Sripadaraja

Sripadaraya, (Kannada: ಶ್ರೀಪಾದ ರಾಯರು) a haridasa, is also known as Sripadaraja or Lakshminarayana Tirtha (1404 – 1502).

Sripadaraya was born in Abburu in Chennapattana taluk (near modern Bangalore) of Karnataka state. It is believed that he was the incarnation of dhruva. His contributions to dvaita philosophy, haridasa sahitya, and the then existing social and political circumstances in the Vijayanagar empire were considerable. He was also the guru of Sri Vyasatirtha (who was the guru of Purandaradasa and Kanakadasa). Sripadaraya was the Rajaguru of the Vijayanagar kings of that time.

Sainthood and Contributions

Once as a child when Lakshminarayana was playing with his friends, a pontiff named Svarnavarna Tirtha happened to come across them and asked them how far the village Abbur was. Lakshminarayana gave him a clever answer. He said "Look at the setting sun, and look at us playing here. Now you guess how far Abburu is!". The pontiff was taken aback by the answer but the meaning was not lost to him. The clever boy meant "even though the sun is so close to setting, we are still playing. We can reach our homes quickly before it gets too dark." The pontiff then proceeded to make the boy his pupil and took him into sainthood.

Sripadaraja earned great fame by removing the ruling Vijayanagara King's Brahmahatya dosha (the sin of killing Brahmins), which is considered to be the most heinous of all sins.

Sripadaraya was a great scholar and poet. He was also known for singing devaranama or devotional songs in Kannada with bhakti. Some of his important compositions were

• Bhramaragita
• Venugita
• Gopigita
• Madhvanama

Some of his famous devaranama, with rangavittala as signature (ankitapada), are

• Ne ittahange iruveno hariye...
• Kangalidyathako kaveri rangana nodada...
• Bhushanake Bhushana...

The brindavana is in Narasimha Theertha, Mulbagal in Kolar District. His disciple Vyasatirtha also composed songs in praise of his master.

References

• Sri Sripadaraja Mutt Official Web Site
• Haridasas of Karnataka