SARALA DAS
INTRODUCTION
Sarala Dasa was a 15th-century poet and a saint of Odisha. His famous three works are: Mahabharata, Ramayana and Mata Chandi Purana. His birth name was Siddheswara.
The life history of Sarala Dasa is found in ancient texts. He was born at Jagatsinghpur District, Odisha. Sarala Dasa had gained knowledge through self-education, and he was an ardent devotee of Mata Sarala, goddess of wisdom, and she is a form of Mata Shakti Devi. He was called by the people as Sarala Dasa, since he considers himself as a servant of goddess Sarala Devi.
During his young age, once while Siddheswara was working in his father’s field, he sang divine songs on Mata Sarala, and on hearing that Ma Sarala appeared before him and gave him good knowledge and wisdom, and blessed him. Due to that, through his poems, he asked everyone to worship Ma Sarala in order to get relieved from the clutches of the Kali Purusha, and to enjoy the divine bliss. For some time, he served as a soldier in the army of the King of Odisha. He composed his poems only for the sake of the “human beings”, who are suffering severely in this Kaliyuga.
Some of the verses from his poems are:
- Oh Mata Chandi Devi! You have killed the terrible demon Mahisha and saved the people from him.
- Oh Ma Chandi! You are called by various names such as Shakti, Parvati, Gowri and Ambigai.
- Oh Ma Chandi! Please kill the ego of the people, and make them to become sinless.
- Oh Ma Chandi! I am considering you as my favourite Ma Sarala Devi, and I would praise you for ever in my life.
- Oh Ma Chandi! Please take one more avatar to destroy the bad thoughts and the bad habits of the people.
- Oh Ma Chandi! You are the best saviour for us in this Kali Yuga! Please remove our sufferings and problems, and make us to prosper in our life.
- Oh! Ma Chandi! You look very beautiful and shines like the sun! Your body covers the entire universe, and your powers are unlimited.
Let us worship the great saint and be blessed.
“OM SRI SARALA DAS NAMAHA”
“JAI MA CHANDI DEVIYE NAMAHA”
WRITTEN BY
R.HARISHANKAR