Why remembering Kanakadasa is relevant even to this day?

I never understood the greatness of Kanakadasa until I had made a short video for children of his visit to the Sri Krishna temple in Udupi. It was a small and famous story of Kanakadasa keen to visit the temple and being restricted due to his low caste.

Kanakadasa is known to have had a great capacity to understand and analyze the society at a ground level. His songs and writings were considered innovative and were very easily understood by a common man. The first song that came to my mind was “Nammama Sarade, Uma Maheswari…”. I have heard this song many times. But today, I heard it over and over. The song is about Lord Ganesha- and made me jaw-drop when I imagined how perfect words came to this great man’s mind that is so easy on the brains of parents trying to explain the meaning to their little children.
Purandaradasa- another great poet and contemporary with Kanakadasa and Kanakadasa himself were the students of Vyasatirtha Guru. When the trio walked on the Indian soil during the 16th century, perhaps there was a “gaana mela” everywhere.

He was a gracious raconteur who had a simple way of telling stories through simple yet sophisticated songs. Here’s one

Karnataka closes schools and government offices for Kanakadasa Jayanti on 15th November. It is a waste if you do not hear songs of this great bard understanding it word by word!

Happy singing..