Parmananddas

(early 16th c.) One of the ashtachap, a
group of eight northern Indian bhakti
(devotional) poets. The compositions of
these eight poets were used for liturgical
purposes by the Pushti Marg, a religious
community whose members are devotees
(bhakta) of Krishna. In the Pushti
Marg’s sectarian literature, all eight
are also named as members of the community and as associates of either the
502
Parivartini Ekadashi
community’s founder, Vallabhacharya,
or his successor Vitthalnath. Little is
known about Parmananddas himself,
although tradition asserts that he was a
Kanaujia brahmin, and the corpus of
poetry attributed to him is much larger
in later sources, suggesting that his
name was used by later writers. The evidence from the earliest sources suggests
that he was a devoted follower of
Vallabhacharya. Much of his poetry is
specifically written for the Pushti Marg,
such as hymns in praise of
Vallabhacharya, or hymns to be sung for
the worship of Krishna throughout the
day, a form of piety that came to characterize the Pushti Marg. To date, his
works have not been translated, perhaps
because of their sectarian character.