Bhagavat Dharma/Dasakuta
Haridasaru

Naraharithirtharu

After Shri.Achalananadadasa we are unable to trace the names of any famous Haridasas till 13^th Century.Shri.Vijayadasaru(18^th Century) in one of his compositions has stated that many Haridasas earlier to the era of Shri.Purandardasa(16^th Century) have praised the Lord and has made a special reference of Shri.Achalanandadas and some names of Adya family.However we are unable to name any Haridasas of that period.During the 13^th century Shri.Madhwacharya the founder of Dwaita philosophy,( incarnation of Vayudevaru) was born at Pajaka shketra near Udipi in Karnataka.Shri.NarahariTirtha was the 3^rd pontiff in the Shri.Madhwacharya`s parampara.He was a great scholar of Philosophy, and Sanskrit.His name prior to becoming pontiff was Swami Shatri.He was serving in the court of King Gajapati of Orissa.Shri.Madhwacharya on his return journey from Badari happen to halt at the Capital of Orissa.His doctrine viz. the Dwaita philosophy is realistic in approach and many scholars including Shri.Swami Shatri entered into an argumentation.SriSwamy Shastri very soon accepted his defeat, and became the disciple of Shri.Mahdwacharya and took Sanyas many other scholars followed suit and became followers of Shri.Madhwacharya.After becoming pontiff Shri.Swami Shashtry was named as Shri.NarahariTirtha.>Shri.Madhwacharya knew that the original SeetaRam idols were in the custody of King Gajapati and were held in the treasury without worship.Shri.Madhwacharya intended to worship these idols.He instructed Shri.NarahariTirtha to remain in Orissa.The king Gajapati died at an early age leaving behind his pregnant queen.There was dispute among the near relatives of the royal family for claiming to rule Orissa.As there was no consensusness among the royal family it was decided to select the king with the help of an elephant.The elephant garlanded Shri.NarahariTirtha.As he was very well known and was attached to the royal family(was serving the king before taking Sanyas) all citizens happily agreed /accepted him as their King.The coronation was celebrated in 1263.(Indian Antique vol.x|iii(1914) page 264 by Venkobarao)

Luckily queen gave birth to a male child.Prince was declared as the King of Orissa after attaining majority.The royal family of ruler expressed their happiness and gratitude to Shri.Narahariteertha for having ruled the kingdom for many years.In return as a gesture of gratitute for the services rendered by Shri.NarahariTirtha King offered many valuables, which were politely declined by the pontiff and king presented the idols of SitaRam to Shri.NarahariTirtha.These idols were presented to Shri.Madhwaacharya,who in turn gave them to Shri.PadmanabhaTirtha.

Shri.PadmanabhaTirtha handed over the entire Samstanam to Shri.NarahariTirtha on 16-11-1324.Shri.NarahariTirtha had composed many devaranama and keertanas out of which only few are now available.Though the compositions belong to 13^th century they closely resemble the compositions of 16^th century.In one of the composition he says

"Dharamkke ondu kasu savira honnu

Adharamakke koti honnu onde kasu"

If we practice Dharma even one kasu(the smallest unit of coin in those days) is equivalent to thousand golden coins.If we practice Adharma one crore of golden coins are equivalent to one kasu.This indicates the importance of treading in the path of Dharma.

He composed many devarnama but few are only available now.The compositions by name

"Entu Marulade na nentu marulade" and

"Hariye idu Sariye" are popular.

Shri.NarahariTirtha revived the Bhagavat Dharma the cult of Bhakti through keertans .His decendants could not concentrate on this cult as they engaged in composing of prose literature.
However his works and efforts made a very deep impact on Shri.Purnadardasa who revived the Bhagavat Dharma/Bhakti cult.

Forall the efforts made by him to revive the Bhagavat Dharma/Dasakuta he tops in the Haridas parampara.