Prasanna Venkata Dasaru

Kakhandaki Prasanna Venkata Dasa of Bagalkote, has enriched dasa sahitya in a different way by bringing together Kannada, Marati and urdu languages. Though he was poor in sahithya. His keertanas are nectar for the ears. His Bhagavatha in kannda is something special. He was an able person, he had been brought up as a common man to peshwa, he had influence every one through of bhakthi with the help of his dasa sahithya.
Dasa's period was 1680 to 1752. He popularly known as Kakhandki dasa. He showed respect to Purandara Dasa and praises him as "He is always interested in the lotus feet of Vyasaraya. He is an ocean of upanishath Kavikula shikamani. He is satisfied with a few things. One who saw gold and mud equal. A great devotee of Hari. He had no desire and anger for the welfare of people, he composed Krithis. He showed the pious path to salvation, a great soul who pleased Vittala by his gita suladi ugabhoga, padas."
Once an elder, Bajeeraya came to Bagalkote. He wanted to see Prasanna Venkata Dasa. The peshwa sent his karanika to bring dasaru with all honours. The karanika came and informed dasaru of the invitation. He had kept one silver pen on the ear,. Dasaru asked him "What is it, ear ornament?" The karanika replied that it was a present given by Shrimantha peshwa had given for his writing. Dasaru remarked "then you are modern Ganapathi in writing. Now I will tell you one pada you should write it as I go on telling. If you complete that then you are worthy of that reward "Then he sang this krithi "Yantha Shreemanthaananthaanu".

Jagannatha Dasa

Jagannatha Dasa - Dasa reigns victorious:

Harikathamruthasara by Jagannatha dasaru is the nectar of dwaitha darshana, nectar to the listening ear and it is nectar in the form of kavya for kannadigas. He is a superb "rasa-kavi" who can direct his Kavya to flow within the banks of thathvas of dasa deeksha even when it being carried away in the floods of kavya rasa. His kavya will trumpet the victory of dasakula as long as the language of kannada is alive. Truly it is bhakthi Bhageerathi.
In him, knowledge, scholarly skills and brilliance coexisted. The Siddhantha that was absolutely but great beyond ordinary intelligence was made to touch the depths of hearts and to be read by all. He was that high profile scholar who made the pandiths crave for writing a samskruth Vyakhyana to Kannada Kavya.
This poet who is like kalpatharu sprouted from the seed of siddhantha and thathvajnana of Sri Ananda Theertha Bhagavathpada. Entire Kavya has rare thathvajnana treasure hidden in it. This powerful poet has crystal clear awareness of the inner and outer transactions of self. His deeksha in presenting kavya to the world, an amazing sadhana an ego of literally offering every thing at the feet of Sri Hari, the lord of the universe and to lead the rest of life in peace and harmony remembering Shrikantha.
The superior presence of shriman Narayana is seen in Harikathamruthasara kavya, all the chapter of this grantha are like boats to carry the common man towards shri Hari to understand spiritual postulates, plenty of knowledge, One's own life experience, projecting shastra and clinging to thathvas of Sukha theertha all these are pooled together in making Harikathamruthasara krithi.
This work is an important milestone in Kannada sahithya and culture. No one can match Jagannatha dasa in conducting a microscopic examination of life, providing brilliant smiles and examples and in kindling common mans refined feeling. The grantha is an oasis on the tormented soul. It is a grand confluence of tough stuff of Madhwa's Sidhantha, soothing principle of Hari bhakthi and superb sahithya.
This bhakthi kavi says that one should be crazy over Achutha. It is welcomeing and something to be appreciated, Achutha for him is one who if you sing laying by he will listen sitting. If you sit and sing he will listen by standing up. If you sing by standing he will dance, if you dance singing his glory he will grant you his darshan. Hari is one who tolerates devotee's mistakes. Has lot of concern for them. Harikathamruthasara which houses many thoughts like this let the flood gates open for Vishnu bhakthi to flood entire Kannada nadu.
Thathvasuvali also is like Harikathamruthasara. Tough thoughts, depth, dharma & purity are the features of his sahitya.
The compassion of Vijaya dasa and guidance of Gopala Dasa as guru-has combined in Jaganatha dasa. Jaganatha Dasa uplifted spirituality. Karjagi Dasappa who was after material things, had to be converted to become Shreeda Vittala and made him write pallashruthi to Harikathamruthasara. He also brought the well known Pranesha Dasa to limelight.
Jagannatha dasa is said to be the incaration of Sahlada, brother of Prahalada. A great vaishnava with traits of a devatha, being proficient in both sangeetha shasthra and sahithya is shone as a vaggeyakara. A sinner purified in the fire of repentance need not worry since Paramathma has this title "Pathithapavana" i.e, one who renders the sinner pure. It is his firm conviction that one should be paramathma oriented every second of his life. Dasaru has revealed the features of a siddha-bhaktha. At one place he tells "Sree Nilayana" which means to know and uderstand the virtues of Srinilaya Hari and sign them is the true reward of living on earth "Arithavarigathi sulabha" he opens your inner self informing that for one who has understood correctly Haripooja is very easy, but one who does not know is a pauper in this world of humans.
The thirty two chapters or sandhis of Sri Harikathamruthasara, explains spiritual thathvas in a clear, easy way. It is a vast store house of spiritual knowledge. It is an indispensable work for a sadhak, seeker of truth. It will put the pious on the path of salvation making Hari bhakthi swell in one's heart.
Srinivasacharya at an young age radiated scholarly brilliance. He had to suffer because of this flaw. But he was fortunate to get the compassion, love, trust of Vijaya Dasa an aparoksha jnani and Gopala dasa a amsha of Ganapathi. His principle and ego were totally destroyed. Forty years of life were given to him by Gopala Dasa and was thus saved from the jaws of early death. While taking bath in Chandrabaga river in Pandarapura he had the darshan of the lord and secured the ankitha "Jagannatha Vittala" inscribed on a stone. He became a Haridasa and composed Sri Harikathamruthasara. This dasa grantha is superfine from culture and sahithya point and spiritually a superlative marvel, bestower of dharma, artha, kama, moksha. The sathvik world will always remain indebted to this aparoksha jnani kavi Sri Jagannatha Dasa.
                                                           
