Documentary: Purandara-daasa
“Purandaradaasa: Visionary, Activist, and Doctor of the Soul for Contemporary Life”
STATUS: Proposal ready. Project synopsis provided to funders/donors upon request.
Project commencement: 15 April 2008
This documentary will bring out a politically committed, democratically motivated, socially and culturally aware and concerned Purandaradaasa who can be both an inspiration and a role model for active, affirmative, and ethical practice of life no matter what our individual contexts might be.
Who was Purandaradaasa?
Purandaradaasa (1485-1565) lived in Hampi during the glory years and the beginning of the decline of the Vijayanagara Empire. He is said to have been extremely wealthy but was very miserly and worldly. Certain events are believed to have changed his life’s focus from the ‘here’ to the ‘hereafter’. He is believed to have given away all his wealth and adopted the life of a Hari-daasa (servant of God). As a Hari-daasa, he led a pious and simple life.
In his ‘reformed’ life, he also emerged as a man of great vision and ideals, with a passion to match them. Rejecting religious orthodoxy, he took up the life of a meandering mendicant (as a Hari-daasa is required to do) in the streets of Hampi. He would seek alms for his and his family’s daily needs, accepting whatever was given by the people. As a Hari-daasa, he would use only what was needed for that day and give away the remainder to others, never keeping anything for tomorrow. The attitude was of total surrender to Hari. This is an equanimity with which he could sing of those who gave alms and those who didn’t, “both are acceptable”.
On his daily rounds of seeking alms, he sang many songs that brought out his observations of the human psyche, living conditions, attitudes, and many cultural conditions of his time. To improve and elevate life, he sang of the importance of the ideals of bhakti (selfless surrender to God), ethics, duty, inclusive thinking, etc. He offered advice on how to implement these ideals in individual lives. These songs not only bear relevance to contemporary life, but also provide much-needed guidance that could help us understand and (re)solve many of our modern concerns: human relationships, ethics in the world, the psychology of love/hate, the role that bhakti can play in both ennobling our lives and to thereby reduce stresses that lead to discontent, illnesses of body and mind, fractured relationships, etc. These are millennia-old issues. His songs offer beautiful imagery and often directly address these concerns. Thus, they are as relevant today as they were when he sang them on the streets of Hampi on his daily rounds.
He was a prolific composer during a life that spanned about 80 years.
His own guru (preceptor) was moved to say of Purandaradaasa, “Purandaradaasa is the ideal daasa.”
Purandaradaasa’s songs are very profound and yet simple enough to be accessible to almost everyone and to be sung in group worship or in solitude. The songs also have many layers and textures of meaning that would please a philosopher, historian, performer, story-teller, etc. who would like to explore the many nuances of these songs.
He was (is !) also a song-writer for modern theatre and cinema! Many of his songs have long been part of the songs of both art forms. His songs are also de rigueur for any (classical) Karnataka music concert, Bharatanatyam recital, and Kannada Hari-kathaa to this day. Many non-Kannadigas have contributed significantly to his popularity in the Karnataka music realm.
These testify to his appeal as musicologist, social commentator, teacher, etc. transcending narrow boundaries of language, geography, and time.