Sūrdās
16th century · Braj · Kṛṣṇa bhakti (Puṣṭimārga)
Sūrdās is the great poet of the child Kṛṣṇa. Tradition remembers him as blind, and says he became a disciple of Vallabhācārya, who asked him to sing of the Lord’s līlās; he is counted first among the eight poets of the Aṣṭachāp who sang at Śrīnāthjī’s worship.
His songs, collected in the Sūrsāgar, in Braj Bhāṣā, picture Kṛṣṇa stealing butter, Yaśodā’s tender worry and the gopīs’ longing with such life that they are still the heart of devotional singing in Braj and beyond.
Sūrsāgar · Braj Bhāṣā · Aṣṭachāp