Aṣṭachāp

Aṣṭachāp, group of 16th-century Hindi poets, four of whom are claimed to have been disciples of Vallabha, and four of his son and successor, Viṭṭhalnāth. The greatest of the group was Sūrdās, who is remembered as a blind singer and whose descriptions of the exploits of the child-god Krishna are particularly well known. Other members of the Aṣṭachāp group were Paramānanddās, Nanddās, Kṛṣṇadās, Govindsvāmī, Kumbhandās, Chītasvāmī, and Caturbhujdās. Unlike Sūrdās, whose association with the Vallabhite community may well have been invented by Vallabhites after the fact, many of the other Aṣṭachāp poets do betray a clear sectarian affiliation. Poems written by the Aṣṭachāp form the core group of hymns sung to Krishna in Vallabhite temples.