A tale of two legendary poet composers of Ancient Karnataka

My grandmother was a religious lady, and as the sun set everyday, she would cajole me to sit in front of God’s chamber and sing few devotional songs. At the time, I didn’t understand the purpose and was not too keen, but for some reasons it felt nice, and hey it did keep my grandmother super happy. Recently, after many years, I started singing Bhajans in the evening, although occasionally. Now, I try to understand the hymns and see if they have greater meaning. Some are true masterpieces, so I wanted to study a bit more on the thought processes of the poets who composed them. Purandara-dasa and Kanaka-dasa came on top of the list, these two are well renowned poet composers in the religious & spiritual sphere of Karnataka. Most of the kannada bhajans would have been composed by either of these legends. So then, I googled about them and found a lot of interesting stories behind these wonderful minds.

In late 15th century Karnataka, in Kshemapura, near the town of Thirthahali, Shivamogga district, there lived a wealthy merchant of gold & silver named Srinivasa Nayaka. He was born with a silver spoon, and he had inherited lot of wealth from his parents. The richest man in town went by the name “Navakoti Narayana” (an abundantly rich man; worth ninety millions). Although wealthy, he was yet greedy, despicable and a miser. His wife, on the other hand, was a pious lady, always a giver, a rather compassionate soul. Once, a poor man came to Srinivasa and begged for some money to perform his son’s Upanayana (sacred thread ceremony). Being a thorough miser, he bluntly refused the poor man and shooed him away. The poor man later went to his wife with same plea, she was moved by the plight of this man and gave him her nose ring. The poor man took the same ring to Srinivasa to exchange the nose ring in return for some money. Srinivasa immediately realized this was his wife’s ring. Infuriated, he darted towards his house. He confronted her and demanded to show her ring. She understood that he had come to know of her donation, she went into the room and decided to end her life. She poured a glass of poison into a bowl. Before ending her life, she offered her final prayers to the Lord. After the prayers, when she picked up the bowl, she found something inside it, it was her nose ring. She was confused and overjoyed at the same time, and ran to her husband and narrated the entire story. After he calmed down, he soon realized his folly. He would have lost his wife due to his anger and greed, if not for this miracle of getting gold out of thin air. He went in search of that old man, but never found him. The negative effects of greed and the futile attempts of holding on to wealth soon dawned upon him and he decided to let it go entirely. He donated his wealth and became a wandering bard, living on alms collected from others, at the age of 30. Singing the glory of the Lord in simple Kannada language, he struck a chord with common people. He finally arrived at Hampi, the erstwhile capital of the mighty Vijayanagara Empire. Seeing his musical prowess, Vyasaraja, the patron saint and spiritual advisor of Emperor Krishnadevaraya, inducted the now 40-year old mendicant under his wing, and renamed him “Purandaradasa“. Purandaradasa went on to compose around 475,000 keerthanas (songs), all signed with his pen name “Purandara Vittala“, Vittala one of the names of Lord Krishna. Musicologists call him the Sangeeta Pitamaha (lit. “grandfather”) of Carnatic music. What a drastic transformation and true calling!

In early 16th Century Karnataka, in the town of Kaginele, Haveri district, there lived a fierce warrior named Thimmappa Nayaka. He became chieftain of Bada village at a young age after the demise of his father. While carrying out excavation work, Thimmappa found a large chest of gold, which he used for the cause of people. People started calling him Kanaka (golden) Nayaka. In one of the battles, he got seriously injured. He was miraculously saved, and he fully attributed this recovery to the supreme being, the deity he worshipped, Adhikeshava of Kaginele. This incident completely transformed him and he gave up his princely chieftainship, to devote his entire time composing music, writing and explaining philosophy to the common man using simple Kannada language. His compositions are signed with his pen name “Kaginele Adhikeshava“, his beloved deity. He used his literature to fight against evils of the society like the caste system, rich & poor conflicts, etc. In Ramadhanyacharitre, he brings out a story of ragi (staple food of poor and high in nutrients) and rice (main food of rich but not as rich in nutrients) representing poor and rich correspondingly. The story goes on how Lord Ram sent both these food grains into prison. After 6 months, rice had been spoilt, but the millet was still thriving, depicting that what you are made up of is more important than just outward looks. He also got inducted under Vyasaraja at Hampi, and became known as Kanakadasa. Another legend was thus born. He ended up creating about 240 Karnataka Music compositions (Kirtane, Ugabhogas, padas, and philosophical songs). My personal favorite is his song “Daasanaagu Visheshanaagu“, where he explores how this human self is only but a avatar after 84 lakh years’ evolution and urges people to stay humble and do good things in life, what phenomenal lyrics.

The little research that I did brought out some fascinating aspects about these legendary composers, that I was not previously aware of. Both were highly influential in their own rights before giving up everything for the service of god and society. Both got inducted under Vyasaraja, as part of a forum of interactions for these bards called Dasakuta. They used the influence from the mighty Vijayanagara Empire to promote Haridasa philosophy, a devotional movement that not only composed hymns for Hari, but professed social equality with equal vigor. More respect to Vijayanagara Empire… Another interesting aspect is about the musical lineage that these legends created. Purandara-dasa is one of the teachers of Swami Haridas, who in turn was a teacher to the contemporary legends Tansen and Baiju. What a legacy !