Surdas was a 14th-century blind saint, poet and musician, who was known for his devotional songs dedicated to Lord krishna... Surdas is said to have written and composed a hundred thousand songs in his book i.e. 'The Sur Sagar' (Ocean of Melody), out of which only about 8,000 are extant. He is considered a saguna bhakti poet and so also known as Sant Surdas, a name which literally means the "servant of melody or expert of melody.
There is some disagreement regarding the exact birth date of Surdas, some scholars believing it to be 1478 AD, with others claiming it to be 1479 AD. It is the same in the case of the year of his death; it is considered to be either 1581 AD or 1584 AD. According to the limited authentic life history of Surdas, it is said that he was born in 1478/79 in the village Sihi of Faridabad (Haryana), although some say it was Runkta near Agra. He was born in a Saraswat Brahmin family. His father's name was Pandit Ramdas Sarswat. He started praising Lord Krishna when he was young. Surdas was born blind and because of this, he was neglected by his family. As a result, he left his home at the age of six. He started living on the banks of Yamuna river (Gaughat).Once, on a pilgrimage to Vrindavan, he met Shri Vallabhacharya & became his disciple. He died in 1583/1584 near Parsouli village in Mathura.
Surdas attained fame for his purity of devotion towards Lord Krishna. In one incident, Surdas falls into a well and is rescued by Lord Krishna when he calls him for help. Radha asks Krishna why he helped Surdas, to which Krishna replies it is for Surdas' devotion. Krishna also warns Radha not to go near him. She, however, does go near him, but Surdas, recognizing the divine sounds, pulls her anklets off. Radha tells him who she is but Surdas refuses to return her anklets stating that he cannot believe her as he is blind. Krishna gives Surdas vision and allows him to ask for a boon. Surdas returns the anklets saying he has already got what he wanted (the blessings of Krishna) and asks Krishna to make him blind again as he does not want to see anything else in the world after seeing Krishna. Radha is moved by his devotion and Krishna grants his wish by making him blind again thus giving him everlasting fame.
Surdas was called as the Sun in the sky of Hindi literature. He is best known for his composition 'Sursagar'. This famous collection is said to have originally contained 100,000 songs; however, only 8,000 remain today. These songs present a vivid description of the childhood and brightness of Lord Shrikrishna
Although Surdas is known for his greatest work 'The Sur Sagar'.He also composed Sur-Saravali (which is based on the theory of genesis and the festival of Holi), and Sahitya-Lahiri, devotional lyrics dedicated to the Supreme Absolute. It is as if Surdas attained a mystical union with Lord Krishna, which enabled him to compose the verse about Krishna's romance with Radha almost like an eyewitness. Surdas's verse is also credited with lifting the literary value of the Hindi language, transforming it from a crude to a pleasing tongue.
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. The corresponding spiritual movement of the masses happened in South India in the seventh century A.D., and also in central and northern India in the 14th-17th centuries.
Surdas' poetry was a dialect of Hindi language, Braj Bhasha, until then considered to be a very plebeian language, as the prevalent literary languages were either Persian or Sanskrit. The works of Surdas immediately raised the status of Braj Bhasha from a crude language to that of a literary language of great repute.
Surdas being disciple of guru Vallabhacharya 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 Rasleela (The celestial dance between Radha and Lord Krishna). It propagates the path of Grace of God through spirit of pure love and service, rather than of merging in Him as Brahma.
Sūrdās (or Sūr, for short) is usually regarded as having taken his inspiration from the teachings of Vallabha, whom he is supposed to have met in 1510. Sūr is said to have become foremost among the poets the Sampradāya designates as its Aṣṭachāp (“eight seals”), following the convention that each poet affixes his oral signature (chāp, or “seal”) at the conclusion of each composition. Yet a number of factors render this connection historically doubtful: the awkward logic of the story of the meeting of the poet and philosopher, and the absence from early Sūrdās poems of any mention of Vallabha and of any clear debt to major themes in his theology. More likely, Sūrdās was an independent poet, as is suggested by his continuing appeal to members of all sectarian communities and well beyond. He probably became blind in the course of later life (the Vallabhite story makes him blind from birth), and to this day blind singers in North India refer to themselves as Sūrdās.
Poems attributed to Sūrdās have been composed and collected gradually, swelling a corpus of about 400 poems that must have been in circulation in the 16th century to editions of some 5,000 in the 20th century. A 19th-century manuscript boasts twice that number. The size of this cumulative tradition, in which later poets evidently composed in Sūr’s name, justifies a title that had already been assigned to the corpus by 1640: Sūrsāgar (“Sūr’s Ocean”). The Sūrsāgar’s modern reputation focuses on descriptions of Krishna as a lovable child, usually drawn from the perspective of one of the cowherding women (gopīs) of Braj. In its 16th-century form, however, the Sūrsāgar gravitates much more to descriptions of Krishna and Rādhā as beautiful, youthful lovers; the pining (viraha) of Rādhā and the gopīs for Krishna when he is absent—and sometimes vice versa; and a set of poems in which the gopīs lambast Krishna’s messenger Ūdho (Sanskrit: Uddhava) for trying to satisfy them with his spiritual presence once he has finally left their midst. They will have nothing less than the real, physical thing. In addition, poems of Sūr’s own personal bhakti are prominent, whether as celebration or longing, and episodes from the Rāmāyaṇa and Mahābhārata also appear.