                                                                                           Sri Sripadaraja mutt website

jaganatha dasaru

Jagannatha Dasa (Kannada: ಜಗನ್ನಾಥ ದಾಸ) (1728–1809), a native of Manvi town in the Raichur district, Karnataka state, India, is considered one of the notable Haridasa ("devotee of the Hindu god Vishnu") saint-poets of the Kannada language.^[1] Apart from authoring numerous well-known devotional songs that propagate the Vaishnava bhakti ("faith"), Jagannatha Dasa wrote the Harikathamritasara in the native shatpadi(six-line verse) metre and Tattva suvvali in the native tripadi (three-line verse) metre.^[1] He was also an accomplished scholar in the Sanskrit language.^[2]

Contents   [hide]  1 Overview 2 Sainthood 3 Kannada Writings 4 Notes 5 References

[edit]Overview

For about a century after Sri Vadirajatirtha (1480–1600), a noted saint-poet, became "Vrindavanastha" the Haridasa devotional cult which propagated the Dvaita philosophy of Madhvacharya through lucid Kannada devotional songs, seemed to wane.^[3] The movement however revived in the 18th century under the guidance of Vijaya Dasa, this time centred on the holy town of Mantralayam in modern Andhra Pradeshand a large area covering the Raichur district in modern Karnataka.^[4] The poetry written by these later day saints closely followed the style established by the 15th and 16th century saints of the Haridasa cadre. The Haridasa contribution to Hindu mysticism and the Bhaktiliterature overall is similar to the contributions of the Alvars and Nayanmars of modern Tamil Nadu and that of the devotional saint-poets ofMaharashtra and Gujarat.^[5] According to the scholar H.S. Shiva Prakash, about 300 saint-poets from this cadre enriched Kannada literatureduring the 18th–19th centuries.^[6]

[edit]Sainthood

Legend has it that Jagannatha Dasa, whose birth name was Srinivasacharya (or Sinappa), was once invited by Vijaya Dasa, a noted Haridasa of the 18th century, to attend a religious ceremony at Manvi. The ceremony included dining with the devotees of Vijaya Dasa as well. Srinivasacharya excused himself from attending the ceremony on the pretext of suffering from severe stomach ache. Unfortunately, Srinivasacharya actually fell ill and developed severe stomach pains. Unable to find relief, Srinivasacharya sought the help of Vijaya Dasa who asked him to meet his desciple Gopala Dasa. Srinivasacharya visited Gopala Dasa and was cured by him.^[2] Repentant for his attitude towards the Haridasas, Srinivasacharya became a disciple of Gopala Dasa and took to the Haridasa fold. His poems are written with theankita (pen name, also called mudrika) "Jagannatha Vittala".^[2] These details are known from a song written by Jagananatha Dasa expressing his gratitide to Gopala Dasa and Vijaya Dasa.^[1]

[edit]Kannada Writings

The Harikathamritasara treats on the philosophy of Madhvacharya and is considered his magnum opus and a work of immense importance by the Dvaita school. Written in the native Bhamini Shatpadi metre with a poetic touch, it contains 32 chapters (sandhis) comprising 988 stanzas. Later day scholars wrote ten commentaries on this work, including a Sanskrit commentary in 1862 (by Sankarsana Odeyaru), an indication of its superior literary content.^[1][7] The Tattva Suvvali, containing 1,200 pithy and proverbial poems of which 600 stanzas are available today, was written in the native tripadi metre, in a simple style, and is known to have been a consolation to his young widowed daughter.^[1]

                                                                  wikipedia

kannada sahittya sammelana

namma daasa sahuityakke ee bare yaadaru kannada sahitya sammelanadalli sthana dhorakuvude?????

