Sripadaraya, a haridasa

Haridasa

The Haridasa devotional movement is considered as one of the turning points in the cultural history of India. Over a span of nearly six centuries, several saints and mystics helped shape the culture, philosophy and art of South India and Karnataka in particular by exerting considerable spiritual...

, is also known as Sripadaraja or Lakshminarayana Tirtha (1404 – 1502).

Sripadaraya was born in Abburu in Chennapattana taluk (near modern Bangalore) of Karnataka

Karnataka

Karnataka , the land of the Kannadigas, is a state in South West India. It was created on 1 November 1956, with the passing of the States Reorganisation Act and this day is annually celebrated as Karnataka Rajyotsava...

 state. It is believed that he was the incarnation of dhruva. His contributions to dvaita philosophy, haridasa sahitya, and the then existing social and political circumstances in the Vijayanagar empire were considerable. He was also the guru of Sri Vyasatirtha

Vyasatirtha

Vyasatirtha , also called Vyasaraja or Vyasaraya or Vyasraja swamin, was acclaimed as one of the three spiritual lights or munitrayam of dvaita Vedanta, i.e., Sri Madhvacharya, Sri Jayatirtha and Sri Vyasatirtha. He was a scholar of very high order with a judicious defence of the Dvaita Vedanta...

 (who was the guru of Purandaradasa and Kanakadasa). Sripadaraya was the Rajaguru of the Vijayanagar

Vijayanagar

-Places:India*Vijayanagara Empire of Southern India, 14th-17th centuries A.D.**Vijayanagara, now-ruined capital city of the Vijayanagara Empire*** Vijayanagara metropolitan area*Vijayanagar, Bangalore, neighborhood in Bangalore city...

 kings of that time.

Sainthood and Contributions

Once as a child when Lakshminarayana was playing with his friends, a pontiff named Svarnavarna Tirtha happened to come across them and asked them how far the village Abbur was. Lakshminarayana gave him a clever answer. He said "Look at the setting sun, and look at us playing here. Now you guess how far Abburu is!". The pontiff was taken aback by the answer but the meaning was not lost to him. The clever boy meant "even though the sun is so close to setting, we are still playing. We can reach our homes quickly before it gets too dark."
The pontiff then proceeded to make the boy his pupil and took him into sainthood.

The name Sripadaraya was given to him by Sri Raghunatha tiirtha of Uttaradi matha

Uttaradi Matha

Śrī Uttarādi Maṭha [ IAST: Uttarādi Maṭha] is a Dvaita maṭha based in southern India and has great history...

.
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. Some of his important compositions were

• Bhramaragita
• Venugita
• Gopigita
• Madhvanama

Some of his famous devaranama are

• Ne ittahange iruveno hariye...
• Kangalidyathako kaveri rangana nodada...
• Bhushanake Bhushana...

The brindavana is in Narasimha Theertha , Mulbagal

Mulbagal

Mulbagal is a town and Taluk headquarters of Mulbagal Taluk in the Kolar district in the state of Karnataka, India. It lies just off the National Highway 4.-Etymology:...

 in Kolar District

Kolar district

Kolar district is a district in Karnataka state of India. The town of Kolar is the district headquarters. Kolar district is located in the southern region of the State and is the eastern-most district of the Karnataka State...

. His disciple Vyasatirtha

Vyasatirtha

Vyasatirtha , also called Vyasaraja or Vyasaraya or Vyasraja swamin, was acclaimed as one of the three spiritual lights or munitrayam of dvaita Vedanta, i.e., Sri Madhvacharya, Sri Jayatirtha and Sri Vyasatirtha. He was a scholar of very high order with a judicious defence of the Dvaita Vedanta...

also composed songs in praise of his master.