Vijaya Dasa

Who was Vijaya Dasa?

Vijaya Dasa was a prominent saint from the Haridasa tradition of Karnataka, India in the 18th century, and a scholar of the Dvaita philosophical tradition. Along with contemporary haridasa saints such as Gopala Dasa, Helevankatte Giriamma, Jagannatha Dasa and Prasanna Venkata Dasa, he propagated the virtues of the philosophy of Madhwacharya across South India through devotional songs called devaranama written in the Kannada language. An integral part of Kannada Vaishnava devotional literature, these compositions in praise of the Hindu god Vishnu are called dasara padagalu. These compositions can be more specifically categorized as keertanas, suladis,ugabhogas, and simply padas. They were easy to sing to the accompaniment of a musical instrument and dealt with bhakti and the virtues of a pious life.