Krsna Kirtana Songs est. 2001                                                                                                                                                      www.kksongs.org

Home ŕ Authors and Literature ŕ Biographies Page

Biography of Sura Dasa

Sura Dasa

 

In a brahmana family in 1487, a boy was given birth. However, being blind, the family began to reject him from the start. In fact, they gave him the name "Sura dasa", which is a derogatory way of referring to a blind person. He left home at age 6 to search for the Lord, inherited in his heart. That Lord was the young king of Braja, Lord Krsna. He imbibed knowledge from the great Vaisnava acharya, Vallabhacharya, and memorized many verses from the Srimad Bhagavatam. He followed traveling kirtan parties, and while taking pleasure in hearing the Lord’s name, he learned music. From this, using many classical ragas, he had created many bhajans. It is said that whenever Sura Dasa played his ektar and sang a bhajan, Lord Krsna would play the flute and appear in front of Him.

 

He lived a very simple life singing bhajans for the pleasure of the Lord. However, in a predominantly Muslim empire, Sura Dasa earned great respect, especially by the ruler Akbar. Even though he never compiled or wrote any books, a special selection of songs addressed to Uddhava, Lord Krsna’s cousin, were compiled together to form a group of songs called "Bhramargita" or "Songs of the Bee." While singing bhajans glorifying Lord Krsna in his very long life, he left this world in 1584.

 

Sura Dasa wrote many bhajans in Hindi and Braja Bhasa. To this day, many sects of Vaisnavism continue to sing Sura Dasa’s bhajans.

 

UPDATED: July 26, 2010