Jagannatha Dasa was born in the year 1728, a native of Manvi town in the Raichur district in the Indian state of Karnataka. He was considered as a notable Haridasa ("devotee of the Hindu god, Lord Vishnu") saint-poets of the Kannada language. Apart from writing several popular and renowned devotional songs to propagate and broadcast the Vaishnava bhakti ("faith"), Jagannatha Dasa wrote the Harikathamritasara in the native shatpadi (six-line verse) metre and Tattva Suvvali in the native tripadi (three-line verse) metre. He was also a proficient researcher in the Sanskrit language.

Life of Jagannatha Dasa
After about a century after Sri Vadirajatirtha, a celebrated poet, became the "Vrindavanastha" the Haridasa devotional cult which propagated the Dvaita philosophy of Madhvacharya through lucid Kannada devotional songs, seemed to wane. However, in the 18th century, the entire movement revived under the supervision of Vijaya Dasa, this time centred on the holy town of Mantralayam in modern Andhra Pradesh and a large area covering the Raichur district in modern Karnataka.

The entire poetry written by these saints are closely followed the approach set up by the 15th and 16th century saints of the Haridasa cadre. The contribution of Haridasa to Hindu mysticism and the Bhakti literature overall is analogous to the contributions of Hindu mysticism and the Bhakti literature overall is similar to the contributions of the Alvars and Nayanmars of modern Tamil Nadu and that of the devotional saint-poets of Indian state of Maharashtra and Gujarat.

Sainthood of Jagannatha Dasa
Legend has it that Jagannatha Dasa, whose birth name was Srinivasacharya (or Sinappa), was once invited by Vijaya Dasa, a noted Haridasa of the 18th century, to attend a religious ceremony at Manvi. The ceremony included dining with the devotees of Vijaya Dasa as well. Srinivasacharya excused himself from attending the ceremony on the pretext of suffering from severe stomach ache. Unfortunately, Srinivasacharya actually fell ill and developed severe stomach pains. Unable to find relief, Srinivasacharya sought the help of Vijaya Dasa who asked him to meet his disciple Gopala Dasa. Srinivasacharya also visited Gopala Dasa and was cured by him. Repentant for his attitude towards the Haridasas, Srinivasacharya became a disciple of Gopala Dasa and took to the Haridasa fold. His poems are written with the Ankita (pen name, also called mudrika) "Jagannatha Vittala". These details are known from a song written by Jagananatha Dasa expressing his gratitude to Gopala Dasa and Vijaya Dasa.