Sarala Dasa

Life

The early life of Sarala Dasa is not accurately known. He was a contemporary of the Gajapati King Kapilendra Deva. Though the date of his birth cannot be accurately determined, he can safely be placed to the 15th century AD. He was born at a village called kanakavati patana known as Kanakapura at the Tentuliapada, Jagatsinghpur district. Sarala Dasa belonged to Chasa community.

Sarala Dasa had no organized early education, and what he achieved through self-education was attributed to the grace of Sarala, goddess of devotion and inspiration. Though his early name was Siddheswara Parida, he was later known as Sarala Dasa, or 'by the boon of Sarala'. (The title Dasa means a slave or a servant of a particular god or goddess. A long list of poets, preceding and succeeding Sarala Dasa, have names ending this way. For example: Vatra Dasa, Markanda Dasa, Sarala Dasa, Jagannatha Dasa, Balarama Dasa, and Yasovanta Dasa.) A story – similar to those told of other Indian poets, such as Kalidasa, supposedly illiterate in early life until helped by the goddess Saraswati – tells that Siddheswara as a boy was once ploughing his father's field and singing so melodiously that the goddess Sarala stopped and listened to his song and endowed him with her power of composing beautiful poems.

There are several indications in his Mahabharata that he served as a soldier in the army of the Gajapati King of Odisha.

Sarala Dasa spent his last time at Bila Sarala but the native place Kanakavati Patana known as Kanakapura at Tentuliapada with a religious establishment known as Munigoswain, which marks as the traditional spot, where he composed his works. This period of his lifetime was known as the medieval period.