Overview
Surdas was a 16th-century blind Hindu devotional poet and singer, remembered chiefly for his compositions in praise of Krishna. Most of his bhajans were written in the Braj language, though some appear in other dialects of medieval Hindi, including Awadhi. His verses occupy an important place in the bhakti literary tradition of north India.
Surdas's life is most commonly recounted through the lens of the Vallabha Sampradāya, also known as the Puṣṭimārga. This tradition regards Surdas as an initiated disciple of Vallabha, and his hagiography is preserved in the Caurāsī Vaiṣṇavan kī Vārtā, attributed to Gokulnāth and Harirāy. Together with the other Aṣṭachāp poets, Surdas's poems form a central part of Puṣṭimārga liturgical singing and worship. Modern scholars, however, consider the connection between Surdas and Vallabha's sect to be ahistorical.
The work most closely associated with Surdas is the Sur Sagar (Sur's Ocean), traditionally ascribed to him. Scholarly study suggests that many of the poems in the present-day collection were composed by later poets writing in Sur's name. In its current form, the Sur Sagar focuses on portrayals of Krishna as the charming child of Gokul and Vraj, often narrated from the perspective of the gopis.
Surdas's poetry blends devotional sentiment with vivid imagery drawn from the pastoral world of Braj. His verses describe Krishna's childhood pastimes, his interactions with Yashoda and the cowherd companions, and the longing of the gopis, themes that became defining features of Krishna bhakti literature. Through liturgical use within the Puṣṭimārga and wider circulation in north Indian devotional culture, the songs attributed to Surdas have continued to shape both literary and musical traditions associated with Krishna worship.
References
Adapted from the English Wikipedia article on Surdas: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surdas