This post is about the Purandara Dasa Indian stamp of 1964. One of the countries that celebrates its musical culture with many stamps is India. On this blog you can read stamps featuring the Carnactic vocalist D. K. Pattammal, the Hindustani vocalist and pedagogue D. V. Paluskar, and the musicologist Pandit Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande.
This stamp features a much older musician from Indian music, the philosopher-saint Purandara Dasa. Indeed, this sixteenth century composer, poet, and singer, is also one of the founders of the Carnatic musical style of south Indian classical music.
Purandara Dasa
Purandara Dasa was born as Srinivasa Nayaka in 1484 to a Brahmin family in the current state of Karnataka. As the son of a wealthy merchant, Srinivasa received a formal education, including training in sacred music. His parents died when he was twenty and he inherited his family fortune.
A popular legend describes a miraculous event in his life. There seem to be several versions of the tale, but basically the story is that the deity Krishna came to Srinivasa as a poor man and asked for money. The wealthy man spurned the beggar, who then went to Srinivasa’s wife. The woman took pity on the poor man and gave a valuable gold nose ring to him. Then, the poor man tried to sell the nose ring to Srinivasa, who immediately recognized it, took it, and confronted his wife.
What happens next varies, but according to one version the wife attempted to commit suicide by drinking poison. However, miraculously, at the bottom of the cup of poison was the gold ring and it counteracted the poison so that she did not get sick. The miracle of the appearance of the ring, and it saving his wife, caused Srinivasa to leave his old self and his preoccupation with material wealth behind.
Srinivasa and his family gave away all of their money, becoming mendicants, who traveled and sang religious praises, living off of alms given to them. At the age of forty, Srinivasa became a disciple of the saint Vyasaraja, who gave him the name of Purandara Dasa. For the rest of his life, Purandara wrote music dedicated to Krishna and begged for money to eat and feed his family. He died at the age of eighty in 1565.
Musical Importance
As a musician, Parundara Dasa was known for translating the difficult ideas of the Srimad Bhagavatam into simple songs. These songs used common language and elements from daily life. They were to be easily remembered and sung by anyone.
Parundara formalized Carnatic music, blending together various musical traditions of South India. He identified or created more than eighty ragas. In addition, he created a system for teaching the music to beginners. Supposedly, Parundara wrote many thousands of songs, though only perhaps seven hundred survive to this day. For these contributions, Parundara is sometimes called the father, or grandfather, of Carnatic music.
The Stamp
Scott Number IN 382
The stamp of Purandara Dasa is a monochromatic light brown color. The image of the musician is similar to other presentations of the musician. He appears barefoot and without a shirt. There are strings of bells around his ankles and he carries a small string instrument, the tanpura. The stamp is a photogravure print by the India Security Press.
You can hear many renditions of Purandara Dasa’s music today. Here is an example:
Women musicians are uncommon on stamps from any country. Do you have a favorite from any place? Let me know in the comments below.