There is some disagreement regarding the exact birth date of Surdas, some scholars believing it to be 1478 AD, with others claiming it to be 1479 AD. It is the same in the case of the year of his death; it is considered to be either 1581 AD or 1584 AD. According to the limited authentic life history of Surdas, it is said that he was born in 1478/79 in the village Sihi of Faridabad (Haryana), although some say it was Runkta near Agra. He was born in a Saraswat Brahmin family. His father's name was Pandit Ramdas Sarswat. He started praising Lord Krishna when he was young. Surdas was born blind and because of this, he was neglected by his family. As a result, he left his home at the age of six. He started living on the banks of Yamuna river (Gaughat).Once, on a pilgrimage to Vrindavan, he met Shri Vallabhacharya & became his disciple. He died in 1583/1584 near Parsouli village in Mathura.
Surdas attained fame for his purity of devotion towards Lord Krishna. In one incident, Surdas falls into a well and is rescued by Lord Krishna when he calls him for help. Radha asks Krishna why he helped Surdas, to which Krishna replies it is for Surdas' devotion. Krishna also warns Radha not to go near him. She, however, does go near him, but Surdas, recognizing the divine sounds, pulls her anklets off. Radha tells him who she is but Surdas refuses to return her anklets stating that he cannot believe her as he is blind. Krishna gives Surdas vision and allows him to ask for a boon. Surdas returns the anklets saying he has already got what he wanted (the blessings of Krishna) and asks Krishna to make him blind again as he does not want to see anything else in the world after seeing Krishna. Radha is moved by his devotion and Krishna grants his wish by making him blind again thus giving him everlasting fame.
Surdas was called as the Sun in the sky of Hindi literature. He is best known for his composition 'Sursagar'. This famous collection is said to have originally contained 100,000 songs; however, only 8,000 remain today. These songs present a vivid description of the childhood and brightness of Lord Shrikrishna
Although Surdas is known for his greatest work 'The Sur Sagar'.He also composed Sur-Saravali (which is based on the theory of genesis and the festival of Holi), and Sahitya-Lahiri, devotional lyrics dedicated to the Supreme Absolute. It is as if Surdas attained a mystical union with Lord Krishna, which enabled him to compose the verse about Krishna's romance with Radha almost like an eyewitness. Surdas's verse is also credited with lifting the literary value of the Hindi language, transforming it from a crude to a pleasing tongue.
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. The corresponding spiritual movement of the masses happened in South India in the seventh century A.D., and also in central and northern India in the 14th-17th centuries.
Surdas' poetry was a dialect of Hindi language, Braj Bhasha, until then considered to be a very plebeian language, as the prevalent literary languages were either Persian or Sanskrit. The works of Surdas immediately raised the status of Braj Bhasha from a crude language to that of a literary language of great repute.
Surdas being disciple of guru Vallabhacharya 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 Rasleela (The celestial dance between Radha and Lord Krishna). It propagates the path of Grace of God through spirit of pure love and service, rather than of merging in Him as Brahma.
Sūrdās (or Sūr, for short) is usually regarded as having taken his inspiration from the teachings of Vallabha, whom he is supposed to have met in 1510. Sūr is said to have become foremost among the poets the Sampradāya designates as its Aṣṭachāp (“eight seals”), following the convention that each poet affixes his oral signature (chāp, or “seal”) at the conclusion of each composition. Yet a number of factors render this connection historically doubtful: the awkward logic of the story of the meeting of the poet and philosopher, and the absence from early Sūrdās poems of any mention of Vallabha and of any clear debt to major themes in his theology. More likely, Sūrdās was an independent poet, as is suggested by his continuing appeal to members of all sectarian communities and well beyond. He probably became blind in the course of later life (the Vallabhite story makes him blind from birth), and to this day blind singers in North India refer to themselves as Sūrdās.
Poems attributed to Sūrdās have been composed and collected gradually, swelling a corpus of about 400 poems that must have been in circulation in the 16th century to editions of some 5,000 in the 20th century. A 19th-century manuscript boasts twice that number. The size of this cumulative tradition, in which later poets evidently composed in Sūr’s name, justifies a title that had already been assigned to the corpus by 1640: Sūrsāgar (“Sūr’s Ocean”). The Sūrsāgar’s modern reputation focuses on descriptions of Krishna as a lovable child, usually drawn from the perspective of one of the cowherding women (gopīs) of Braj. In its 16th-century form, however, the Sūrsāgar gravitates much more to descriptions of Krishna and Rādhā as beautiful, youthful lovers; the pining (viraha) of Rādhā and the gopīs for Krishna when he is absent—and sometimes vice versa; and a set of poems in which the gopīs lambast Krishna’s messenger Ūdho (Sanskrit: Uddhava) for trying to satisfy them with his spiritual presence once he has finally left their midst. They will have nothing less than the real, physical thing. In addition, poems of Sūr’s own personal bhakti are prominent, whether as celebration or longing, and episodes from the Rāmāyaṇa and Mahābhārata also appear.
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