Information AboutSurdas |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT SURDAS | |
| hindu poets | |
| sant mat | |
| hindu religious figures | |
| 1483 births | |
| 1573 deaths | |
| hindi poets | |
| hindu revivalists | |
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Surdas was a Hindu poet, Sant and musician of India . He is said to have been blind from birth. He is traditionally believed to have lived from 1483 to 1573, and to have lived in Vrindavan, near Mathura. While his poetry is loved by all who know it, there are at least two very different explanations of its origins. To some, the poet is believed to have been a disciple of the philosopher Vallabhacharya, and is believed to have composed one hundred thousand verses; the Lord Krishna is said to have completed the composition of another twenty-five thousand in his name. In this version of his life and works, it is believed that his collected poems, known as the "Sursagar" or "Ocean of Sur", were largely lost, leaving some 5000 surviving poems in current editions. A different view of Sur's career appears in some recent scholarly publications. In this interpretation, the "ocean" of poetry attributed to the name "Surdas" continued to grow after the poet's death, with contributions honoring his name made by many anonymous poets of later centuries. All of these poems appear in countless different variations in manuscripts from different regions and different eras, with the differences resulting from the embellishments and elaborations made by many different singer-poets. Manuscripts are seen in this view as representing singers' repertoires, collected haphazardly by many devotees in different times and places. Some 1500 poems bearing his name appear in manuscripts dating within a century of the poet's death. Scholars find a core of some 400 poems appearing so widely distributed through this corpus that they may convincingly be said to have dated from his lifetime. In this scholarly perspective, the facts of his life, or of the "original" composition of any given verse, are simply unknowable. All we have for certain is a "Sur tradition", reflecting a vibrant and dynamic effort by many oral poets over a period of centuries. PROLIFIC COMPOSITION THROUGH INNER VISION Surdas was a very prolific composer. He is known for his "Sur Sagar" (Ocean of Melody). This ''magnum opus'' is said to originally contain 100,000 poems or songs; however, today only 8,000 have survived. These songs on the life and adventures of Krishna were dictated by him to an assistant, who had to write faster than the poet could dictate! Endowed with an inner vision, the poet dictates as if he is seeing the exploits of Krishna directly. STATUS OF BRIJ BHASHA RAISED Surdas' poetry was in the proto- Hindi language of Brij Bhasha . This dialect was considered to be a very plebeian language. This was especially pronounced as the literary language of Hinduism was Sanskrit . Surdas' work is one of a number that are credited with raising Brij Bhasha from the status of a vulgate into that of a literary language. IMPACT ON BHAKTI MOVEMENT The philosophy of Surdas is a reflection of the times. He was very much immersed in the Bhakti movement that was sweeping North India . This movement represented a grass roots spiritual empowerment of the masses. For the corresponding spiritual movement of the masses that happened in South India in the first millennium A.D. see South India's 75 Apostles Of Bhakti . FOREMOST OF THE ASHTA-CHAAP Eight Disciples of the Master-Teacher Vallabhacharya are called the Ashta-chaap, meaning, eight reprints (of the Master). Surdas is considered to be the foremost among them. SHUDDHADVAITA Due to the training he received from his spiritual guru, Surdas was a proponent of the Shuddhadvaita school of Vaishnavism (also known as Pushti Marg ). This philosophy is based upon the spiritual metaphor of the Radha-Krishna Lila (The celestial dance between Radha and Lord Krishna). It propagates the path of Grace of God rather than merging in Him. This is derived from earlier saints such as the great Kabir Das . SURDAS IN GURU GRANTH SAHIB Bhagat Surdas bani is also inserted in Guru Granth Sahib - The holy books of Sikh s. His line is as follows : ਛਾਡਿ ਮਨ ਹਰਿ ਬਿਮੁਖਨ ਕੋ ਸੰਗੁ ॥ |
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