Surdas

(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 poets are also named as members
of the community and as associates
of either the community’s founder,
Vallabhacharya, or his successor
Vitthalnath. In this literature, as
recounted in the Chaurasi Vaishnavan
ki Varta (“Lives of eighty-four
Vaishnavas”), it was at Vallabhacharya’s
order that Surdas began to compose
poems about Krishna’s lila, his playful
interactions with the world and
his devotees. He then proceeded to
compose the 5,000-odd poems of
the Sursagar.
The oldest manuscripts paint a much
different picture of Surdas, for most of
them contain only a few hundred
poems, which are usually quite short.
The most important themes in the early
poetry are supplication (vinaya) and
separation (viraha), and although one
also finds the depictions of Krishna’s
childhood for which Surdas has become
most famous, these themes are more
important later in the poetic tradition.
Surdas’s poetry thus shows a wide range
of themes, from his own spiritual life to
devotional “glimpses” of Krishna; the
latter most commonly explore the religious tension between the image of
Krishna as a charming child and his alter
ego as lord of the universe. As in much of
Vaishnava devotional poetry, Surdas
composed these poems to invite his
hearers to enter Krishna’s world.
The difference between these
pictures raises doubts about the
connection between Surdas and
Vallabhacharya. Although songs by
Surdas have been worked into the rites
of the Pushti Marg, Surdas composed
no poetry in praise of Vallabhacharya,
unlike the other ashtachap poets. It
seems just as likely that, as the popularity of Surdas’s poems grew, he was
“claimed” by the Pushti Marg as a fellow
Krishna devotee. In fact, there is very little definitely known about him, including whether or not he was actually blind,
as is generally accepted. Only two of the
oldest poems mention blindness; one of
these is clearly metaphorical, and the
other is part of a litany of the woes of old
age. As with so many of the bhakti
poets, one knows a great deal more
about the poems than the poet. For
further information see John Stratton
Hawley, Krishna: The Butter Thief, 1983;
and Surdas: Poet, Singer, Saint, 1984;
see also John Stratton Hawley and
672
Surdas
Mark Juergensmeyer (trans.), Songs of
the Saints of India, 1988.