Sri PadaRaja Thirtaru—Ranga Vittala

Other day, I was discussing about the Dasa Kuta and Vyasa Kuta with my father, and he narrated about the life history of Sri Padarajaru.

Sripadaraja is also known as Sripadaraya alias Lakshminarayana Tiirtha (1420 to 1486 A.D) and some refer it as (1404 – 1502A.D). I am not sure about the chronology…

He followed Madhava cult and is well-regarded and honoured by all madhvas. He is believed to the incarnation of Dhruva Raja. All must be aware of the Dhruva Story and Dhruva Nakshatra. Dhruva in his birth time had acquired lots of merits for his good deeds and hence heaven was the abode of rest. Well, to be one with the almighty in his abode one has to clear the returns accumulated by merits and demerits. Merits returns are like hands cuffed with the chain of gold and demerits with the iron chain. So, merits and demerits balance sheet is to nil…..

Coming back to Sri Padarajaru was the originator of Dasa Kuta. It was he who first started to sing in praise of Lord in local common language than in Sanskrit. He assured that Lord understood the devotional cry in any language and also responded. As a mark of respect a salutation is made before beginning the Harikathas in Kannada. He is also called as 'Dasa Pitamaha'--Grand Father of Dasas. He also spread the message of Bhgawatha through his songs.

The salutation goes like this :

"Namah Sripadarajaya namaste Vyasa yogine namah purandararyaya vijayaryaya te namaha"

Bith of Sripada Raja

Sripadaraja was born in Shivaganga on the banks of the river Kaveri. His parents named him Lakshminarayana. Once a saint by name Svarnavarna thirtha seventh or eighth descended from Padmanabha thirtha who was the direct disciple of Madhvacharya; was passing by Shivaganga towards Abburu and saw few children playing and called out Sripadaraja and asked him,’how far is Abbauru?.

Sripadaraja was around eight years old, looked up the sky, sun was setting and cattle’s returning back and replied that, “look at the sun, and cattle’s returning and judge the distance”. Astonished by the keen intellect and decided to make him disciple and the boy was granted sanysshrama and named Lakshminarayana yogi The name Sripadaraya was given to him by Sri Raghunatha tirtha of Uttaradi matha.

There is a story told that in a Tarka Shastra or so he defeated a king and eventually the king surrendered his kingdom to Sripada Rajuru. So in mornings he would be a devoted saint and in the evenings held the Raja Dharbar and attending to the grievances of the Public. That’s how Sripadarayaru became to be called as Sripadarajaru. Raja means King.

Sripadaraja earned great fame by removing the ruling Vijayanagara King's Brahmahatya dosha (the sin of killing brahmins), which is considered to be the most heinous of all sins.

Sripadaraya was a great scholar and poet. He was also known for singing Devaranama or devotional songs in Kannada with Bhakti that is Devotion. His compositions ended with the Ankitha nama called “Ranga Vittala”. His Brindavana is in Mulbagal or Munubagilu in Kolar District.

“Any one who hears Ranga Vittala or remembers Ranga Vittala shall get sweet to eat”

For more information visit the following sites: www.dvaita.org
www.sripadarajamutt.org