sri vijayadasaru

Vijaya Dasa (Kannada: ವಿಜಯದಾಸ)(1682-1755) or Sri Vijaya Dasa was a prominent saint from the Haridasa tradition of Karnataka, India in the 18th century. Sri VijayaDasaru is an amsha of Sri Brighu Muni; the very same muni, who was the nimmita for the eternal kshetra Tirumala ! Sri Krishna himself in BG 10.25 says "maharsinam bhrgur aham". Thereby indicating his Vibhuti roopa as present in Brighu Muni. He is one of the most accomplished scholars belonging to the Dvaita philosophical tradition. Along with contemporary haridasa saints such as Gopala Dasa, Helevankatte Giriamma, Jagannath Dasa, Prasanna Venkata Dasa, Venugopala Dasa, Mohana Dasa and Kallur Subbanachar, he propagated the virtues of the philosophy of Madhwacharya across South India through devotional songs called Devaranama written in simple and lucid Kannada language. An integral part of Kannada Vaishnava devotional literature, these compositions in praise of Vishnu are called dasara padagalu (compositions of the dasas). These compositions can be more specifically categorized as keertanas, suladis,ugabhogas, and simply padas. They were easy to sing to the accompaniment of a musical instrument and dealt with bhakti (devotion) and the virtues of a pious life.

Early years

Vijaya was born in a poor Brahmin family in Cheekalaparvi in Manvi taluk of Raichur district, Karnataka state. His parents were Sri Srinivasappa and Kusamma. He left home at a young age and studied Sanskrit in Varanasi for four years. Later when his marriage was troubled by poverty, he went back to Varanasi where he became a scholar. Legend has it that the great Carnatic music composer and wandering saint of the 16th century, Purandara Dasa appeared in his dream, initiated him into the Haridasa tradition and gave him the nom de plume (ankita nama) Vijaya Vittala. As he slept one night in Kashi, he had a Divine Dream; Sri Purandara Dasaru escorted him from Kashi; crossed the Ganges to Vyasa Kashi. (VYASAKASHI IS 6KM FROM KASHI (ALSO CALLED BENARES OR VARANASI). Under the Ashwatt Vriksha, there was Sri Veda Vyasa looking resplendent and self shining holding Sabha with all the learned Sages. Sri Purandara Dasaru introduced Dasappa to Sri Veda Vyasa. Sri Veda Vyasa smiled pleasantly and asked Dasappa to stick his tongue out. Sri Veda Vyasa then wrote "Vijaya" on his tongue. This is the turning point for Dasappa who was now transformed to Sri Vijaya Dasaru. Sri Purnadara Dasaru escorted Sri VijayaDasaru back to Kashi and disappeared. Sri VijayaDasaru woke up from his dream; it was a surreal experience to say the least. He prepared for his morning bath, as soon as he entered the Ganga River for his daily ablutions, Sri VijayaDasaru realized it was no ordinary dream. Sri VijayDasaru was chanting Sanskrit mantras with the force of Ganga (Ganga Pravaha). From that day he was called Vijaya Dasa (dasa means slave to God).^[1]

 His compositions

Considered second only to Purandara Dasa, his 25,000 compositions earned him the title Dasa Shrestadasas). His compositions which comprise of use of many Sanskrit words come under the category of Kalasha and Urasu creations and are considered an important component of Kannada literatureSahitya). One distinct feature of his compositions is that he has explained the historical importance of many kshetras for which there was no information. Ghatikachala Suladi is one such example where he has narrated the historic story or sthala purana of the place. He has clearly shown his miracles clearly after aparoksha including resurrection, making a uneducated man speak difficult Sanskrit proficiently, etc. Sri Hari himself on many occasions has shown that he clearly favors Vijaya Dasaru. Once Sri Vijaydasaru was mistreated in Tirumala, to rectify this; Sri Hari stopped the Brahmotsava chariot from moving. Sri Hari himself took the form of a Vatu (young brahmin boy) and mentioned the reason; when Sri VijayDasaru heard that the ratha had stopped, he composed a song. The ratha sped on its own towards VijayDasaru, the authorities apologized to Sri VijayDasaru and begged his forgiveness. He died at the age of 79, leaving behind such accomplished disciples as Gopala Dasa and Jagannatha Dasa to carry the message of peace and devotion to Hari.^[4] Tradition has it that it was the haridasas who initiated the practice of singing devotional songs while walking up the Tirumala hills in modern Andhra Pradesh. These hills are the abode of the Tirumala Venkateswara Temple, one of the most important pilgrim locations for Vaishnava Hindus.^[5] The fundamental values contained in these compositions was the true relationship between people, need for tolerance, a better understanding of the value of a non-materialistic life and true devotion to God. With this objective, Vijaya Dasa and other haridasas tried to purge religion of its hypocrisies and obscurantism, its insularity and exclusiveness.^[6] (noble among the (Kannada

Anecdotes

Vijaya Dasa visited Kashi on the banks of the Ganges river, the river was in spate. Unperturbed, Vijaya Dasa sat in penance on the turbulent waves without getting wet. Once he prevented a woman from committing suicide and took care of the woman and her child. The child Mohana who grew up as Vijaya Dasa's student became one of the most important saints of the Haridasa tradition of 18th century, wrote many compositions in Kannada language and went by the name Mohana Dasa and the nom de plume Mohana Vittala.

                                                   ^{ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯ}