Sarala Dasa

Sarala Das
Born	Siddheswar Parida 15th Century Tentulipada, Jagatsinghpur
Died	Magha Sukhla Saptami
Occupation	Ancient Poet
Notable work	Sarala Mahabharata

Sarala Dasa or Sarala Das was a 15th-century poet and scholar of Odia literature. Best known for three Odia books — Mahabharata, Vilanka Ramayana and Chandi Purana — he was the first scholar to write in Odia. As an originator of Odia literature, his work has formed an enduring source of information for succeeding generations.

The life of Sarala Dasa is obscure. He was born at Kanakavati Patana, known as Kanakapura, one of the Sidhikshetras in Jagatsinghpur District. Though the date of his birth cannot be accurately determined, he can safely be placed to the 15th century AD.

Sarala Dasa had no systematic early education, and what he achieved through self-education was attributed to the grace of Sarala, goddess of devotion and inspiration. Though his early name was Siddheswar Parida, he was later known as Sarala Dasa, or 'by the boon of Sarala'. (The title Dasa means a slave or a servant of a particular god or goddess: a long list of poets, preceding and succeeding Sarala Dasa, have names ending this way: for example, Vatra Dasa, Markanda Dasa, Sarala Dasa, Jagannatha Dasa, Balarama Dasa, and Yasovanta Dasa.) A story - similar to those told of other Indian poets, such as Kali Dasa, supposedly illiterate in early life until helped by the goddess Saraswati - tells that Siddheswar as a boy was once ploughing his father's field and singing so melodiously that the goddess Sarala stopped and listened to his song and endowed him with her power of composing beautiful poems.

There are several indications in his Mahabharata that he served as a soldier in the army of the Gajapati King of Odisha.

Sarala Dasa spent his last time at Bila Sarala but the native place Kanakavati Patana known as Kanakapura at Tentuliapada with a religious establishment known as Munigoswain, which marks as the traditional spot, where he composed his works. This period of his life time was known as the medieval period.

As well as the three books for which he is best known - Mahabharata, Vilanka Ramayana and Chandi Purana - Sarala Dasa also wrote the book Laxmi Narayana Vachanika. The Adi Parva Mahabharata opens with a long invocation addressed to the Lord Jagannatha of Puri, from which it is known that Sarala Dasa started writing his Mahabharata in the reign of Kapileswar, otherwise known as Kapilendra, the famous Gajapati king of Odisha (AD 1435–67). He tells us that Maharaja Kapilesvara with innumerable offerings and many a salute was serving this great deity and hereby destroying the sins of the Kali age.

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