Purandara Dasara Aradhane 2020

Purandara Dasara Aradhane (ಪುರಂದರ ದಾಸರ ಆರಾಧನೆ) marks the day Purandara Dasa attained Haripada, on Pushya Amavasya in 1564.

Born Srinivasa Nayaka, a wealthy merchant, he gave away all he had after a turning that his tradition tells through his wife Saraswati Bai's nose-ring, and became a Haridasa, a disciple of Sri Vyasatirtha. He wandered singing the glory of Vittala in simple Kannada, composing, by tradition, four lakh seventy-five thousand songs with the mudra "Purandara Vittala". He set out the first lessons of music, the swaravalis, alankaras and pillari geetas still taught to every beginner, and is honoured as the Pitamaha of Carnatic music.

On his Aradhane, musicians and devotees gather at the Purandara Mantapa in Hampi, at Tirumala and at Mysuru to sing his kritis together, and Madhva mutts hold special worship.