Surdas | |
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![]() A commemorative postage stamp on Surdas issued by India Post on 1st October 1952 | |
Personal | |
Born | uncertain, somewhere between 1478 and 1483 |
Died | uncertain, somewhere between 1579 and 1584 Braj
Parsauli |
Religion | Hinduism |
Parents | |
Known for | Influencing the Bhakti movements, Sant Mat, |
Organization | |
Philosophy | Bhakti |
Religious career | |
Literary works | Sur Sagar, Sur Saravali, Sahitya Lahari |
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Hinduism |
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Surdas (Sanskrit: सूरदास, romanized: Sūradāsa) was a 16th-century blind Hindu devotional poet and singer, who was known for his works written in praise of Krishna.[2] His compositions captured his devotion towards Krishna. Most of his poems were written in the Braj language, while some were also written in other dialects of medieval Hindi, like Awadhi.[3]
Sūrdās's biography is most often told through the lens of the Vallabha Sampradāya aka the Puṣṭimārga. The Puṣṭimārga regards Sūrdās as an initiated disciple of Vallabha, and his hagiography is told in the Caurāsī Vaiṣṇavan kī Vārtā by Gokulnāth and Harirāy. Sūrdās' poems, along with those of other Aṣṭachāp poets, form a central part of Puṣṭimārga liturgical singing-worship. However modern scholars consider the connection between Sūrdās and Vallabha and his sect to be ahistorical.[4]
The book Sur Sagar (Sur's Ocean) is traditionally attributed to Surdas. However, many of the poems in the book seem to be written by later poets in Sur's name. The Sur Sagar in its present form focuses on descriptions of Krishna as the lovely child of Gokul and Vraj, written from the gopis' perspective.