Vijaya Dasa

Vijaya Dasa (Dasappa) was born in a poor Kannada Deshastha Brahmin family[4][5] in Cheekalaparvi in Manvi taluk of Raichur district, Karnataka state. His parents were Srinivasappa and Kusamma. He left home at a young age due to poverty. Later he came back with some saints from north India to Cheekalaparvi and some how tried to manage his family but failed to overcome poverty. He went back to Varanasi where he became a scholar. One night, he had a dream in which the 16th century Carnatic composer and wandering saint Purandara Dasa initiated him into the Haridasa tradition and gave him the nom de plume (ankita nama) Vijaya Vittala and a Tamboori (Tanpur, musical instrument). From that day he was called Vijaya Dasa (dasa lit, slave to God), and dedicated his life to spreading Dvaita teachings.[1]

His 25,000 extant compositions earned him the title Dasa Shrestha (noble among the dasas). His compositions which use many Sanskrit words come under the category of Kalasha and Urasu creations and are considered an important component of Kannada literature (Kannada Sahitya).[6] His purported miracles include calming the Ganges, entering it without getting wet, preventing a woman from committing suicide, resurrecting his son, and making an uneducated man speak difficult Sanskrit proficiently.[6] He is among the group credited with starting the practice of singing devotional songs while walking up the Tirumala hills in modern Andhra Pradesh. These hills are the location of the Tirumala Venkateswara Temple, an important pilgrim locations for Vaishnava Hindus.[7]