Purandara Dāsa (1484 - 1564) (sometimes spelled as a single word) is one of the most prominent composers of Carnatic music and is widely regarded as the "father of Carnatic Music".Chaitanya Deva (1995), p. 84Quote:"He is considered to be the Pitamaha of Carnatic music because he codified the teaching of Carnatic music by evolving several graded steps like Sarali, Jantai and Tattu Varisai; alankaras and geethams(Iyer 2006, p. 93)Thielemann (2002), p. 22Vijayakrishnan (2007), p. 309Srivastav… (More on Purandaradasa)