and composed devotional songs numbering thousands.

Purandharadasa is considered the Grandfather of Carnatic music. About 8000 of his musical compositions survive today. Purandharadasa's songs extol the mercy of God and are immersed in intense devotion, though replete with references to myths and legends of Sri Krishna.

Having lived a full life of prolific creativity, Purandharadasa died in 1564 at the age of eighty.

Purandharadasa illustrated through his life Tyagaraja's dictum that music and devotion combined make the best path to God-realisation.